ChaiMe
03-16-2007, 04:57 PM
Hi All,
I've just finished re-reading a book, a thriller called The Living Blood by Tananarive Due. I read this book several years ago, but didn't notice all the African Proverbs/Sayings throughout the book. I counted six this time:
1 - "Magic will destroy its master in the end" --in the story it's credited as a Zulu proverb
2 - "Don't trade your sister for an ox" --one character of Zulu heritage recalls this saying from his youth
3 - "The mantis is watching the butterfly.
The shrike is watching the mantis." ---sited as a proverb from Botswana
4 - "It takes a village to raise a child"
5 - "A hare meeting a lioness one day
said reproachfully, "I have always
a great number of children, while
you have but one or two now and then."
The lioness replied, "It is true,
but my one child is a lion." --sited as an Ethiopian fable
6 - "Things fall apart". --title of a book by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, but used more
as a saying/truism during great crises.
I've just finished re-reading a book, a thriller called The Living Blood by Tananarive Due. I read this book several years ago, but didn't notice all the African Proverbs/Sayings throughout the book. I counted six this time:
1 - "Magic will destroy its master in the end" --in the story it's credited as a Zulu proverb
2 - "Don't trade your sister for an ox" --one character of Zulu heritage recalls this saying from his youth
3 - "The mantis is watching the butterfly.
The shrike is watching the mantis." ---sited as a proverb from Botswana
4 - "It takes a village to raise a child"
5 - "A hare meeting a lioness one day
said reproachfully, "I have always
a great number of children, while
you have but one or two now and then."
The lioness replied, "It is true,
but my one child is a lion." --sited as an Ethiopian fable
6 - "Things fall apart". --title of a book by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, but used more
as a saying/truism during great crises.