By Hope O’Rukevbe EGHAGHA
The great story teller, moralist, and cultural icon of African values Chinua Achebe says that among the Igbo ‘proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten. Can you beat that? Anyone who appreciates palm oil would immediately catch the meaning of this assertion. In a sense, this applies to every African community in different degrees. This underscores the primacy of proverbs in conversations in a typical African setting.
‘A proverb is a brief, simple, traditional saying that gives advice based on practical experience, often in the form of a metaphor or allegory Proverbs are popular in spoken language, and form part of the folklore of a culture, passing down the generations. Often, we transliterate them they lose the beauty. There are hardly direct equivalents in the English language.
Proverbs are used to pass a message across sometimes on very sensitive topics. There are proverbs about/on warning, encouragement and inspiration, women, adultery, polygamy, leadership, reaffirmation of communal values, stealing, hard work, social responsibility, foolish behaviour, and youthfulness.
There is a proverb about proverbs. Our elders say that ‘the wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat.” Again, our elders in their wisdom say that ‘all heads are the same but all thoughts are not the same! Or, ‘a child cannot laugh at the ugliness of its mother. And ‘he who cannot dance will say ‘the drum is not good!
Indeed, whole conversations can be sustained through the use and application of proverbs. For example, JAKO the first son says that ‘I did not know my father had died. OKOME the second son replies ‘I have harvested two hundred tubers of yams for the funeral.
Proverbs are often nuanced in meaning, broad in application, and succinct in meaning. Some have become outdated in terms of object-referencing. For example, ‘the buttocks that stay long in the pit latrine will be visited by all kinds of flies. Often when I engage my students on proverbs, they are at a loss about ‘pit latrine.
Some proverbs express values which are geographically, religiously or sociologically specific. For example, the Somali proverb ‘if a man treats his first wife, God will bless him with another wife. Hehehehehe! The implication of this proverb is anathema to most youths of the day. But anytime I make an illustration with it, it stimulates a passionate conversation, from the profound to the ridiculous. A student actually said why do I need another wife when side chicks are available! Another student the cheeky devil among them asked ‘will God give me the money to feed two wives?
Politicians also apply wise sayings too. Once the then Sole Administrator of East Central State, the Ajie Ukpabi Asika warned ‘ex-this and ex-that to shut up. The great Zik of Africa Dr, Nnamdi Azikiwe responded ‘on one of those vehicles that ply our roads is written ‘no condition is permanent’. And indeed, his ‘prophetic’ reply came to pass when the military kicked out Ukpabi Asika in 1975.
So, today we are going to have a conversation about proverbs in proverbs. A tough task, isn’t it?
JAKO: The lion has entered the forest!
OKOME: A lion that cannot pounce is not a lion
JAKO: Our elders say that ‘we should learn to do away with masks that we can no longer use!
OKOME: True. ‘Even the best dancer on the stage must retire sometime’. But our old and sickly king has refused to cede the throne to his first son. He has spent years in Japan searching for a cure for old age!
JAKO: Don’t trouble yourself about our king. Our elders say that ‘ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off.”
OKOME: Yes, ‘it’s a stubborn fly that accompanies a corpse to the grave!
JAKO:
OKOME: It is our wise elders who said that “if while climbing a tree you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you.
JAKO: Have you heard about what happened in the house of Chief Okoro?
OKOME: What has the ear not heard before? Ears are used to hearing bad news all the time, that is why as we grow old the capacity of the ear to hear diminishes by the day!
JAKO: Chief Okoro died and within a day he was buried by the elders!
OKOME: It is the same elders that say that ‘elders don’t waste time in burying a man whose widow has big buttocks!
JAKO: They shall reap what they have sowed. “One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom.
OKOME: They will not listen when we tell them that evil is bad. But advice is a stranger; if he’s welcome, he stays for the night; if not, he leaves the same day.
JAKO: He who thinks he is a leader and has no one following him is only taking a walk
OKOME: Even the fiercest leader in the world is overcome by sleep.
JAKO: But they are blaming the people for electing bad leaders!
OKOME: I am not surprised. When ‘the buttocks foul the air, it is the head that suffers a knock.
JAKO: But they should know that it is “other people’s wisdom that prevents the king from being called a fool.
OKOME: It is not a good thing to have a foolish king. When a fool occupies the throne, foolishness will spread all over the land.
JAKO: Having jesters or sycophants as advisers makes the king look like a clown.
OKOME: That is why our elders say that ‘an intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend
JAKO: It is better to give birth to a thief than give birth to a stupid child.
OKOME: Our elders have a way of reasoning that is deep.
JAKO: Wisdom distilled from experience.
In the new world, these proverbs are gradually disappearing. I didn’t appreciate proverbs until our GST lecturer introduced us to them. He gave us an assignment to bring proverbs from home. War! My late father gave me some and directed me to some senior persons in the town.
So, proverbs are used to subtly convey a message that otherwise would be unpleasant. Like the Persian saying that ‘a thief is a king until he is caught! Am I communication?
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