Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/36

81 Aboki'n gammi'n masa suré.

Māsa, baked cakes; we should call them pancakes.

Suré, a herb used in their seasoning.

Exactly the same meaning as 79.

82 Tumbi ba shi ki'n sanfo.

The guts don't refuse (or object to) a basket.

Same meaning as the last three.

83 Dei-dei dei-dei kunua'n doki.

A case of six of one and half a dozen of the other.

84 Halli zani'n duchi ne, ba mai iya shafewa, ba mai iya shafeyshi.

Disposition (or a man's nature) is like the grain of stone, no one can rub it out or efface it.

85 Albassa ba ta balli'n rua.

The nature of an onion and water are different (though one grows by the help of the other).

86 Kowa da rananshi, mai ido daia ya léka buta.

Every one has his peculiarities, a man with one eye squints down the mouth of a buta.

Buta, another word for gora, a water bottle.

87 Halli ya rigaya foro, halli'n mutum kowa da nasa.

A man's disposition, or nature, precedes his education, and every one has his own.

88 Tun randa akayi ginni, ranan akayi zāni.

The marks on the mud wall are made at the same time as the wall.

As walls are built up of mud, which is laid on a handful at a time, the marks of the fingers are all over the surface, and when the mud dries they remain there.

The same meaning as the last. You can't change the leopard's spots.