Part 6: On consideration, kindness, and thoughtfulness

A

One does not fall from a prone position.

One does not play the rendezvous game without knowing one's way.

The person who insults one is not as bad as the person who derides one; yet the person who derides one does not know what the future may bring.

The chicken lists to one side, we think it has fallen.

There is no disappearing trick better than the availability of a dense forest to disappear into; there is no sacrifice more efficacious than having many people on one's side; there is no “The gods have elevated me” that is higher than the back of a horse.

He-who-neglects-his-affairs-to-care-for-others'-affairs, it is God that takes care of his affairs.

Elder, do a favor and remove your eyes from it.

A ram is too much to give; a gelded animal is too much to give; everything is excessive in the sight of a miser.

It is failure-to-count-anything-as-significant that ruins things.

Lack of resourcefulness and lack of thoughtfulness cause six siblings to die as pawns for only twelve thousand cowries.

Croaking-in-relays is the mark of frogs.

The person who gathers eggs to eat does not know that the chicken's orifice hurts.

He-who-has-strength-but-lacks-discretion, father of laziness.

The shiftless, thoughtless husband who makes the junior wife's chicken as a sacrifice to the senior wife's head; if the husband is wicked, what about the god?

He who purchases the food he eats cares not what the season is; his yams always flourish like trees.

The old person was once a dandy; the rag was once in fashion.

The order from Ọ̀yọ́ never sounds “Gbà” (meaning “Take!”), only “Múwá (meaning “Bring.”)

The big spender is never disgraced in the presence of the miser.

It was an imbecile that gave birth to the mother of the monkey.

A-creature-that-applies-other's-circumstances-to-itself, a hunter's dog.

Those who cover their heads with mortars and shoot arrows into the sky: God's eyes encompass them all.

1. If the children knew how to plan and pool their resources they would have redeemed themselves. The amount in question is insubstantial. It was usual in traditional Yoruba society for a person to pawn himself or a willing relative for a certain amount; as soon as the amount was repaid the pawn was redeemed.  [Back to text]

2. This is obviously the sentiment of Ọ̀yọ́'s vassal towns that have to send tributes periodically.  [Back to text]

3. The word ọ̀bọ means “monkey,” but the Yoruba use it to designate a fool.  [Back to text]