Part 6: On consideration, kindness, and thoughtfulness

I

bj iu nbj b; ni t e bj yn-n e bj ara .
The blemish of the yam is the blemish of the knife; whoever besmirches other people's names besmirches his/her own.
(How one treats others reflects more on oneself than on the others.) [5]

Igb olore k f; wo olore k fya; tow tm n ya il olore.
The calabash of a kind-heated person never breaks; the china plate of a kind-hearted person never cracks; both riches and children ever converge in the home of a kind-hearted person.
(Good always attends those who are good.)
The following entry is a variant. Compare Il olore. . .

Igb onpl k f; wo onpl k fya.
The calabash belonging to a patient person never breaks; the china plate belonging to a patient person never cracks.
(Patient people never come to grief.)
This is a variant of the preceding entry. Compare Il olore . . .

Il olore k w tn; tk k w k.
The home of a kind-hearted person never collapses completely; the home of a wicked person always collapses, leaving nothing standing.
(Good will attract good, and evil will attract evil.)
Compare Igb olore . . . and Igb onpl . . .

Il n yy; ta n j yal ahun-khun?
To visit the home of a generous person is to be plied with food aplenty; who would think of visiting a miser?
(One's generosity or miserliness makes one friends or loses one friends.)

In bbur, ogn .
Ill will is the medicine that ensures misfortune.
(Misfortune will surely attend a person who harbors ill will towards others.)

Inure k pani, whl n k bni.
Good will towards others does not kill; it only gets one into trouble.
(One should be wary of kindness to others.)
Compare the previous entry.

Iyn dra, b- dn l pa Akndl lko gbj; r, nk fn n d j l pa abr kir.
The pounded yam is good and the stew is delicious killed Akndl on his farm at gbj God, I will not give you some food to eat is what killed the priest at kir.
(Closed-fistedness and stinginess brings people nothing but misfortune.) [6]

yw j k j igb.
The wife ate the yam-flour meal and ate the calabash with it.
(One should show consideration, and exercise care, in using others' property.)

5. The idea is that if one peels a yam with a knife and streaks show on the yam, the flaw is the knife's, not the yam's.  [Back to text]

6. Presumably Akndl would not share the pounded yam and stew because they were delicious, and the priest kept all the things meant for sacrifice to the god for himself.  [Back to text]