Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/22

10 5 Rua ba su yami banza.
 * Water does not get bitter without a cause.
 * There is reason for everything.

6 Kadda gammu ya birkitchi maidemmi.
 * Don't let the gammu upset the carrier of a bundle of corn.
 * Don't let the gammu become so big that it eventually gets bigger than the load that is being carried.
 * Don't keep on giving things away until you become the poor man and the man to whom you give the rich one.
 * Don't keep on giving your subordinates more and more power until at length they are more powerful than you are.
 * Gammu, the pad the carrier puts between his head and his load. It is usually a small cushion stuffed with chaff or cotton, sometimes merely twisted grass.

7 Yawa shi kan sa zarre ya ja duchi.
 * Quantity makes the cotton draw a stone.
 * Unity is strength.

8 Makafo ya rassa ido, ya che ido na wari.
 * The blind man lacks eyes, he says eyes stink.
 * Na might perhaps be written 'na, as it is the abbreviation of yana, tana, &c., or rather it is more usually used in conjunction with a personal pronoun than by itself.
 * Sour grapes.

9 Maidoki ya koma kutarr.
 * How are the mighty fallen.