Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/28

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16
Hausa Proverbs

37 Enna darra'n gammi.

Might be said to a man who claims to have met you before and you deny it; it is as if one said, "How can I have met you, it would be as easy for the pebbles of the darra board to meet."
The idea is, I think, that as the pebbles in the game of darra are separated by the partitions of the board, so have you been from the man you are speaking to.
Darra is universal throughout the Central Sudan. The board is made either of wood or is merely a double row of holes in the ground. Small brass models of darra boards are among the many Ashanti "weights."

38 Zua da kai wonda ya fi sako.

Going oneself is what is better than a substitute.
The master's eye. Personal supervision.

39 Sai anbatta akan nemi mashiggi.

One only seeks a guide when one has lost the road.
Mashiggi, a guide.

40 Zaki ba na seye ba, ba a-rena gwanda'n daji.

Sweet food that has cost you nothing is not to be despised even if it is only a bush pawpaw.
Zaki has the guttural "kaf," and means sweet food.

41 Gaadu ba na uwa ba, ba na uba ba, en anbaka alura ka godé.

An inheritance, which does not come either from your mother or your father, you are thankful for it even if it is only a needle.