THE WIT AND WISDOM OK TTIK I'.ANTU. 333 



lomhlnsi zvamanqina, a misfortune to the shank-soup — a dish 

 o^reatly prized — (he is a disg'racc to the family). On the other 

 hand, ndisaya kiiba ngmnntu, I shall still be a man, is uttered 

 with deep feeling by one who is recovering^ health after severe 

 illness or status after a fall, or happiness — ^as through a second 

 marriage — after bereavement. 



And what of Woman ? You can't eat the eyes of a woman as 

 you can those of an ox (" Beauty is skin-deep'"). Not her face 

 but her heart is comely (" She's better than she's bonny"). A 

 woman is a mimosa tree that yields gum all day long, say the 

 Kaffirs, who are as fond of chewing-gum as the Yankees. The 

 real home is the women's courtyard (" The hand that rocks the 

 cradle rules the world"). He has not married a woman — she 

 is a man, is the highest possible commendation. Then the other 

 side: "A man's Yes is Yes, but a woman's Yes is often No." 

 ZiyaV abantu, ziye ehantzvini, they refuse people, yet they go to 

 people (Though they jilt one they will wed another; there are 

 few old maids in Kaffirland). Women's gossip breeds civil wars, 

 they say; or a woman will set kraals a-quarrelling {" Cherche2 

 la femme"). You know the great ground hornbill or bromvogel 

 that stalks across the veld in the Eastern Districts (looking for 

 rain, the natives say). Well, the female l)ird, according to the 

 Zulus, says, in a high, |:)iping voice; ngiyanttika, ngiyaninku, ngiya 

 kwabct'U (" I am going off, I am going off, I am going to my 

 people"). " Hamba. hamba," responds the male iu a deep bass, 

 kade itsitslio (" (to then, go then; you have been saying that for 

 a long time "). 



Of love they have not niuch to say. Marriages v\ith them 

 are, or used to be, mainly marriages for convenience, and were 

 arranged mostly by parents and guardians. Of lovers, friends, or 

 things that are inseparable, they say ; vgiimti ncxolo, it's the tree 

 and the Ijark ; lugwayi ncntlaba, it's the tobacco and the aloes 

 (which were always mixed to make snuff) ; ngumtya netmiga, it's 

 the riem and the pail (the riem for tying the cow's legs and 

 the ]:)ail for milking her into). Akusoka liiigrnasici. there is 

 no suitor without some defect ; akungcrjc lirigciiasiyiko, there is 

 no handsomest fellow without some blemish, they say ; but they 

 say also; there is no raven so bad but some would love it. Ingxm 

 idla nganiabala ayo. the. leopard shows off by its spots ("Look 

 your best when you go a-courting '"). The bridegroom's bottle 

 goes round freely (courtship is an expensive business). The 

 monkey's son-in-law eats what the monkey eats (It is well to 

 keep in with the old folk). Happy is she who has a daughter, 

 for a boy is the scni of his mother-in-law — 



•' My son is my son till he get him a wife ; 

 My daughter's my daughter all the days of her life.'" 



On Parent and 'Child. 



Ukzi'anda kzvaliiva ngwntakati, family increase is forbidden 

 by the wizard, is said by way of compliment to the father of a 



