CORNELL

UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Cornell University
Library

The
tine

original of

tiiis

book

is in

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the

text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027161961

PN

'-"'^

65195V8R23"""'"'*'

1924 027 161 961

o
PR
I

M
o

02

O
CO

Ph

w Q
W

<i

<5

;^

o
w"
p4

m
an

CM

ASHANTI PROVERBS
(THE PRIMITIVE ETHICS OF A SAVAGE PEOPLE)

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL

WITH

GRAMMATICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES

BY

R.

SUTHERLAND RATTRAY
F.R.G.S., F.R.A.I.

DIPLOME IN ANTHROPOLOGY, OXFOBD

DISTRICT COMMISSIONER, ASHANTl ; QUALIFIED li'TERPBETEB
IN HAUSA, TWI (aSHANTI), CHINYANJA, MOLE

AUTHOR OF

'

HAUSA FOLK-LORE

',

'

CHINYANJA FOLK-LORE

'

WITH A PREFACE BY
SIR

HUGH

CLIFFORD, K.C.M.G.

GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF GOLD COAST COLONY

OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1916

Kb

A^^2.Z^\
OXFOED UNIVEKSITY PEESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YOKK
TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY

HUMPHREY MILFORD

M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITV

PREFACE
In preparing this volume, to which he has asked

me

to

contribute a preface, Mr. Rattray has performed a considerable service to those of us

who

are interested in the Tshi-

speaking people of the Gold Coast, or

the administration of their affairs.

who are concerned in

He has blazed for us

a track through a wilderness which has so far been very

CB imperfectly explored, and has thereby opened the way to

further discoveries.

PM

Much has been

said

and written concerning the

difficulty

which the European mind usually experiences in compre-

Z
^

hendmg

the mentality of Orientals, but

it is

the difficulties which beset a student of

probable that

West African

thought are far greater than any which are experienced in

Asia.

Orientalists of

many

nations have been engaged for

centuries in interpreting the East to the West,

efforts,

more

and

especially during the past fifty years, have

been attended by a certain measure of success.

.

their

All the

great literatures of Asia are to-day accessible to European

scholars,

common.

and familiarity with Oriental languages

The philosophies

their strong appeal to

many

of Asia have not failed

now
to make
is

Europeans, in spite of the fact

that they are, in the main, distinctive products, dissimilar

from anything which the West has evolved on

account.

In the same way,

its

own

democratic theories of govern-

ment, which may be regarded as being

in

some

sort the

exclusive product of the European intellect, have recently

A 2

PREFACE

seemed to hold for modern

Asiatics,

who have been

influ-

enced by Occidental education, a very special fascination.

The

which enshrine the highest thought of the

literatures

East are, however,

little

known

to the

They are the fruit

Asiatic people.

rank and

the popular mind

and

A far

more

by those

who

faithful mirror of

found in the proverbial sayings

to be

is

any

of

of exceptional minds,

as such they are for the most part appreciated

are themselves exceptional.

file

In

with which the vernacular languages of Asia abound.

the East, the every-day talk of even the most

peasants

may

has what

be called, for want of a more

The attitude

exact term, a certain 'literary' flavour.

mind

of the average Oriental

Decrying the present, he

for the past

to

illiterate

of

one of innate conservatism.

is

is filled

with an immense reverence

and for the wisdom which has been transmitted

An

him by unnumbered and forgotten generations.

ancient proverb accordingly possesses a peculiar force and

.cogency in the general estimation

and

is

any

discussion

by reason

summing up

apt to be accepted as a conclusive

that the

upon which

man who

can

it

qiiote

bears.

a distinct advantage over the

And

upon argument.
large as their use

is

Asiatic peasant

as

is,

the

it

man who

number

constant.

these aphorisms; his

Thus

has in debate

of its antiquity,

it

among

at once guided

much

of

to pass

Orientals

relies principally

of these proverbs is as

The speech

of the average

were, a sort of mosaic composed of

mind

passes from one to another of

them, as pieces are moved upon a chess-board

is

comes

and confined by them

and

his

thought

it is

not too

to say that no one can use a vernacular language of

the East with force and finish unless these wise saws have

become for him part of his mental furniture.

From them

moreover, far more than from the literatures of Asia,

is

an


PREFACE

understanding to be gained of the soul of the people, their

and

character,

their philosophy.

If this be so in the East, it is pre-eminently the case

in

West

Africa,

where no

literatures exist to record the

matured thought and wisdom of the

which the centuries have produced

finest local intellects

wherefore a study of

the proverbial sayings of the natives here furnishes the

principal, if

not the only, means whereby an understanding

and mentality may be acquired by

of their character

Europeans.
to

It is

this

which gives a

fact

special

value

books such as this which Mr. Rattray has compiled.

To any one who

is

acquainted with the proverbial wisdom

of the East, the present collection will

appear to lack the

epigrammatic crispness of thought by which the former

people whose sayings Mr. Rattray

Many

minds of the peoples of Asia.

somewhat

be found to be

the meaning of
is

interpreting for us

it

'

and

When

of the aphorisms will

it is

a fool

rather daunting

is

told a proverb,

has to be explained to him

'.

If this

apparently axiomatic to the Tshi-speaking native

West Africa

be applied to the student of Mr. Rattray's

book, few of us,

folly.

cryptic,

dictum that

to find the curt

of

is

from our own more fundamentally than do the

differs

which

is

This perhaps indicates that the mind of the

characterized.

On

it is

to be feared, will escape conviction of

the other hand,

the European

mind

many of

as so trite

the wise saws appear to

and obvious that we should

hardly esteem them worthy to rank as proverbs at

the very outset, therefore,

we

all.

At

discover indications of a wide

discrepancy of mental outlook and appreciation between

ourselves and the people

who have evolved these aphorisms,

a discrepancy which seems to exist not only with regard

to that

which

to us

is

obscure and to them self-evident,

PREFACE

but also with regard to what they recognize as wisdom

and we should be inclined to

I

think, should

whet our

excite our derision.

class as banal truism.

curiosity,

Our task

the workings of the minds

is

to

Both,

and neither should

endeavour to understand

by which

these sayings have

been evolved and of the minds which have adopted them as

expressions
this end

of the collective experience of a people.

ation because

chord in
this

To

nothing can be discarded as unworthy of consider-

us.

it

chances to strike only a faint answering

It is to those

who

are prepared to approach

study in a spirit of earnest and patient inquiry that

commend Mr.

Rattray's collection of proverbs.

HUGH
London,

August

8,

1914.

CLIFFORD.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
In the year 1879 a book of Tshi Proverbs was published
by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society. This work,
which was edited by the late Rev. J. G. Christaller, contained some 3,600 proverbs in use among the negroes of
the Gold Coast, speaking the Asante and Fante language
The collection, to use the words of the compiler, consisted
'

'.

of proverbs,

from

taken down by the missionaries themselves

com^munications of certain elders or of other

the oral

old or younger people, or were written by native assistants

who increased tlieir previous knowledge by learning from,
experienced countrymen
The book in question is entirely in the vernacular. It
does not contain any translation, notes or other explanatory
matter, though had the Editor (the Rev. J. G. Christaller)
lived he would have added a translation and explanation
'.

'

to the proverbs

'.

To the present writer (who, during his four years of

service in Ashanti, had acquired a colloquial knowledge of
it seemed a misfortune that such a store of
and valuable material, and so much 'wit and
tuisdom should have been, for over thirty years, buried in
the comparative obscurity in which such a work must
It must literally be a closed book to all but
needs lie.
a very few persons, confined in this case to those missionaries of West Africa, who can understand and speak the
Twi or Ashanti language, and to their native teachers and

the language),

interesting
',

scholars.

The present

writer, therefore, wrote to the Basel

Missionary Society and asked permission to translate some

Sanction was most kindly given by the
of these proverbs.
Rev. B. Groh. It is therefore to the Basel Mission in

and more particularly to the late Rev. J. G. Christaller (whose name is worthy to rank with that of the late
Dr. Clement Scott, and with that of Mr. A. C. Madan, in
general,


AUTHOR'S NOTE

the field of African linguistic research), to

whom any

thanks from the larger public are now due. The task of
the present writer has been that of commentator and
translator only, from the materials collected by these
pioneers.

The eight hundred odd proverbs given in the present

work have been selected chiefly with a view to showing
1. Some custom, belief, or ethical determinant pure and
simple, which may be of interest to the anthropologist.
:

syntactical construction of
2. Some grammatical or
importance to the student of the language.
The notes that are added after each proverb are also for

these

two

The

classes of readers.

writer would crave the pardon of the former class

of student for these brief notices,

to

'

help out

'

which are only intended

or explain a proverb

when

necessary.

Any

attempt to go very fully into customs which a particular

saying touches on, is beyond the scope and object of the
present work.

An

almost

literal translation of

each proverb has been

work is intended primarily for students of the

language. Some attempt has been made to group the
proverbs chosen from the original work (in which all are
given, as this

alphabetically arranged) under the various heads, suggested

by the

person, animal, object, custom, virtue, or vice, &c.,

round which the saying is woven.

The numbers given at the end of each proverb are those
under which they will be found in the original collection.
From the environment in which these proverbs were
first collected, one might suppose that they would not be
entirely free from missionary influence, hence the present
writer thinks that a few remarks concerning the people
whose sayings are here recorded seem somewhat necessary.

