Part 5: On consistency; honesty, openness, plain speaking, reliability

K

Just to delay people deliberately, the humpback says when he dies his intestines should be removed from the back.

Sitting and refusing to budge from one's position results from lack of communication.

To see and buy, to buy and not pay; buying without paying “is” the twin of stealing.

Let the purchaser with cash come and let the purchaser on credit come; only buying without “eventually” paying is bad.

“I am not upset, I am not upset!” Yet a grown man swears angrily six times because of last night's pounded yam.

It-is-not-begging-and-it-is-not-stealing who whistles as he harvests corn ears; if he does not come upon me it becomes stealing; if he comes upon me it becomes “the action of” a member of the household.

There is nothing one cannot do in the dead of night; the light of day alone is what one fears.

Being neither a rat nor a bird keeps àjàò (a bird-like animal) from having to pay poll tax.

20. The idea is that the person goes secretively to his/her relative's farm to harvest some corn, and whistles while doing so in order to give the impression that he/she is carefree because he/she is not doing anything wrong. If the owner of the farm does not come upon the person, then the action goes down as stealing; if the farmer does come upon the person, he will claim the rights of a relative.  [Back to text]