Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/79

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Hausa Proverbs
67

380 Talaala mai kamman sekk-ye, nesa mai kamman kussa. Talaala is like being loose^ as if a far away thing were close. To an animal to be tied with a long string, which it does not notice, is like being untied. Ya yi masu talaala, he watches them unawares. 381 Maduki kussa, macheto nesa. The striker near, the refuge far. 382 Abin duk da kaza achikkin chi'n danko. It is all the same to a hen what rubber it eats (for it does not eat rubber at all). It is all the same to me. 383 Bakkai'n gizzu, shi ba Allah ba, shi ya hanna Allah rua. The spider's web is not Allah, but it prevents the rain falling. The heavy black clouds that hang about before a tornado are supposed to be like a spider's web and to prevent rain from falling. 384 Taffia'n itachi'n kaddangari. Good intentions. The lizard, when it feels cold at night, says to itself " to-morrow I will find a smouldering tree to sleep in so that I shall be warm." Next day when it basks in the sun it forgets and does not do it ; the consequence is that it feels cold again next night. 385 Mahasadda kuna zatto'n fari, Allah ya sakko da rua. slanderers, you think a thing is white (withered), but Allah will freshen it with water. Slanderers do a man great harm by their slander, but Allah will put it right.