SIRONGA PROVERBS. 413 



75. U na sisaka mu ? 



" What custom have you? " 



Suppose that a man has done something, and tries to hide 

 it. You ask him this question, implying that this is not 

 the first time that this has occurred. It is understood to 

 be a strong phrase, and will be resented. 



76. Hi kumani ka ^nxiri a yaka yindlo. 



He finds a tree and makes a house (of it)." 

 Used of a man who has no fixed abode, whom one never 

 knows where to find. The tree stands for any place he 

 lives in for a short ,time. 



77. Atuba di kukulukeln ansatini. 



The dove coos to its mate." 



Quite idyllic, but, alas ! only apparently so. This 

 is said to someone who is always troubling you, tell- 

 ing you to do this or that. We may paraphrase: " You 

 are not my wife (or husband); you have no right to talk 

 ,.„,^i to me like this ! ' ' 



78. XJ laheli ku yambala. 



You bought it to wear." Cp. " You have made 

 your own bed and must lie on it." 



Said to someone who is oppressed by trouble of his own 

 making, 



79. Atihabu ti hlekana makoba. 



The monkeys laugh at each other's thin stomachs." 

 (and do not see their own). Fat monkeys are 

 not to be found. 



The pot calls the kettle black. 



80. Amukohwana i nyonga ya ndlopfu. 



" A relative by marriage is an elephant's hip." 



This alludes to the feeling of restraint, or exaggerated 

 respect almost amounting to fear, felt by BaRonga for 

 their relatives by marriage. Someone is killing a goat to 

 feast such a relative who has called at the kraal. He is 

 asked why he is doing so, and replies, " Hi ta ku yi? 

 amukohwana i nyonga ya ndlopfu," i.e., is very big, an 

 important person. 



81. Sikhongolotana sa nsindisa. 



The centipede of trouble. 



You may throw a centipede away, but it^ keeps on coming 



back, so if people keep on making trouble, you call them 



centipedes of trouble," or " troublesome centipedes." 



