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.
