Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/56

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Hausa Proverbs

226 Mai doki ya clie clokinsa ya mutu, berri dan chiawa. If the owner of the liorse tells us that his horse is dead, how much sooner will the boy who cuts grass for it (for his work is finished). 227 Ban aike fara debo mia, bale ta kawo minny yokee. I did not want you to do this, much less that you should have had all this trouble. I don't send a locust to fetch mia much less to fetch yokee. Yokee, the sticky inside of a kubewa or calabash. To carry mia w'ould be a hard enough task for a locust, but to carry yokee would be worse. Kubewa ya yi yokee, the kubewa's juice is running. Yana yokee, of the slow movements of a man who is weak or weary. 228 Kwoi ya yi wayo, bale dan chiako. If the egg is " smart," how much more so is the young chicken. 229 Sai anclii moreean ganga, saanan akan yadda kwongo. Only when you have got the profits of drumming will you throw away the hwongo. To suck an orange dry. To desert a friend when he is of no further use to you. Kwongo, the wooden frame of a drum. 230 Kworria wonda akaginna rijia, ba a shan rua da slii. The calabash vv'ith which the well has been dug, water is not drunk from it. When a well is being dug the earth is drawn up to the top in calabashes. To cast aside old friends who have served their turn.