Gikuyu Proverbs I

I

186. Igai rĩa mũtũndũ rĩtigiragia kĩrĩti kiunwo

• • Literal translation: A branch of ‘mũtũndũ’ does not hinder the division of a field.
  • Contextual note: ‘Mũtũndũ’ is a small tree growing in the bush. It is not used by the natives, except as firewood.

187. Igego rĩthekagia itimũ

• • Literal translation: The tooth laughs with the lance.
  • Contextual note: It means that oftern a person plays with his enemy.
  • English equivalent: The cat plays with the mouse.

188. Igwa njĩthĩ itirĩ njohi

• • Literal translation: Young sugar-cane gives no beer.
  • English equivalent: There is no putting old heads on young shoulders.

189. Ihenya inene riunaga gĩkwa ihatha

• • Literal translation: Great haste breaks the yam tuber (instead of taking it out whole).
  • English equivalent: Haste makes waste.

190. Ihĩĩ na igwa ikũragĩra ũthũ-inĩ

• • Literal translation: Boys and sugar-cane grow up as enemies (because boys are all the time eating sugar-cane).

191. Ihiga rĩega rĩtiringanaga na thĩo njega

• • Literal translation: A good millstone does not meet a good miller.

192. Ikinya na thĩ itiaganaga

• • Literal translation: The foot and the earth cannot help meeting.
  • English: Some things will always happen the same way.

193. Ikinya rĩa mũkũrũ rĩkinyaga mũruna

• • Literal translation: Old people’s walking teaches young ones to walk.
  • English equivalent: That comes of a cat will catch mice.

194. Ikũũra inya na inyanya

• • Literal translation: One can lose four and eight.
  • English equivalent: All covet all lose.

195. Indo ciene irĩ mũtino

• • Literal translation: Stolen things bring in misfortune.
  • English equivalent: Ill gotten goods seldom prosper.

196. Indo nĩ kũrĩmithanio

• • Literal translation: Riches are found in cultivating together.
  • English equivalent: Many hands make light work.

197. Irĩaga na mbugi kũrĩ na ũgwati

• • Literal translation: The goats pasture with bells hanging from their necks in order not to stray.

198. Irĩ gũthua ndongoria itikinyagĩra nyeki

• • Literal translation: If the first goat goes lame, those that follow will not reach the pasture.
  • English equivalent: Ill examples are like contagious diseases.

199. Irĩ gwĩthamba iticokaga gwota mwaki

• • Literal translation: Candidates for circumcision after washing do not return to warm themselves at their father’s (but go straightaway to the place of the ceremony to show their courage).
  • English equivalent: In things that must be it is good to be resolute.

200. Iri kanua itirĩ nda

• • Literal translation: The food that is in the mouth is not yet in the belly.
  • English equivalent: Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

201. Irĩ kũhĩa itioragĩrwo

• • Literal translation: When the food is cooked there is no need to wait before eating it.

202. Irĩ ũkabi itirĩ Gĩkũyũ

• • Literal translation: What is in Masai is not in Kikuyu.
  • English equivalent: There is many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.

203. Irima rĩrekagia rĩemba

• • Literal translation: The pit allows the grass to fall in.
  • Contextual note: The proverb alludes to the pits the Kikuyu used to dig for trapping wild animals. These pits were covered with sticks over which, as well as over borders, they put a layer of grass. Since this grass often fell in the pit through the spaces between the sticks, so they say that often one falls into the pit dug by himself.
  • English equivalent: Hoist with his own petard.

204. Irimũ ikenagĩra ũndũ mũru

• • Literal translation: Fools rejoice for a bad thing.
  • English equivalent: A fool will laugh when he is drowning.

205. Irio hĩu itiumaga mbũri

• • Literal translation: Cooked food is not sold for goats (but is given to friends visitors and pilgrims).
  • English equivalent: God helps the poor for the rich can help themselves.

206. Ita cia maitho ititĩraga

• • Literal translation: The war of the eyes never comes to an end.
  • English equivalent: The eye is never satisfied with seeing.

207. Ita itarĩ ndundu ititahaga

• • Literal translation: The war that has no unity will make no prey.

208. Ithaga rĩene rĩnogagia ngingo

• • Literal translation: Other’s ornaments tire one’s neck.
  • English equivalent: Do not wear borrowed plumes.

209. Ithare rĩagũka gũcokaga mũgumo

• • Literal translation: When ‘ithare’ is uprooted ‘mũgumo’ grows in its place.
  • Contextual note: ‘Ithare’ is a kind of a cane growing on the riverbanks. The Kikuyu say it is of no use. ‘Mũgumo’ is a kind of a fig tree (Ficus Hochstetteri), which does not grow except leaning on another tree or twisting around it like a creeper. This is why they think that the ‘mũgumo’ is worse than the ‘ithare’.

210. Ithe wa thaka ndarĩ matũ

• • Literal translation: A fair daughter’s father has no ears.
  • Contextual note: The father who wants to marry his daughter to the best among the young men who crowd his hut to woo her, turns a deaf ear on their foul words.
  • English equivalent: Few men will be better than their interest bids them.

211. Itherũ rĩtiringaga ini

• • Literal translation: A joke must not hit the belly.
  • Contextual note: The proverb means that there must be a limit also in joking.
  • English equivalent: The jest is tolerable, but to do harm by jest is insufferable.

212. Itherũ rĩtirutagĩrwo mũguĩ

• • Literal translation: For a jest one should not take the arrow out of the quiver.

213. Itherũ riumaga mbaara

• • Literal translation: From a jest comes a strife.
  • English equivalent: Jests, like sweetmeats, have often sour sauce.

214. Itherũ rĩũragaga ndebe

• • Literal translation: A joke can break the earring.
  • English equivalent: An ill-timed jest has ruined many.

215. Itherũ ti mũguĩ

• • Literal translation: A trick is not an arrow.
  • English equivalent: Good jests bite like lambs not like dogs.

216. Itonga igĩrĩ itirĩ nyoni

• • Literal translation: Two rich persons do not wish each other a bird of ill omen.
  • English equivalent: Dog will not eat dog.

217. Itonga irugaga na ngĩo

• • Literal translation: Rich people cook their food in a potsherd.
  • English equivalent: The tailor’s wife is worst clad.

218. Itũũra rĩrĩ kanoro rĩtituhagia kahiũ

• • Literal translation: The village, which has got a whetstone, does not blunt the knife.
  • Contextual note: The sense of the proverb is that if in a village there is a good whetstone it does not mean that the villagers should purposely blunt their tools in order to whet them. The time will come when the whetstone will have to be used.
  • English equivalent: Every thing is good in its season.

219. Ithĩnjĩro rĩtiagaga thakame

• • Literal translation: A slaughterhouse is not without a little blood.
  • English equivalent: Touch pitch, and you’ll be defiled.