Of the 3,600 proverbs examined some few seem to bear

European influence.
All such have been omitted
from the present work. In translating such as are here
chosen, in no single case has reliance been placed on
the
writer's own knowledge of the language alone.
traces of

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Every saying has been
inquiry

among

verified

and

re-verified

by actual

The

result of

the Ashantis themselves.

these investigations has been peculiarly instructive.

the proverbs herein contained are household words

All

among

whereas to the younger rising generation of

the old people,

educated or semi-educated natives they are often unknown,

and even when repeated to them, unintelligible in many

Further reliance, moreover, may be placed in
them when it is remembered that this collection was
gathered more than thirty years ago, at a time when
education and European influence was not so widely felt as
is the case now.
Again, the field of inquiry wherein the
present writer has sought for widespread verification of
each and all of these sayings is not even that in which they
were originally collected. The dense Ashanti forest north
of Coomassie must have been a terra incognita to the
white man in those days, and it is here the writer's lot is
cast.
It is difficult to realize that it is little more than a
decade since the first European resident came to Coomassie.
These people, the true Ashantis of the forest country,
present the anthropologist with a peculiarly interesting
and hitherto perhaps neglected task.
The general idea
would seem to be that this is a field of research that is so
well trodden by alien feet as to offer little chance or opporinstances.

tunity of retracing thereon the tracks left

by the

original

husbandmen.
They have been described by Ellis, and
Bowdich, and Cruikshank, some will say. They have been
contaminated (for to the anthropologist all civilization
affecting

his

pet

'

'

people or tribe

centuries of civilization,

English.

But

contamination) by

in arguing thus, are they not being confused

in the popular

with whom,

is

French, Portuguese, Dutch, and

mind with the

natives of the Gold Coast,

they are politically one 1 It is further

contended that they must be very far removed from that
pristine state which would entitle them to be called a
it is true,

barbaric people. A casual

acquaintance with them, which is the most that a person
can ever hope to have, who does not speak their tongue,
'

primitive

'

or perhaps even 'a

'

'

AUTHOR'S NOTE

10

and highlydeveloped system of government, that they were armed

with guns, and that they wore clothes. These indications
of European influence that have filtered through from the
Coast Belt proper, from which region, as already suggested,
Europe seems to have derived most of its ideas of the Gold
Coast native, are in reality little more than the thinnest of
thin veneer.
Old and time immemorial customs and beliefs
lie here very close to the surface and even at times right on
the top. The investigator needs only to have that colloquial knowledge of the language which alone is the Open,
Sesame to the native heart and mind.
will

show that they had a more or

less elaborate

'

'

Mention has been made of the Ashanti forest this has

not only served these people as a natural stronghold against
;

them a repuwhich they might not otherwise have

their enemies (and incidentally perhaps given

tation as warriors

gained) but has also reared itself as a barrier against

culture and influence from without.
In remote forest

where generation after generation must have

and died, and carried on custom and tradition from
some very distant period,^ the faint echo of the outside
world is barely felt, or heard, or heeded. Moreover it must
always be remembered in dealing with signs of European
villages,

lived

influence

among the Ashantis

not, in the past,

that any such influence has

been acquired by direct contact with a race

that had settled and conquered among them (as is the

record of Coast civilization), but rather that the foreign
elements in their social system had been voluntarily adopted

by themselves as conquerors, rather than as conquered.

also be said about the high gods or God
of these people, the OnydmS, or Nyankopgh, that figures in
so many of the sayings which follow.
That He is not
a product of missionary influence, as Ellis would have us

A few words may

'

'

believe,^ the present writer is absolutely convinced.

The writer has dug up neolithic axe-heads in and near many Ashanti
Vide paper on the Ejura celts by Profossor H. Balfour in

villages.

October 1912, Journal of African

2

The

Vide The Tski-Speakiny

Society.

Peoples qfthe Qold Coast, chnp.

iii.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Major

with

11

due acknowledgement to his great

had not, as far as can be
judged from his writings, eVen a pretension to be an
accomplished linguist in the Twi or Ashanti language, and
must have relied for much of his information on his interpreters.
Again, he was dealing with a people who had been
under the influence of civilization for hundreds of years,
and must have so continually been confronted with evidences
of this contact that he would be perhaps all too ready to
class as exotic the faintest suspicion of any similarity in
the native customs and beliefs to those of the European
with whom they had so long been in direct communion.
What the present writer has found to be the case with
regard to most of these sayings, namely that they appear
known to the old Ashanti men and women, and strange or
unknown among the young and civilized community, he
has also found to be the case with reference to all inquiries
late

Ellis,

all

ability in this field of research

concerning their belief in a Supreme Being.

The most

(as

one would suppose) bigoted and adverse to all Christian

influence will be the fetish priests and the old people, who
are content to live their lives in the remote

bush villages,
not mingling with, or caring about, the new world which
is awaking for the younger generation
but it is this very
'

'

class,

among whom

the writer has

many

real friends,

who

are surprised if one questions their right to possess

and
have possessed their own High God; yet this belief in
a Supreme Being marches side by side with that mode of
thought in which mankind, the beasts, and, to their mind,
animate nature, are all very much akin. That the present
religion (using that word even in the wide sense of Tjfylor's

minimum definition of these people, which is known by

much misleading term fetish worship is a degenerate
form of some much higher cult, perhaps even monotheistic,
'

')

that

'

',

seems to be indicated.

These few words the present writer has felt in duty

bound to say, lest the reader, astonished at the words of
wisdom which are now to follow, refuse to credit that
a

'

savage

'

or

'

primitive

'

people

could

possibly

have

AUTHOR'S NOTE

13

rude

possessed the

philosophers,

naturalists, and even,

theologians,

moralists,

will be seen, philologists,

it

which

many

of these proverbs prove them to have had among

them.
These sayings would seem to be, to the writer, the very
soul of this people, as of a truth all such sayings really are.
They contain some thought which, when one, more eloquent
in the tribe than another, has expressed in words, all

who

are of that people recognize at once as something which

they knew full well already, which all the instinct of their
lives and thoughts and traditions tells them to be true to
their

own

nature.

In most cases these sayings explain themselves. Perhaps

one man will give one interpretation, one another, even
One of another race will almost cerin the same tribe.
third
but, as the Ashantis themselves
a
tainly give yet
;

say,
all

'

The

traveller

who

returns from a journey

he has seen, but he cannot explain

The writer
Clifford,

is

much

all

may

tell

'.

indebted to His Excellency Sir

Hugh

K.C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of

the Gold Coast Colony, for his recommendation that a sub-

vention should be granted to assist in the publication of the

present work, and also
ment which he has

This

is

for the kindly interest

so

courteously

and encourage-

shown

its

compiler.

the second occasion on which the Colonial Govern-

ment has by most generous grants assisted in the publication of the writer's works, and he again has the honour
to thank the head of that Government, the Secretary of
State -for the Colonies for his most generous recognition
and encouragement of students of West African linguistics
and folk-lore.
Grateful acknowledgements are also due to the Delegates
of the Clarendon Press, who have once more laid its compiler under a deep obligation to them.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

13

The writer's sincere thanks are given to Mr. A. C. Madan,

Student of Christ Church, Oxford, who has undertaken the
revision of all the proofs and has, in the absence of the
writer in Africa, seen the work through the press. His
thanks are also due to Mr. Samuel Kwafo of Mampon, West
Africa, who has given him much help with regard to the
language and customs of his people, the Ashantis.
R. S. R.

July

7,

1914.

'

CHAPTER
A

Belief in a Supreme Being, Onyame, Onyankopon, Animism,

Fatalism, Minob Deities and Charms, Tutelary Deities,

Fetishism and Fetish Priests, Manes and Ghosts, The Soul,

Death and Burial, Evil Spirits, Witches and Wizards,

Soothsayers and Medicine Men.

It

tm OnycLme ne panyin. (2787)

Supreme Being is the

Asasetereio,

Of all

the wide earth, the

elder.

Deriv. possibly ase, down, beneath, as opposed to osoro,

Asase.

Here means the

above, the heavens {asase reduplication of ase).

world, the earth, which

the sun

is

by imase^^owia

also expressed

ase,

under

owia being again derived from root wi, seen in wim'=-wi-

mu, in the firmament.

May

Terew.

be either taken as an adjective,

e is understood, as

and

',

'

is

wide

or, if

but

is

the piououn

'.

This particle can often be rendered by

iVia.
'

a verb,

often used to give emphasis to a

tlie

word or

conjunction
clause.

Onydme. The late Major Ellis in his The Tshi-Speaking Peo2>les

of the Gold Coast of West Africa, writes as follows: 'Within the
last twenty or thirty years the German missionaries, sent out from
time to time by the mission societies of Basel and Bremen, have
made Nyankupon known to European ethnologists and students of
the science of religion, but being unaware of the real origin of this
god, they have generally written

and spoken of him as a concepgod borrowed from

tion of the native mind, whereas he is really a

To the negro of the

Europeans and only thinly disguised.
Gold Coast, Nyankupon is a material and tangible being, possessing
legs, body, arms, in fact all the limits and the senses and faculties
.

of

man.

For

this reason

no

offered to him,

was

sacrifice

consequently no form
There were no priests for Nyankupon
All the rites and
established.
of worship for Nyankupon was
,

practices peculiar to the worship of each deity had the sanction of

years of tradition and custom, and it could not be expected that

the people would be able to initiate

new

rites for a

new

deity.

There were no priests for Nyankupon.

Though perhaps scarcely within the scope of the present work.
,

ASHANTI PROVERBS

18

the writer can hardly allow these statements to remain unchallenged,

him

as careful research has seemed to

Now

the

first

so totally to disprove them.

credentials the present writer

who was advancing an

opinion,

research into native customs

and

as

the

beliefs

would ask of any one

result of independent

such as

this,

would be

the state of proficiency that the investigator had acquired in the

language of the people whose religion and beliefs he was attempt-

ing to reveal.

The standard he would ask would be a high one.

Had

the

investigator real colloquial knowledge of the language of the people

whose inner soul he was endeavouring to lay bare ? Such a knowledge

is gained only after years of arduous study and close intercourse,

as

a knowledge that will enable the possessor to exchange jokes and

quips and current slang, and to join in a discourse in which some

dozen voices are

guage
it,

is

all yelling at once.

