Liberian Proverbs
Liberian Literary Magazine
Liberian Proverbs
1. The fowl digs out the blade that kills it. The chicken is noted for digging; it digs all day long and just about anywhere, it can penetrate. Normally, inquisitive children are warned using this proverb. The lesson they try to teach them is that it is not good to dig into things that are not of one’ s concern. Having an inquiring mind is good but to go poking in other people’ s business is not. This could lead to one’ s own demise.
2. The friend of a fool is a fool. We say that birds of the same fly together. A foolish person keeps company with others that thinks like him. They think alike and are easily able to form a bond of friendship. It is then logical to see why a fool will befriend another foolish person. For one to think that all one’ s friends are fools and one is not, is foolish.
3. The friend of a wise person is another wise person. This is the quite opposite of the parable about a fool’ s friends being fools. A wise person seeks otherwise people to befriend and learn from; this enriches their knowledge. It pays to be friends of wise people.
4. The hand of the young does not reach to the high shelf; but that of the elder does. Again, we see experience and respect interplaying. There are many things the young may not know or be able to do but the elders can easily do because of their knowledge and experience. Thus, it serves us well to render them their respect.
5. The heart has no bone in it. Our hearts are fragile and as such, we should treat it carefully. Some people do not care for others and they treat them like trash. They break their hearts, forgetting that it contains no literal bones to resist such fall / hurt.
6. The hunter does not rub himself in oil and lie by the fire to sleep. If a problem is so obvious, it is unwise to go looking for it. The smart thing to do would be to avoid it. The potential of causing a trouble is enough to dissuade a wise person. In this case, the hunter knows the risk of catching on fire is high if he went to sleep in the forest right next to a fire. Especially if he has rubbed oil on him.
Promoting Liberian Literature, Arts and Culture
Excerpted from The Elder’ s Wisdom
7. The hen comes from the egg and the egg comes from the hen. The intent here is not to solve the problem of which comes before the other-the hen or the egg. It serves to show a connection. If there is one, then there must be the other. It is a classic example of the circular nature of some things in life. Alternatively, it could mean that a hen lays an egg, which in turn, turns into a hen. When used in regards to behavior, it means one should expect a child to manifest characters of its mother.
8. The house of a person we love is never far. We are not referring to literal distance here. When we love people, we find every time to spend it with them, thus, their home is never far from us. The frequency of our visits neglects the actual distance.
9. The hunter does not rub himself in oil and lie by the fire to sleep. If a problem is so obvious, it is unwise to go looking for it. The smart thing to do would be to avoid it. The potential of causing a trouble is enough to dissuade a wise person. In this case, the hunter knows the risk of catching on fire is high if he went to sleep in the forest right next to a fire. Especially if he has rubbed oil on him.
10. The hunter in pursuit of an elephant does not stop to throw stones at birds. A wise person knows how to keep his / her focus. There are many things in life to distract us but if we keep our minds set to our task, we shall succeed. Imagine the irony here. The possibility of catching a large elephant is closing in, and then one loses focus and starts hunting a bird. The gains of the first action are far in excess of the second. Only a fool would risk losing an elephant for a bird; no matter how big the bird is it will never be bigger than an even a baby elephant.
11. The hyena does not forget where it has hidden its kill. The things that are important to us, we keep them close to our hearts. When the hyena hides its food, it must remember the location for when it needs it later otherwise it will starve. Similarly, a child does not forget its home. Its home is where food is.
12. The law is like a biscuit( cracker).
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