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Hausa Proverbs
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10 Na dumka riga babu wuya, wonda ya yanka wuya shi sa ma kainshi.
- I have sewn a riga without a neck, let him who cuts a neck for it put it on.
- The riga is a shirt with a hole at the top for the head to be put through: if made without this wuya or neck, one would have to be cut before the riga could be put on.
- If the cap fits put it on.
11 Ba don "riga'n domin" ba, da mutum ya mutu masiachi.
- If it were not for riga'n domin a man (a fellow) would die poor.
- Riga'n domin, because of some one else, for some one else's sake, through some one else's influence.
- Na shigga "riga'n domin" wuri'n Abdu.
- I got it through Abdu.
12 Ba na fassa randa'n daki ba, na waje ba ta shigga ba.
- I won't break the randa of the house until the one outside (new one) has been brought in.
- Don't be off with the old love until you are on with the new.
- This might very well be said to a guide, who asks if he may go when the village to which he is guiding you is reached: meaning, "I can't let you go until I get another guide, for otherwise I may be left without any one at all."
- Randa, a big water jar about 2 ft. high, which always stands in the "gidda": it is too big to be conveniently carried, and if moved when full would probably break.