Such a knowledge

of a lan-

a very different thing from an academic acquaintance with

which might

dictionary, or

fit

the possessor to write an excellent grammar,

some such

treatise.

Judged by such a standard the

late

Major Ellis must have been

found wanting.

Perhaps the person most nearly approaching to this standard

was one of those very 'German Missionaries' whose evidence is
so lightly brushed aside, the late Rev. J. G. Ghristaller.
This
missionary pioneer, to judge from Lis works and local reputation,
must have possessed a knowledge of this language and an insight
into the

minds of the Twi or Ashanti people that has possibly

never been surpassed.

Evidence from missionary sources is, however, rather unfairly,

the present writer thinks, somewhat discounted, at any rate where
questions of religion ai-e at issue.
Such being the case the following brief notes,

coming from one who has for several years

who perhaps holds that the
unseen and unknown are unknown and unknowable, may be worthy
of some little attention as likely to be an unbiased report.
studied this language and people, and

The following titles are used by the Ashantis to designate some

power generally considered non-anthropomorphic, which has
its
abode in the sky (which by metonymy is sometimes called
after it).

The derivations given are those generally assigned by

the
natives themselves, but these cannot be absolutely
guaranteed, as
the correct ones.
While entirely disagreeing
with the theory

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
that this

'High God'

product of European

the

is

Portuguese, or English) influence ^rom the South,

may

of course possible that it

age and

19
(i.e.

i.e. the

trace its origin from a

Dutch,

Coast, it is

much remoter

The Ashantis who came

from the North, may have been influenced by the teachings of
Mohammedans, and this Supreme Being Onyank5pon, Onyime,
a wholly different influence.

'

',

or whatever title he be

known

by, be not

'

th'e

thinly disguised

Jehovah of the Christians, but the Allah (which name was itself
that of a famous 'fetish') of the Mohammedans.
But even this
extension of some hundreds of years to the

life

of this

'

High God

'

would hardly, in the writer's opinion, give him time to have

become such a deeply-rooted part, the very centre in fact, of the
religion of the Ashantis.

The names then of this High God, Supreme Being, God, Creator,
we choose to assign to him, are
1. Onyhme.
Deriv. given by natives, onya, to get, andne, to be
full, satiated, (bymetonymy thesky, which is looked on as his abode).
The derivation of this word as Onycime-nko-pgn
2. Onyankopon.
(Onyime, alone, great one) seems borne out by noting the word
or whatever title

in the

Akyem

dialect,

where

it is

Onyan-horo-pon, (Onyame, one,

great).
3.

Tweaduampgn.

The derivation of

twere-dua-ampqn (lean on a tree and not

4.

Bgre-Bgre.

this is almost certainly

fall).

Derivation bg ade, ho ade (make things,

make

things). Creator.

Otumfo. Tumi, power, to be able, and fo the personal suffix.

Onyankopm, Kwame. That Onyankopon who was born on
Saturday, or came into existence on a Saturday.
7. Odomankoma.
Deriv. unknown, but the word is used some5.
6.

what
8.

as the equivalent of

Ananse kokorko.

'

inventor

'.

The Great Spider,

see note

on No. 175 on

ananse.

In Aslianti, in remote bush

villages,

buried away in the im-

penetrable forest, and as yet even untouched by European and

it would seem incredible that the Christian
Supreme Being should, if a foreign element of
only some two or three hundred years' growth, have taken such
deep root as to affect their folk-lore, traditions, customs, and the
very sayings and proverbs with which their language abounds.
These proverbs and traditions, moreover, which speak of and contain

missionary influence,

idea of a one and

E 2

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

30

a Supreme Being, are far more commonly

known

references

to

among

greybeards, elders, and the fetish priestly class them-

tlie

among

selves than

new

influences

the rising younger generation,

grown up among

and often trained in the very precincts of a mission.

Fetishism and monotheism would at

first

sight appear the very

antithesis of each other, but a careful investigation of facts will

show that here in Ashanti it is not so.

The religion of these people has been shrouded in misunderstanding and obscurity,

much

name with which

it

(Portuguese

'

from Latin facere).

feitico, Ytenc\i fetiche,

up a picture

conjures

of which has been caused no doubt by the

has been stamped and branded,

of the worship of stocks

fetishism

This name

and stones and

hideous idols, yet minute inquiry will serve to show that the underlying idea in these

is

almost monotlieistic in

notes on No. 17, under o6oom). It

conception (see

any reliance can be placed on the following myth which

if

BO,

its

may even have once been entirely

known among

universally

is

the older people.

Yen tete abere so no Onyankorigh wo fam anase gben yen kora,

Sd here no nso aberewa bi reujo fujuo na wo^ma a ode rewo no
kopem Onyankopqn. Na Onyankopon ka kyere aberewa no se',
'Adenti ni woreye me sa yi ? Senea waye nti metwe makg soro', na
ampa ara Onyankopoh. Twe kg soro.
'Long, long ago Onyankopgn lived on earth, or at least was
very near to us. Now there was a certain old woman who used to
pound her fufu (mashed yams, &c.) and the pestle (lit. the child of
the mortar, as the Ashanti word means) used to constantly knock
up against Onyankopon (who was not then high up in the sky).
So Onyankopon said to the old woman, " Why do you always do so

me 1

to

Because of what you are doing I am going to take myself

in the sky ". And of a truth he did so.'
(Lit. translation

away up

of above.)

The myth goes on

and bring him back.

Na

afei,

a nnipa ntumi

mmanom nhmd

kyeree ne

mom/a

to relate

how

mmeh
se'

the people tried to follow

Onyankoiigh

bio,

him

aberewa no ka

mohfwefwe nwaduru

j)l

mera na

ntoatoa so nkg soro nkosi se ebeto Onyank'&pon.

Na ampa
toatoa
no,

so,

ara ne mmanom no yee no sa, na wgde awaduru

pi
a ekaa bako pe na adu Onyankopgn ; na nso boko
a oka

wonnya

mma

no

se,

'

bi nti, won nana no, anase aberewa

no, ka kyeree ne
Monyi nea ewg ase no, na momfa nkgkye soro de no
ma

ASHAMTI PROVERBS

21

Na ne mma no yii gwaduru no pe na nhmd perew guu

ehum
nnipa pi.
a
fam,
But now, since people could no longer approach near to
enwu,

'.

'

Onyankopon, that old woman told

all

her children to search for

all

the mortars they could find and bring them, and pile one on top of
another,

till

they reached to where Onyankopon was.

And

so her

and piled up many mortars, one on top of another,

there remained but one to reach to Onyankopon.
Now, since

children did so,

till

they could not get the one required anywhere, their grandmother,

woman, told her children, saying, " Take one out from
the bottom and put it on top to make them reach ".
So her
children removed a single one, and all rolled and fell to the
ground, causing the death of many people.'
(Many other legends
could be given, and the writer hopes to give a selection in some
future work on the folk-lore of .these people, the present volume

that

is

the old

being hardly the place for them.)

To

say, as the

priests for

paragraph already quoted does, that there were no

'

Onyankopon

<

consequently no form of worship was

offered him ', would seem to point

must have been unaware of the veryroot idea underlying the supposed power of, and the rites performed
in propitiation of, every fetish or minor deity.
So closely connected
are the two, a Supreme Being on the one hand, and the cult of the
hundreds of fetishes and minor deities on the other, right down to
the suman (see note on No. 17,ghosom) in its lowest form, where it

established ... no sacrifice

was

to the fact that the writer

becomes the charm or talisman, that

in writing of

heading of

'

it is

Onyankopon, much that

fetish

is

necessary to repeat here,

written later under the

The connexion between a Supreme Being

'.

and a hideous blood-smeared idol or basin of bones, blood, and

fowls' feathers

seems remote^ but they are really very near akin.

whom you

Ask any

fetish priest,

visit the

body of the particular

the custodian, (the body,

image or a mound of
fetish priest, save

mark

have persuaded

spirit,

i.

you, for

mud daubed

e.

to allow

fetish, of

what you

with blood

is

you to

whom

see as a

he

is

wooden

exactly such

to the

perhaps for the added awe or sanctity as having

been in the past and being the possible future, not necessarily

whence
is

it

what he

ask him what

is,

and

And

this

be suman (see note on obosom, No.

1 7),

present, abode of a spirit),

his fetish really

came, and from what source comes

its

power.

will tell you.

His obosom, or

it

may

ASHANTI PKOVERBS

23
/ let us

(the

suppose for the sake of example,

number of

fetishes are

is

a newly-captured deity,

probably being added to daily).

He

will

was sent by Onyankopon or Onykme in a blinding

flash of lightning, how he caught it and shut it in a gourd till
he had prepared an acceptable dwelling for it, and let it get used
you how

tell

to

it

new surroundings

its

(just as one keeps

a dog chained up

perhaps for a day or so when taken away from his master, to a new

you ask what the

'

it

but will probably say vaguely

'

Onyankopon tumi

home).

If

is

'

he captured, he caunot
or

',

'

tell,

hgnhgn

',

Onyankopon
And this is
the supposed origin of every fetish
they come from, and have their
power only as part of the power ascribed to, Onyankopon. He is too
remote and too powerful to directly have dealings with mankind,
that

is,

'

mana

the power, spirit, or

of

'.

but he distributes for their benefit a

spirit or

trained

little

of his power, and this_

mana or power is what is called down by servants specially

to know its needs and tastes, and having found a faithful

and a temporary dwelling on earth, consents at times to live

and be the intermediary between man and the Supreme Being,
from whom it comes and of whom it is a part. This is what a fetish
priest,

there,

really

we
y( of

is.

