Proverbs

To get a better understanding of local culture in Jirapa, I was challenged to learn some of the proverbs. So for a week I asked everyone I met to tell me one of their favourite proverbs. (This behaviour apparently led the menfolk of the town to believe i was romantically interested in them and I got more than 5 marriage proposals, but I guess that's what you get.)

Below are the results of my investigation. Can you guess at the meaning of these proverbs? The answers are below - some are easy, but some are way off the chart. Have fun!

1. A crab cannot give birth to a bird.

2. An eagle can fly thousands of miles but it never forgets to return to its nest.

3. If all lizards lie prostrate, how can a man tell which one suffers from pain in its belly?

4. Patience can move mountains.

5. If a donkey had horns it would kill people.

6. The ant may be small but it can eat the leaves of a mango tree until it is bare.

7. If a dog sees a fowl with a bone in its mouth, it needn't be in haste. The fowl has no teeth to eat the bone, so the dog will get it when it drops. (ok I had to paraphrase this one)

8. A bird has to trot before it can fly.

9. A man cannot stop drinking water because his son drowned in the river.

10. To bury a mad dog let the tail enter the hole first.

11. The Gbunu face of a billy goat cannot prevent the owner from selling it.

12. All for God (not a proverb but definitely a sentiment shared by the majority of the town)

Answers:

1. An easy one to start! This one is fairly obvious: it's comparable to the English expression "like father, like son." When I was told this one I commented "man, that's kinda depressing" but I think the comment was lost...

2. Another easy one. Remember where you came from and always appreciate it (usually in the form of respecting and loving your parents).

3. This one is tricky, and definitely one of the weirder expressions I heard. The meaning is "don't make judgements or assumptions without evidence", a good motto for everyone!

4. Same as in English.

5. Haha, this one took a while to explain. I got it from an old man who'd had too much pito (he was pretty drunk) and asked me to marry him at least 4 times in 15 minutes. Anyway, it was a funny expression so I persisted to find the meaning. The explanation went like this:
Old Man: "so you know donkey, right?"
Me: "right"
OM: "and you know donkeys are evil, right?"
Me: "ok..."
OM: "and the donkey wants to have horns like a cow, right?"
Me: "sure..."
OM: "but since the donkey is evil, if it had horns it would kill people"
Me: "so cows want to kill people?"
OM: "no no, cows are not evil. Donkeys are evil!"
Me: "oh ok. So... what does that mean?"
OM: "if you want something but you have evil intentions, no one will give that thing to you."
Me: "wow, I would never have got that..."
Haha, so that's the story. Did you guess that one?

6. Small people can do big things

7. Be patient with opportunities that you know will come around to you eventually. Don't hassle people unnecessarily when you know you will benefit in the end. Let them enjoy themselves and wait for your turn.

8. Pretty straight-forward. This was actually used to describe a program we are implementing here at work, when we were looking for results too soon after the program was started.

9. Don't let difficulties deter you from the life you want to live. Be practical.

10. Yeah a kid told me this one and I think he just thought it was funny... I don't actually know if there's a lesson here or not.

11. "Gbunu" apparently means something like "to make ones face ugly". So the meaning is even if you try to make yourself seem undesirable, you may still have to do things you don't want to do.

12. Bonus track - do you dig it?

And that's all folks! I hope this has helped you to learn something of Dagaare culture! Post any comments or questions freely and keep in touch!