Part 6: On consideration, kindness, and thoughtfulness

I

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]

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 calabash belonging to a patient person never breaks; the china plate belonging to a patient person never cracks.
(Patient people never come to grief.)

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.)

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.)

Ill will “is the” medicine that ensures misfortune.
(Misfortune will surely attend a person who harbors ill will towards others.)

Good will towards others does not kill; it only gets one into trouble.
(One should be wary of kindness to others.)

“The pounded yam is good and the stew is delicious” killed Akíndélé on his farm at Ìgbájọ́ “God, I will not give you some food to eat” is what killed the priest at Ìkiré.
(Closed-fistedness and stinginess brings people nothing but misfortune.) [6]

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 Akíndélé 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]