It

must be

ascribe to

Ony^me

God

clearly understood, however, that the attributes

are wanting entirely from the native conception

he cares nothing for morals, and there

any retribution follows

for a

departed spirits of persons

return to

Onyankopon

good or misspent

who have

is

no sign that

though the
would seem to

life,

lived on earth

to render

some account before being allowed

asaman (see No. 34, osaman).
Hence the expression waye Onyankopon de, he or she has become
Onyankopon's, never gbosom de which would have no meaning to
to

enter the spirit world below,

the native mind.

I

It is thus seen that, indirectly, every fetish priest is a priest

of

Onyankopon

but direct service

is also rendered.
In every village
be seen a tree or stick terminating in three forks,
which form a stand on which a pot or gourd is set. The name of

in Ashanti

may

this stick is

Onyd.me dua, Onyam6's

gourd, are placed offerings for

not infrequently appeal

power to his
given, would

fetish.

also

directly to

The very name

seem

tree.

Onykme.

In the

pot, dish, or

Again, a fetish priest will

Onyime

to give increased

for a fetish,

to prove its origin,

one that

is often

Onyankoimh okyeame,

the mouthpiece of Onyankopon (see note on

No. 481, o'tndmpdm).
On the occasion of the installation of a new
chief,"

a ceremony

'

'

'

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

23

not likely to be readily influenced or changed because of contact

with European influence, one part of the ceremonial consists in all
the

women and

village
'

girls of the

new

chiefs family parading the town or

and singing

Oseee I yei I

'Yd!'
Thoeadiuimpon eee'

'

Yedase o !

'

Amen

'

'.

Oseee, {bg ose) is to

'

Hurrah, yei

'

Yei

'

shout

'

translate thus

Supreme Being eee!'

"We thank you (lit. We

'

Hence perhaps we can

'.

down

lie

See note on

at your feet.

No. 712).
'

You who appeared on a

One can readily imagine

Saturday.'

the casual student discarding the above

with scorn on coming to the last word

'

amen

'

which, were he not

well versed in the Ashanti language, he would be excused in

thinking to be the Heb. dm,en, and the whole song would at once

become stamped as having a Christian

origin.

Amen, or Amefie, is, however, pure Akuapem and Ashanti, and is

derived from Memeneda, Saturday, and refers to the belief that
Onyankopon came into existence on that day.
Again, every
Ashanti man and woman knows that he or she has a direct appeal
to Onyankopon, not necessarily through the fetish priest, as would
be the procedure were the fetish being appealed to.

known

saying, Obi

kwan

nsi (or ntwa) obi

path crosses another man's path

direct mention of the

of the saying

',

given

is,

that

'

We.

'

is

a well-

No

man's

here, although there is

Supreme Being, the universal

no

interpretation

every one has a direct appeal to

Onyankopon '. See also note on

the name of the Supreme Being
drummers is noted.
position

and

This

kwan mu,

twa. No. 607, where the fact that

is

among the words used by the

This particle or verb seems to give to the noun in ap-

with

supplies the

subject

its

want

Ashanti language).
the elder, not

Panyin.

an

a certain definiteness

which

almost

of the English definite article (not found in the

Onydme ne

elder,

jyanyin,

The Supreme Being

which would be expressed by the verb

Deriv. nyin, to

grow up

(the

word used

for

'

is

ye.

to reach

ASHANTi PROVERBS

24
puberty
senses,

and

'),

e.

g.

and as a term of
Panyih.
2.

TFope oka
If

The word is used in various

wisdom of years of experience,

long lived.

a2)a, old,

one who

of the

is full

The Chief Commissioner

respect.

asem ahyere Onyankopqh

you wish

a,

is

ka kyere mframa.

anything to the Supreme Being,

to tell

the Oboroni

(2656)

tell it to the

winds.

This verb

Pe, to wish or to want.

Wojae.

is

either followed

the subjunctive as here, aim, akyere, or by the conjunction

by

and

se,

the verb preceded by the pronoun.

See note on Onycime above, No.

Onyankopgn.

Mframa.
3.

Ohi iikyere ahofra onyhme.

No

(227)
one shows a child the sky.

Onycime.

Here the

Little children

who

lie

sky,

abode of the Supreme Being.

the

sprawling on their backs looking up to the

sky do not need to have

it

better than their elders.

There

pointed out to them, for they see

but as

possess,

not see
'

No

tells

it,

and which

it

may

even

the greybeards the writer has questioned do

all

in that light attention is

it

it

a rendering of this saying which

is

one might be tempted to read into

4.

Deriv. perhaps fra, to mix, to stir up.

merely directed to

it,

this

is,

one shows a child (points out) the Supreme Being, instinct

him

He

exists

'

(but

cf.

Obi nkyere qtomfo ba atono

No.

7).

onim atono

a,

Onyhme na

okyeree no.

(234)

No one

instructs the son of a smith

to forge, it

is

how

to forge

if

he knows

how

the Supreme Being taught him.

Qtomfo. A smith's anvil and tools are supposed to possess

some peculiar power, and a smith's family will take an oath on
them, and fowls are also killed and the blood sprinkled on the
anvil.

Na.

For

Okyeree.
5.

suffix /o, see

note on No. 78, hontrmnft.

See note above on No.

Onyankopgn

1,

na.

Past tense, seen in the lengthening of final vowel.

amma

asonomfoa katakyi

biribi a,

omaa no ahodannan.

(2547)
If the

Supreme Being gave the swallow nothing

swiftness in turning.

else.

He

gave

it

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Asonomfda.

Also asomfona.

25

Katakyi, a bold or brave person

here a nick-name for the swallow.

Omaa,

Amma is

Past tense.

AMdannah,

perfect.

Deriv. ho, and dannan, reduplication of

daii, lit.

self-turning.

6.

Osansa

se,
Ade a Onyame aye nlnna ye'
(2777)
The hawk (poised aloft) says, All things that the Supreme Being
'

'

made

Me

'.

Perfect tense.

Aye.
7.

are beautiful (good)

a meda ayannya minhu Onyanlcopgn, na wo a vmbutuw ho

(2023)
I,

who

lie

my

on

back looking upwards, do not

Being, so what do you expect

who

Supreme

see the

are sprawling there on

your belly
Cf.

No.

but in this case the Supreme Being

3,

named and meant and not

distinctly

is

his abode, the sky, as in

the other

saying.

Ayannya.
i.e.

8.

Deriv. yo/m, the belly, and agya, the side opposite,

the back.

0nyanhdfghmpeasernriMne,ntinaohyedin7nmiakd-'mmiakd. (2548)
He gave

Because the Supreme Being did not wish any bad words.
a

name

to each thing, one

Asemmone.
doubled.

Nti

Asem-bone,

by one.

the

is

elided

and the consonant

= eno nti.

See the myth under note on kontromfi, No. 78.

9.

Otiydme nkrabea nni kwatibea. (2538)

The destiny the Supreme Being has assigned

to

you cannot be

avoided.

Deriv. gkra, soul, and bea, place or manner hence,

The present writer has not seen it mentioned in the
works of any previous writers on the natives of the Gold Coast

Nkrabea.

destiny.

that these natives, the Ashantis, are just as

much

believers in

The following seems the idea generally

Kismet
held.
Each human being's destiny is preordained and the spirit
sets out to enter its mother's womb already knowing its destiny.
as a

Mohammedan.

This has been given

shows, and

is

it

known

by Onyaukopon, as the legend given later

though it may perhaps be

to no one else,

ASHANTI PROVERBS

26

ascertained by consulting the fetish priest.

be the same root as hra, to bid good-bye

to.

Wohra Onyankopoh a, obi nnyina ho,

Supreme Being, no one stands by '. Where exactly

saying,

of the
or

The word qhra mayis a well-known

When you take leave

There
'

this ghra

when about to be reborn (for the idea of

widely known and believed), is not quite clear.

soul comes from,

reincarnation

is

It would seem, however, to have

come from asaman, the

a replica below the earth of the world

The reincarnated

on No. 34 under osaman).

way

we now

soul then takes its

to this world with its destiny already arranged.

possible, however, for a

spirit world,

live in (see note

It

is

thought

man's destined hour of death to be cut short

by an accident, which somewhat contradictory idea of the original

Kismet is, however, modified by the prevalent idea that any one who
has thus been taken

off before his

appointed hour will not be

received back again either into the asaman, or underworld, or by

Onyankopon, to whom the okra may perhaps first have to pass.

Hence the saying: Onyhm& ayi no, asamanfo ayi no, 'The Supreme
Being has driven him out, the spirit folk have driven him out '.
This

is

said of a ghost

which

is

having gone to the world of the

quite the

Such a ghost

constantly being seen.

will eventually, after its destined time

on earth has run, disappear,

spirits,

same as gsaman-twen-twen

and such a ghost

is

not

No. 34, osaman). There

seems a distinct difference between the gkra and the osaman.

The

(q. v.

latter can correctly be described

As long

as a

man

is alive,

or less clearly defined, but

his gkra

by the word ghost or

and how

it.is

regarded

what exactly becomes of

it

it

more

after death

according to the native idea cannot be clearly traced.

nothing, let

spirit.

is

There

is

be clearly understood, of spiritual or moral well-

being attached to

it.
It is rather the bearer of luck, good or bad
on soul washing, No. 147, n^ii asumguarede).
This word gkra is also a common name for the cat (see note on

(see note

No. 122, agyinamoa) and also means a slave destined to be buried

with liis master at death, which word and signification perhaps helps
to

throw some

light

on

The legend about

its

meaning.

destiny referred

to

above

is

as

follows.

Onyankopon gave a soul which was setting out for earth two
bundles, a large and a slightly smaller one.
The soul was told to
hand over one of the parcels, the larger, to another soul which it
would

find

on reaching the earth.

The

soul to

parcels were given changed them, taking as its

whom

these destiny

own the one

it

had

ASHANTI PROVERBS
On

been ordered to give up to another.

the soul,

now an incarnated

27

coming to the world

one, found its parcel contained only

rubbish, whereas the one (the

wrong one)

it

had handed over to

the other soul, contained nuggets and gold dust.

