Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/22

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10
Hausa Proverbs

5 Rua ba su yami banza.

Water does not get bitter without a cause.
There is reason for everything.

6 Kadda gammu ya birkitchi maidemmi.

Don't let the gammu upset the carrier of a bundle of corn.
Don't let the gammu become so big that it eventually gets bigger than the load that is being carried.
Don't keep on giving things away until you become the poor man and the man to whom you give the rich one.
Don't keep on giving your subordinates more and more power until at length they are more powerful than you are.
Gammu, the pad the carrier puts between his head and his load. It is usually a small cushion stuffed with chaff or cotton, sometimes merely twisted grass.

7 Yawa shi kan sa zarre ya ja duchi.

Quantity makes the cotton draw a stone.
Unity is strength.

8 Makafo ya rassa ido, ya che ido na wari.

The blind man lacks eyes, he says eyes stink.
Na might perhaps be written 'na, as it is the abbreviation of yana, tana, &c., or rather it is more usually used in conjunction with a personal pronoun than by itself.
Sour grapes.

9 Maidoki ya koma kutarr.

How are the mighty fallen.