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More Lugbara Proverbs: |
Don't sing while eating at the table, you may choke! |
Don't sit in the road or else your mother will die! |
Don't sit on the atuluku [fireplace] or else you will remain short (Sometimes, it may be hot and burn you)! |
Don't wear the itisi [coiled cloth or other material on which a pot is put while being carried on the head] around your foot or hand. In other words, don't play with it so that it doesn't get spoilt or stuck on your hand! |
He who has a hairy bottom should not jump over fire! |
If you escort a visitor for a long distance from your home, then s/he may take long to re-visit you. |
Ombadra wanted to go to war first before eating his meat, but died fighting. |
The Heaviest Thing you can carry is a grudge. |
The pot breaks at the door. |
When you eat meat or drink milk, don't let them remain around your mouth so that they don't smell (Clean yourself)! |
In the Book Lugbara Proverbs, Fr. A. T. Dalfovo collects some nine hundred (900) Proverbs of the Lugbara People of northwestern Uganda. Dalfovo collected 22 Proverbs having a personal Name as their Subject like Ajia, Badigo, Cuku, Guzu, Ngungu, Ombadra, Yangi, etc. Below are a few others I copied in the order I found them in his Book prefaced by John Middleton (Yale University): |
The worth of a cattle-pen ensues from the cattle = The worth of a home is given by its people. |
The verandah floor is clean because of people moving to and fro and sweeping it clean with their feet... |
Man is the ediafe [pole] of the house... |
Fear is the dress of women... |
A girl should creep to be like the erindi grass (which spreads over the ground) = A woman should proliferate and spread by her many offsprings. |
The kite does not take the orphan = No hope for sudden change in the condition of an orphan. |
What is looked for in vain is a brother = Having a real brother guarantees the solution to any problem. |
The shea butter nuts fall under the shea butter tree = A person naturally falls in with his relations. |
Different maternal aunts is something bad = Because of the influence and esteem they enjoy, maternal aunts can be a potential source of division. |
People come to know of things at the place of their maternal uncles... |
The bellow of cattle is the cry of women... |
The cattle-pen near the house means people... |
The poor man sleeps alone in the house... |
A single one looks with the eyes... |
The colour of a visitor is shyness... |
The grass on his grave grows tall = There is no relative to take care of foreigners. |
There is no wall without supporting poles... |
Beer does not ferment by itself... |
The leader of the song does not sing... |
The one who does not dig does not eat... |
No hoe, no food... |
The hoe does not dig by itself... |
An elephant begets an elephant... |
One does not support a person because of his beautiful hairs = Observation distinguishes between appearance and reality. |
The big termitehill has nothing inside (No termites may be found inside an impressive termitehill)... |
Beneath a potato heap, there is nothing (No potatoes may be found under a potato heap covered with flourishing leaves)... |
You do not allow yourself to be eaten because of a he-goat = A male goat sometimes looks fierce and frightening but can be harmless. |
It is the machete that is used on one side... |
Millet chaff generates millet... |
The old hoe is ever a friend... |
The residue of beer can feed the chickens = One learns where true value lies. |
Man eats from the soil and returns to the soil; death is blind; death knows no friend... |
Co-wives are talkative, weaver-birds are not talkative... |
The unsettled one is the gossipy trickster... |
Push the tongue into your nose... |
The cow that bellows much has no milk... |
No handle, no food... |
Meat burst an elder... |
Death has one leg = When death comes, it does not leave. |
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