In other words,

the destiny of one was poverty, while the other was born a rich man.

Nor does the

story end here, for when the person died and returned
Onyankopon and complained of the fate that had been assigned to
it in life, Onyankdjpqn blamed it for having changed these destinies,
its own and that of another entrusted to it.
This myth is of value
as showing that the ohra is supposed to come from Onyanhd^^h
to

before the person

born and returns to him after death.

Kwaii, to do without, to avoid, and

Kwaiihea.
10.

is

Neg. of wg,

Nni.

hea.

Asem a Onyame adi

The

fate

(lit.

asie no, oteasefo nnan no. (2855)

words) that the Supreme Being has beforehand

ordained, a

Adi

human being

Di asem

asie.

this idiomatic use of

'

sie, is

sie,

does not alter.

to speak

words beforehand

Note

'.

to prepare, to express the idea of a thing

being done in readiness or beforehand.

A person,

Oteasefo.

11.

Onyantdofon iikum

one who lives down,

lit.

wo na odasani

i.

{oteasefo')

e.

on earth.

hum

wo, wv/hwu.

(2546)
If the

Supreme Beipg does not

you do not die.

you but a human being

kill

kills

you,

The idea underlying

belief

noted above (No.

this saying is
9),

him

before the time prearranged for

this world till his allotted span

exemplify the impossibility of a

human being

fails to

12.

kills

be able to do

you
so,

'

When
a

the

after which

Again,

man

it

haunt

has permission

it

may simply mean

avoiding his destiny

may mean

as

and

'

to

but

when he
tries to kill you
Onyankopon had not yet ordained it.

Onyankopon hye wo nsa kora

Mo.

his spirit continues to

is full,

to depart to the spirit world.

perhaps explained by the

that should a person meet his death

ma na

'

',

oteasefo

ka gu

a,

ohyia

wo

so

(2545)

Supreme Being

human being

again for you.

fills

your gourd cup

(conies and) pours

it

awa^',

full of

He

will

wine and
fill it

up

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

28
13.

Onyclmi

ma wo

If the

Supreme Being gives you

yare

a,

oma wo aduru.

(2540)

He

sickness,

(also) gives

you

medicine.

Perhaps from

Adii/ru.

To aduru,

good or bad (poison).

aduru,
14.

i. e.

dua, a tree, herb,

root

to poison.

medicine

leaf,

Atuduru

= atuo-

gun medicine, gunpowder.

OnyclmS na qwo hasih fufu ma no. (2541)

is the Supreme Being who pounds the fufu for the one without

It

arms.

Na.

Here emphatic, see note on No. 1.

Wg or wow, to pound in a mortar (owgaduru) with
a pestle (owomma =^ owg ha, child of the pounding ').
Basin.
Deriv. hasa, arm, and sin, a fragment or part of anyOwg.

'

thing.

Fufu.

Deriv, fu, white.

Fufu

is

the staple food of the Ashantis

nsima of the Mananja), yam or plantain pounded

rolled into balls, and eaten with relish, meat or fish.

(the

Ma.

15.

for

'.

Nnijpa nlima ye Onyhmie

men

All

tlie

16.

'

The language is entirely lacking

which are taken by verbs.

give
of

Translated by the preposition

mma,

obi

',

(first boiled),

but really a verb,

'

to

in prepositions, the place

nye asase

ha.

(2436)

are the children of the Supi-eme Being, no one

is

a child of

earth.

Odomankoma hg own ma owu ham no. (964)

The Creator created death (only) for death to

Him.
Odomankoma. See note on No. 1, OnyhmJe.
Owu. Death is personified among the Ashantis as a
a skull with empty eye-sockets hut having ears attached.
kill

skeleton,

(Hence

attempts to bluff death as exemplified in Proverbs Nos. 59 and 60.)

This saying illustrates in a wonderfully epigrammatic manner
the

17.

power of death.

Ohosom a onnii guan da, ohu guan aniwam' mpe

a, ose

'

Eye

srade

(615)

The

fetish that has

never had a sheep given to it, when it sees

even the matter in the corner of a sheep's eye, says
'It is
a I'at one '.

Ohosom.

Commonly

called a

'

fetidi

'

(Portuguese feiti^o, French

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
fetiche,

29

both from Latin facere, as already noted, p. 20). The

is very doubtful, a possible one being gbo, a rock or

derivation

and som, to serve.

The word is generally applied by Europeans

stone,

of the

'

fetish

may be anything from

This

'.

a mountain or a river.

which has

Onyankopon

its

origin from

'

fetish

is

'

to the habitation

a wooden idol to

a spirit or
(see note

'

power

on No.

1,

'

(tumi)

Onyctme).

Fetishes are of various degrees of importance, some of merely local

repute, others

e. g.

Tanng (q. v. No. 55) and Krakye Dente (see No.

Famous fetishes such as these two named,

widely known.

73),

'

may have branch abodes

in

',

many

villages, the priests of

which are

subservient to the high priest at the head-quarters of that particular

cult.

fetish is not

natural or
It only

necessarily always occupying the

which

artificial,

it is

supposed to favour as

abode, j/

its habitation.

comes and enters that abode when called by the priest,

bells and by his gyrations in the ceremonial

by the tinkling of
dance.

When

summoned

thus

it will

prepared and made acceptable for

own

there of its

known

who

may even come and

It

accord, but for all intents

image, or rock, or tree,

the priest,

temporarily occupy the body

it.

is

is

and purposes a

nothing but an image, rock, or

rest

fetish

tree, till

en rapport with the power or spirit which

is

to have adopted one of these places as its abode, calls on

Thus a fetish cannot be stolen or die.

An odum tree may fall down which was sacred as the known abode
of this power. When that happens all it means is that the spirit
So in war, if a fetish body (abode) is
or power will go elsewhere.
it to

come and enter

captured, that does not

mean

porarily lost, no doubt, but its

acceptable
It

one

home

must be

who has

'

'

it.

for it once

the fetish

own

is

priests

captured.

may be

tem-

It is

able to

make an

more.

clearly understood that a 'fetish' is not a spirit of

died,

and

form

their cult roust not be confused with a

The writer

of manes-worship or propitiation which also exists.

only knows of one case where confusion might arise, where the
spirit

of a dead

man

Abenne, in Kwau, the

is

supposed to have entered a

spirit of a chief,

Mampon

not to have died, but simjjly to have disappeared,

'

At

tree.

who

Adai,

is

said

entered a tree

had offerings placed near it. In almost every

case, however, where similar offerings are placed at the foot of
a tree, one would be correct in supposing it was for a fetish and
which

for long after

'

not for a spirit of one departed this

life,

'

nor has the writer found

ASHANTI PROVERBS

30

(Spirits of

any trace of a preaniraistic conception or animatism.

summoned and

the dead are of course

propitiated

No. 35, osdmafi, and No. 388, akonnua.)

It has been noted that some
fetishes
'

ability of their priests,

]

',

owing

see notes

on

to the greater

no doubt, take precedence over others.

There would also appear to be a lower grade, with more

local,

which are known as suman.

A suman may mean anything from a power, having as its abode
some image, ^undistinguishable often from that occupied by a
fetish
to a little charm bound on ankle or wrist to bring luck
family, or even individual interests,

wearer alone.

to the

sumaii would

^eem

to derive its power

from the abosom, just as the ghosom in turn gains

Thus we have the whole code of

natives summed up as follows
1. Onyhme.
A Supreme Being (see No. 1).
Onyankopon.

own from

its

belief of these

2.

Abosom.

'

Fetishes

',

i.

e. spirit,

power,

mana from

or of the

Supreme Being.
3.

Minor

Suman.

deities,

deriving

their

power

from

the

abosom.
4.

6.

Suman. Amulets or charms, a lower grade of the above (3).

Asamah. A spirit world, inhabited by asamanfo spirits

(see note
6.

on No. 34, gsaman).

Witches and wizards, human vampires (see No.

Bayifo.

56).
7.

Bonsam,

No. 56,
'

Monsters,, half

human, half devil

(see

note on

are literally, 'in thousands', as witness the

common

sasabonsdm,').

Fetishes

'

toast or incantation as the Ashanti

man pours

out a few drops of

w'me,Abosonpem monsd, Thousand fetishes, your wine

The writer will only name a few that are served in

'.

'

his

own

district.

Many

are followers of

Botoku, Aleko,

Kompi,

The

Tanng

Tanng-KonJcroma

a.m]

Krahye Denle, Mpra, Apea,

two fetishes),

(a conjunction of

Obqfiri.

Ejura (Edwira, a plant, as the name really

should be spelled), besides a branch of Dmte, is Tanno Konhroma.
There is also (at Ejura) a belief that the spirit "of a
former
chief at Ejura entered a large bull elephant which still
haunts the
neighbourhood, and is known by having within the imprint
of one
of its feet the imprint also of the foot of a man.
This shows that
local fetish at

ASHANTI PROVERBS
y^ belief

in transmigration is not

31

unknown, though

this is the only

met with by the writer.

case

Neg. of wg.

Onnii.

Note form of past tense, made by lengthen-

ing of final vowel.

A generic term,

Giian.
is

especially

meant

to

When

embracing sheep and goats.

either

be designated, then the words oguanteh and

ahirekyi are respectively used.

18.

Ohosom a oye nnam na odi ahoade. (616)

The fetish that is sharp (clever at predicting events)
that has offerings vowed to it.

Emphatic

Na.

Ahoade.

It

(see note

is

common

on No.

the one

is

1).

among

practice

these natives to

vow

offerings to their particular fetish or tutelary deity in the event of

the requests

which they make

and promises given by

to it

it

being

fulfilled.

19.

Ohosom Kyere nantwi, womfd mfa dbonten, wgmfa mfa

euuo Ilea wqde fd.
(617)

The

fetish Kyere's

cow

is

down the

not taken

behind the town, nevertheless a way

The

Wgmfa mfa.

first

verb

is

is

not led

it.

Note

the finite verb.

is positive.

Ohosom anim, wgkg no mperensa.

(618)

before a fetish as often as one likes.

Anim, here means to

Cf. so in the proverb following.

Anim.

go before the

fetish,

the power of

that

is

nso

the auxiliary and the equivalent

the de in vjode, where the sentence

One goes

and

found to take

is

of de (in a positive sentence), the second fa

20.

street,

afihyiri,.

of one's
the

ovm accord

fetish

is

to consult it

invoked

so,

implies

on or against

the

person.

Wgkg

Note the verb kg

no.

itself contains

the idea of the pre-

position that has in English to be expressed by, to.

Mjpermsa.
21.

Ohosom

One

is

So.

so,

Li

three times, see note on No. 767.

yehkg no m2)erensa.

(619)

not taken before a fetish a great number of times.

See note above on anim, No. 20.

The meaning
person

who

is

is,

that the fetish will sooner or later kill the

continually being brought

up

before

it.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

32

Ahosom na ekyere ahomfo ntwahZ. (620)

is the fetishes who show the fetish priests how to turn when

22,

It

dancing.

Emphatic

iVa.

particle, see note

less

Okgmfo

1.

and smears
spirit,

it

is

the priest to a

'

fetish

with eggs and blood, to render

power, or mana, when

the rece2>tacle

ha.

More

or

derived from kgm, to propliesy, to predict, (also to

is

The gkgmfo

dance).

'

on No.

Okgmfo plur. ahomfo feminine, ohomfo

synonymous terms are Qsgfo, ghosomfo.

Akgmfg.

prepared/or

it

may

he called

he tends

',

it

its

abode

acceptable to the

onto come and occujiy

it.

The bowl, idol, pot, stone, &c., which the fetish may be called to
an empty nothing till the fetish priest summons the fetish
This he does by tinkling a bell, drumming, and,
to enter it.
most important of all, by dancing. He will know when the spirit
(not that of any man or woman of course) has taken up its abode
enter is

in the

body provided

for it

by being

seized with tremblings and

shakings.

When

this hapi^ens,

he knows that the fetish has come, and

temporarily inhabiting the object which has been prepared for

is
it.

The gkgmfo then addresses the s])irit and gives its answers to those
who have come to consult it. The akgmfo are very frequently
women. A period of training, from two to three years, has to be
undergone before a man or
a

The

fetish.

results

may

office is

woman can become

a custodian of

not by any means a sinecure, and unpleasant

follow for the priest or priestess should their interpre-

tation of the fetish's

words prove

In the writer's own

false.

memory

is still fresh of a number

who were taken to see a certain chief, (the uncle of the
Sub-chief Kobina Gyimma), Atakora Kwaku, by name,

district the

of priests

present

and were asked to predict if he would recover from an illuess

he had been suffering from. Atakora Kwaku was really dead
already

when the

must be done

priests

were led

to cuie him.

in

one by one and asked what

They, in turn, recommended various

till the turn of a priestess of the fetish Nkwafea Tanng came,

who, on being consulted, said nothing could be done as the man
was already dead. Slie thereby acquired great celebrity, while

things,

her confreres,

who

did not escape in time, were

all

promptly put

to

death.

Besides tending the fetish and his local habitation and intei-pret-

ASHANTI PROVERBS

33

ing his words, the fetish priest uses and consults lots (see note

on aka, No. 55).

Dancing,

a marked feature of the cult of

is

temlS iis57o"and ohosomfo, already referred

to,

The

all fetishes.

appear to have a

While the okomfo not only tends

slightly diiferent signification.

the bodily and spiritual welfare of his particular spirit, but also
dances, and interprets its utterances, the gsofo or ohosomfo

would

seem to confine himself more to tending the fetish than to dances

frequently attain great power and

and may even come

influence,

that of

men

Fetish

or prophecies.

Aguna

is

to

occupy important

stools,

e.g.

to-day held by a fetish priest, or priestly king.

(For notes on fetishes see No. 55, Tanno, and No. 73, Krakye
Dente.)

Note the idiomatic use

Ekyere.

pronoun

of the third singular neuter

the third plural personal wg.

e for

23. Qhosomakelere hye ohye a, ohye.

(621)

If the fetish lizard (chameleon)

predestined to be burned,

is

it will

be burned.
Lit. the fetish lizard,

Obosomakefere.

It

called cannot be ascertained.

is

the chameleon,

why

so

worthy perhaps of note that in

Mananja folk-lore the tonkwe-tonkwe, or nadzekamhe, i. e. chameleon,

would also seem among

enters into one of their religious myths, and

the Ashantis, judging from its name, to have

though

why

The above saying

Hye

24.

The

ohye.
is

one of those to show the unalterable decree

is

Cf. Nos. 9, 11, 12.

of destiny.

second

some similar connexion,

or in what respect the writer has been unable to trace.

verb

first

the verb hye, to

is

hye, to appoint, to fix, {hye da)

the

bum.

Ohosomfo ka ne nkonim, na gnka ne nkogu. (624)

The fetish priest tells of his victories, but not of his defeats.
(That is, boasts of his successful prophecies, but says nothing about
the unfulfilled ones.)

Better in regard to context gkgmfo, q.v. No. 22.

Ohosomp.

Nkonim,

Deriv. ko, to fight, and nim, success; gu, to

nkogu.

scatter, disperse.

25.

Mg

sihyi

o, etg

Whether the
going to
1

AQS

mfuaii

o,

die falls
kill

yenya gkgmfo kum no. (3285)

dkyi or whether it falls mfuate, we are

the fetish priest.

,[l
j9^


ASHANTI PROVERBS

34

wooden or bone die used for consulting lots.

are called sihyi and mfuati, the other two, horosd,

Sikyi, rtifuate.

Two opposite sides

marked with three
cross lines

.
|

sikyi is plain

The

cross lines

Mfuate
'

is

and korosa anan, with four

marked with a diagonal

line

"|

L,

The ends have no name and no mark.

saying, besides exemplifying the rather precarious nature of

an gkgmfo's work (see note on gkgmfo, No. 22), is used to denote

something to which there is little or no alternative.
26.

Owu de ne pama fa ofi mu a, ohosomfo aduru dan nsu. (3482)

"When death encamps over against a household, the medicine

of

the fetish priest turns to water.

Owu. Death personified (see note on No.

Aduru. See note on No. 13, aduru.
i'su.

Note, nsu, water

osu, rain

16, owu).

asu, a stream or river, or

pool.

27.

Okomfo nni hkgntoro na wontwa ghosonsoafo ti. (1697)

"When the fetish priest has given a false prophecy, the fetish
head is not cut off.

carrier's

Nni.

(?) of di; lit. let him lie (?).

Akom, and atoro, lying prophecy.
Obosonsoafo.
The fetish carrier is a separate person from

Imperative

Nkontoro.

fetish priest.

see note

For etymology (according to Ashantis) of

the

suffix fo,

on No. 78, kontromfz.

28. Akgmfo aduasa fwe gyare/o

a,

wodi

atoro.

(1699)

When

thirty fetish priests are looking after a sick man, (some of

them) are lying.

'

y
c.

Aduasa.
j

29.

See note on No. 767.

Sika nti, na gkgmfo mene agyan. (2949)

For the sake of gold dust, the fetish priest swallows an arrow.

Agyan. Bows and arrows, except as children's toys, are now

unknown among the Ashantis, though from various survivals, as
this saying for instance, it

would seem they were formerly their

arms.

(See also note on No. 522, tafoni.)

variation of the above runs, Sika

A
de ne ti pern dan, i. e.
knocks his head against a house '. These sayings show that the
akgmfo also combine with their other duties the art of jugglery and
self-inflicted punishment.
Cf. the Indian fakir.
.

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
30. Ohi nkyere okomfo ha akgm,

No one shows

35

(229)

the child of a fetish priest

how

to dance.

Kgm.

The connexion between certain ceremonial dances and

religion is here clearlyseen the word for 'to prophesy' and 'to dance
(only in connexion with a fetish ceremony, the word on an ordinary occasion being saw), being synonymous. Cf. the Mananja
question to the stranger whose totem class one wishes to ascertain,
Wo hvina nji ? What do you dance 1

'

31.

Akokg wo hhwa adurii

a, aiika

yede no twa dbosom sog

If a fowl possessed life-giving medicine,

sacrificed over fetishes

would

it

?
(1661)
be taken and

Yede= Wgde.

Twa dbosom sog. Fowls are commonly

which the fetishes

&c., &c., in

to

32.

come and take

their

sacrificed over the images,

are, as occasion requires,

summoned

temporary abode.

Adwrii a efi kgmfo nsam' nhma ye aduru-pa. (1044)

All the medicine (charms) that come from the hands of the
fetish priest are

good

(real)

charms.

Here perhaps rather used as suman (q.v. No. 17).

Lit. good, but also used commonly in the sense of real

Aduru.
Pa.

as

opposed to imitation or worthless.

33.

Ohi mfa ntivaho nsisi kgmfo.

No

(169)

one deceives a fetish priest by dancing.

Mfa,

nsisi.

Note

this,

at

first

sight, confusing

and peculiar

The literal translation would be One does not by dancing

idiom.
a double negative, but this does not in Ashanti make
not deceive
'

',

a positive, the reason being that whereas in the English idiom

we have two clauses, a principal and a subordinate, generally in
copulative co-ordination, or a principal clause and a subordinate
adverbial phrase, in Ashanti the construction really is
'

'

'

totally

independent principal clauses, the subject of the

two or more
first in

order

of speaking being understood with each of the clauses following

e. g.

No

One

does not dance, one does not deceive, Ashanti idiom.

one deceives by dancing, English idiom.

English idiom.
one tells a man to strike and kill another.
In Ashanti the construction would be One does not tell a man,
one does not strike, one does not kill another.
This has no doubt been the original full construction and is

No

C 3

ASHANTI PROVERBS

36

and grammar

quite in accordance with the simple rules for syntax

of

the language of a primitive race; in time the apparent clumsiness

of the construction or the wish for abbreviation led to the dropping

common

of the

subject, except of course

the negative verbs

came

all

with the

first

to stand alone in clauses

verb

thus

which seem

subordinate (though really principal or independent short sentences)

to the opening, or first clause.

'

34.

Dancing enters largely into the

(See note on No. 22.)

Komfo.

training and duties of a fetish priest, and no one not a priest

likely to be

Oteasefo

It

is

half as expert

'

na qmd osaman hgh do

the living

man who

is

'.

(3215)

gt6.

causes the denizen of the spirit world to

long for the mashed yam.

Lit. one who lives down, i. e. on earth.
Emphatic (see note on No. 1).
Osaman. Osaman, plu. nsamanfo. A spirit or ghost

Oteasefo.

Na.

Asamah

who has

died.

which

the abode of

is

deities or

is

OnyanMpqii and the other

powers commonly known as

No. 17, qhosom, and No.

which

is

1,

Onyhme).

rather qhra, and this latter

earth, though

it

may

of one

the spirit world below, not in the sky,

is

temporarily leave

leave the body of a dying

man

'

class of

fetishes

'

The osaman
in a

man

(see
is

minor

note on

not a

during his

soul,

life

on

him during sleep, and even

iefore deatli (see note

on qkra,

The samafi or ghost does not appear to

have an qhra, but this is not quite clear. A saman is in the form
and shape of the mortal body and has all its senses, or some at any
rate, and feels hunger and thirst.
It generally inhabits a spirit
world asaman, which is much the same as the world the native now
lives in (see note on funeral and burial customs. No. 467).
No.

9,

under nkrabea).

Nsamanfo, ghosts, are supposed to be of three kinds

Osaman-pa, a good spirit.

2.

Osamah-twen-twen.

3.

Otqfq.

The

Lit.

spirit of a

'

a wait-about, wait-about spirit

man

killed, or

who met

'.

his death by

accident.

Osamah-pa.

A man may

the surviving inhabitants

may

die in a village,

continue

death occurring among them, and

spirit is

for long after

without another

affairs generally may seem to

community, or for the family of the deceased.
then said- to be a good spirit.

prospei-, either for the

The

and

all to live

ASHANTI PROVERBS
A

Osamah-twen-twen.

37

spirit or ghost that is seen at intervals

by living persons.

To explain

common

this

of ghosts it

class

belief held

world below {asaman), but

dies his .spirit does not go direct to the

has

as

first,

necessary to recount a

is

They think that when a man

by the natives.

were, to report itself (here opinions seem divided),

it

some say to Onyankopgn, others say to a famous

which has

'

fetish

'

Brukum,

earthly habitation somewhere east of the Volta, in

its

Togoland.

In either case the

informed

spirit is

if it is to

go to the spirit

world below or to haunt the earth temporarily (as in some cases

where a man

is

not supposed to have completed his destiny in this

world, in which case he (the spirit),

haunts

till

that time

is

and

to enter the spirit world

living

men

for ever

then becomes
It does

generally,

'

is

told to return to its old

complete), or the spirit

is

forbidden for ever

destined to haunt this earth of

is

(why, does not seem

Such a

clear).

spirit

a wait-about wait-about sT^iviV {osaman-twen-twen).

not seem to have much power for harm, and

and confines

whose stay on earth has been only ordained

is

shy

The saman

frightening people.

itself to

to last till his destiny

has been fulfilled eventually disappears to the world where all the
spirits live.

Even

world of the

An

'

fetishes

is

all
is

is

it

not

connexion with the

a distinct branch of

otherwise chiefly concerned in propitiating the

'.

Ashanti never drinks without pouring a few drops of the

wine on the ground

happen

for the denizens of the spirit

to be about (also

and such

some

The

placed aside for them.

illness,

have severed

to

Hence manes-worship

living.

the religion which

abosom,

gone to the lower world,

wrhen a spirit has

necessarily considered

'

fetishes

The

'

Food

is

constantly

be made, not to the

spirit of a relation to

with the assistance of the

').

fetish priests often direct, in cases of

like, that offerings

but to the departed

or misfortune.

for

world who may

fetish

',

whom

'

fetish

have traced the cause of

departed spirits are regularly

Not only men, but animals

illness

summoned from

the spirit world on certain ceremonial occasions (see No.

note on akonhua).

',

they, the priests,

388,

are supposed to

have certain limited powers after death (see note on No. 131,
homrmfo).

The word used

for

'

to

haunt

'

is sesa

or sasa.

It

must be noted

[,'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

38
there

absolutely no trace of a belief that spirits ever go to live

is

Onyankopoh, but as already noted there is an almost

in the sky with

way

universal idea that he in some

has power over them to inter-

to enter the spirit world

them

dict or permit

and

also to launch

a soul {ohra rather than saman) again into the world of men, reincarnation in fact.

Ghosts

are, curiously

enough,

when

human

visible to the

presence of a spirit (ghost)

supposed to be

is

felt

by

eye,

The near

reported generally as being white or dressed in white.

peculiar

its

smell (see No. 38).

Ron

To long

do.

for, to love.

for, lust

Lit.

'

to swell

',

of the

This expression, with the more euphemistic pe, to want,

neck.

are the only words in the language to express the sentiment love.

In
a

idiom we probably get near to the primitive conception of

this

word which only refinement and

civilization has in time invested

with a higher conception.

It forms one

numerous examples in this language

of the

of

expressions which, having with us a psychological or emotional connexion, are interpreted by the savage in terms purely physiological.

A whole

host of such expressions exist, and these idioms, among

make

other factors, serve to

European

for the

35.

Woye me-nho-medi
'

If

you are an

Wunya

'

this

language one of great

difficulty

to master.
'

a,

wunya osamaA

eat-by-myself
nhui.

Note

'

nhui.

(3571)

person, you will often see a spirit.

this idiom, i.e. the auxiliary verb

nya

coupled with the verbal noun (formed by the nasal prefix), giving
the idea of repeated action to the verb, here translated by 'often'.

The

Osaman.

Osaman

is

original

has asaman, which

text

asaman the

a spirit,

spirit world.

The

is

an

error,

spirits are often

supposed to join the living (unseen) when the latter are eating.

Cooked and hot food

fingers touching

36.

Osaman-pa hyira ne

A
37.

good

supposed to get cold because of the ghostly

ha.

(2759)

spirit (ghost) looks after its child.

Nsamampow mu
Bent stick
is

is

it.

soduru,

wo

wt

wu

in the spirit grove,

a, ico

abusua asd.

when your mother

(2760)
is

dead that

the end of your family.

Nsamampow.

Deriv. saman, a spirit, and epow, a thicket.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Soduru.
the

soil.

39

A bent or hooked stick which is used for cultivating

Deriv. aso, a hoe, and duru,=dua, stick or tree, shaped
"^'^

thus

Wo
wu a. Lit. when your mother dies, in this case when
the parent tree, on which the hooked stick grows, is out or falls
down.

The saying is allegorical and means that when a child loses its
mother it has lost the head of its family. Descent is traced through
the mother, and stools, property, &c., pass, not to the son, but to
brothers (see note on

Ni.

abuma

below).

The following are the names of various

Mother.

in each case all those persons to

whom

a particular

relations,

name

applies

being also given.

Classificatoet System among the Ashanti

Ashanti.

|English.

A. E7M{^\u.ena,noin), Mother.

All persons to whom the

may be applied.

(1)

Em, mo, and awo.

name

Own mother. (2) Mother's

Own father's various

sister. (3)

other wives.
Also sometimes
used as term of respect even
when no relationship exists.
(See I.)

B. Agya, or

(1) Own father.

(2) Father's
brother.
(3) Term of respect

Father.

ose.

not necessarily implying rela(Seq G.)

tionship.

C. Onua, deriv.
wa, oni ha

om
(lit.

Sister

or

Brother.

(1)

Own

sister or brother (5?/

same mother

only).

(2)

Own

mother's sister's child. (3) Any

one of the same abusua family
name as your own, see note
below on ahusua. (See I in

mother's child).

table.)

D. Agya

ha

(lit.

Half-brother

father's child).

or half-sister.

Kunu

Husband.

(1) The child of your own

father by a mother not your
own.
(2) Father's brother's

(See

child.

B.

{pkwmi).

in table.)

woman's own husband.

(1)
(2) Sister's husband.
(3) Husband's brother. (4) Half-sister's
husband.
(See
in table.)

ASHANTI PROVERBS

40

Classificatoey System among the Ashanti {continued)

Ashanti.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
The following legend

Ahusua.

is

41

common among

the Ashantis

to account for the derivation of this word.

They derive

from Abu (a proper name), and sua, to imitate,

it

the reason being given as follows.

who had

king of Adanse

'

There lived in former times a

a " linguist "

named Abu. This Abu

Now, at that

incurred the king's anger and was heavily fined.

Abu

time children used to inherit from their father.

children to assist

they refused and

sister's

him

pay the

to

went

all

him

children rendered

Abu, therefore, when he died

people then copied
children {^AhvL-sua,

assistance to

pay

off his debts,

belongings to

willed their property to the sister's

(The above

copying Abu).'

lit.

But Abu's
and
them. Other

mother's relatives.

left all his

him and

imposed by the king, but

fine

off to their

^''-^

asked his

is

a literal

translation of the account given by a native.)

This

an excellent example of an

is

Ashantis,

who now

The

myth.

aetiological

notice that other nations trace descent through

the father, have invented this

myth

to explain the fact that with

\

them descent is traced through the mother, which now

them as curious.
It is

amusing

to notice that the inventor of this

strikes

myth has not

been able to entirely adapt his mental attitude even to the

imaginary setting of his

children,

mother s

tale, for

he quite naturally pictures the

under the supposed iorm^v father right, running

(As a matter of fact no case

relatives.

is

off io the

known

change from patrilineal to matrilineal descent.)

The law of succession (to stools and property and clan name)
among this people is as follows
The direct heir is (1) the eldest brother by the same mother.
:

may

(2) Failing such (and he

be passed over for various reasons

incompetency, bodily blemish, &c.), the next in the direct line of

succession

is

the eldest son of the eldest

through the female

line, (4)

sister,

(3) the grandson

another branch of the same family or

clan {ahusua), (5) a slave.

One commonly hears Europeans who have a smattering of native

it down as a hard and fast rule that the nephew,

customary law lay

that

is class

(2) as above, always succeeds.

This, however,

is

not the case.

proverb to that effect

Nvwamma

There
nsae

a,

is

even a well-known

wofase nni ade,

(one's) mother's children are not finished, (one's)

inherit.'

of a

nephew

'

When

does not

ASHANTI PROVERBS

42

Many

manner the

of these proverbs illustrate in a remarkable

and strength and unity of relationship on and through the

female side, and the almost total disregard or recognition of any
force

kinship tie on the father's side.

See proverbs Nos. 37, 483, 486,

487, 488, 491, 492.

Ahusua means

a family or clan name,

Each clan

through the mother.

system here given, which

is

is

it is

always inherited

The

exogamous.

classificatory

incomplete (the writer topes to go fully

into this subject in a future work),

might seem

to point to a past

in which a group of brothers married a group of sisters.

most important of these clans or families are as follows

The

Oyoko.
Asona,

Abrade.

Agona,
Biretuo.

Asene.
Asakyinfo.

Some

of these names are those of plants or animals.

would seem

to

mean red

earth.

Each and

all

may

Oyoko

necessitate the

observance of certain taboos (though perhaps another factor deter-

mines
of the

this).

An

example of only one will be given here.

Nyado ntoh

trap and kill one

bathed by the

will not kill a leopard.

will be carried to his village, laid

it

women

folk

smeared with white

hammock

it.

They

also

beg

its

pardon.

on a mat,

clay, in fact all the

funeral rites usually observed on the death of a

held over

A man

Should he accidentally

It is

human being

are

then carried in a

(opa) and buried.

The python
crocodile.

his killing

is

sometimes treated in a similar way, as also the

Even when a man whose nton, say, does not prevent

a leopard, does so, and another man whose nton makes

the leopard sacred happens to be near, the latter person will beg

permission to take

away the body and treat it as described.

The word nton has been mentioned. It does not seem that the

animal specially regarded has strictly a connexion with a man's

ahusua, i.e. the clan name he inherits from his mother, but that
this special regard for an animal depends on a person's nton which
also hereditary but traced

through the male line, and is not

two persons of the same nton may marry, always
provided the ahuaua is not the same. The nton rather than the
is

exogamous, that

is,

ASHANTI PROVERBS
abusua seems

determine the taboo.

to

form of greeting

special

Each

(in

43

Each nton

class

has

its

own

answering a salutation).

taboos certain things, each necessitates a certain day for

'soul washing',

ceremony.

and certain forms of

sacrifice to

accompany that

(The writer hopes to go into the whole question of

totemism among these people in a future work.)

38.

Osamane ahoofwam ne nunHm. (2762)

The smell of a ghost is the smell of the nuwdm
'

As osaman

Osamane.

A shrub

Nwihikn.

39.

Osaman

(q.v. No. 35), but in

with aromatic scented

ne nsa hyia wo

tee

shrub.

Ahyem

dialect.

leaves.

wopono wo de mu.

a,

'

(2763)

When a ghost puts forth its hand to greet you, you draw your's back.
Wopono. Pono, lit. to bend. Hand shaking as a salutation
appears to have been a native custom before the advent of Euro-

When

peans.

shaking hands with a number of assembled persons

the person will always

right

commence with the one standing on

and pass on from right

his

to left.

40. Ostiman htweh

(2764)
teasefo ansa-na wadidi.
ghost does not wait for the living to begin to eat before

it

begins

If the spirit world possesses nothing else, it has at least the

power

to partake.

See note on No. 34.

Teas^o.
41.

Asamah nni

hirihi a,

ewo nhyehye-wo-dkyi.

(2765)

name.

of its

The underworld

Asaman.

of ghost people (see note on osaman,

No. 35).
This saying is difficult to render literally.
Nliyehye-wo-dhyi.
Hyehye-wo-dhyi, boast of your back, i.e. of whom or what is behind
of
you, as for instance where a man would claim to be the subject
he
hands
whose
into
some powerful chief to prevent a lesser chief,

had

fallen,

from killing him.

So

here,

where applied to the

spirit

held
world, about which people do not know much, but which is
them
cause
men
and
living
haunt
and
in dread, as spirits can come
who
sickness and even death. So this saying is quoted of a person
avenge
will
who
and
will
do
he
what
to
makes vague allusions as

him

if

he

is

interfered with.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

44
42.

mma. (2767)
not a place one can

Asamaii, wonho nsan

The

spirit

world

is

-visit

and return from again

(as a living man).

For the negative see note on No. 33, mfa,

Wonko, nsan mma.

Mma,

nsisi.

neg. of ba.

43. Asaman, wgmmdna.

(2768)
Things cannot be sent to the spirit world

44.

Asamantawa

When
it

the

'

se

enim

spirit

})ae a, ete se

(Meaning obscure.)

(?).

atawa pa. (2769)

it knows how to pop,

tawa tree declares

'

can hope to do so (only) like the real tawa tree

at best

(if as well

even as that).

The tawa, or
when ripe burst with

Asamantawa.
pods which

as tawa-2)a, the

an

atd, is a tree

inferior kind,

known

on No. 483, itapapa tawa,

real' tawa, see note

'

with large bean-like

a bang. Three varieties are

and sam.antawa, a species of the same

inferior to that again, not

fit

for

human consumption

tree

(the seeds of

the tawa-pa are eaten), but the inferior species are good enough for

the denizens of the spirit world.

The same

saman-sika, spirit's money, which

idea

is

seen in the word

applied to metal filings

is

(cf.

Chinese imitation paper money).

45.

Onijya

mm

When

back
Wq.
in

{wo) saniam.2>gw

man

mu

a,

womfd no

mma

dies in the spirit grove (cemetery),

to the

home

is

not brought

again.

This verb often takes the place of the preposition

English (cf ma, see note on No.

Womfd, mma.

(2416)

ojte bio.

he

Translate

'

in

'

or 'at'

14).

by the

passi^'e.

For note on the

negative see No. 33, mfa, nsisi.

46.

IVunni saman aduaii

a,

womfa wo nsa

nto

mu.

(914)

If you are not going to partake of the spirits' food, do not put your

hand

in

it.

Saman aduan.
47.

Food

set aside for the spirits.

Wubu w6 sumdn asumammd

a, ekita

wo.

If you call your amulet a trifling thing,

(655)
it

will seize hold of

(kill you).

Sumdn.

See note on No. 35, qsamaii.

Diminutive of suman (see No. 35, osamaii).

Asumammd.

you

ASHANTI PROVERBS
48.

Opanyih ano sen sumah. (2610)

The advice (lit. mouth) of a man of
than (your)

Opanyih.
49.

Suman

more potent

ripe experience is

guardian deity.

little

See note on panyin, No.

a,

na

charm

is

kafirma nye biribi

If the little kafirma

43

eye anitade.

good

for

(3114)
nothing else,

it

is

at

any

rate an adornment.

Mm,

Arriiade.

to dress, adorn,

and

ade, thing.

a wotra we yisa hinam suman

50. Enni bahiara

so a, enye

nnam.

(2306)
There

is

no special place where one should

pepper and blow

sit

and chew guinea

out over one's tutelary deity, to

it

make

a sharp (clever) little amulet.

it

To blow out

Hinam.

in a spray from the mouth, a

(This is also done in the case of a

of propitiation.

'

common form

soul washing

',

No. 147.)

see

The writer has noticed a similar custom among the Mananjas of

Central Africa,

who when

squirt water out of the

Yisa,

51.

An

nnam.

propitiating the spirits of their dead also

mouth

in this way.

example of sympathetic magic

'

like causes

like'

the sharp biting pepper to cause the suman to be sharp.

Obi

mfa nea wawu suman

rika se,

'

JUa me nkwa ne alcwahosah

'.

(162)

No

one takes the amulet of one

it

52.

Wo
If

has failed) and addresses

kra nye

na wunya

a,

your soul

is

company

'

Asafo.

who has

it,

asafo nsam! amanne.

not a lucky one, yon

whom therefore
me life'and health

died (and

saying, 'Give

'.

(1760)

fall into

the hands of a

'.

union or company of

a leader, chosen from

among

their

men banded

together under

number by popular

vote, to

compel the recognition of a real or imaginary grievance or to

further some plan, good or perhaps bad,

mind
to

upon which

all

are of one

or perhaps again, merely for the purpose of joining together

work

in turns for each

other,

say at cultivating or clearing

a plantation.

These companies or confederations adopt a leader, as already

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

46

and assume an emblem or

stated,

and the confederation

flag,

is

given a name, generally one explaining the raison d'etre for the

The following are a few examples of company

'

amalgamation.
names.

IKyiriamim, We
'

Ajiesemalca,

A;pagya,

'

'

We

hate greediness

'.

wish to present our grievance '.

Strike a light

'

Asafo, of course is also a

(with flint and steel).

war company (see No. 306,

note on

dqufh).

The saying quoted above means, that with an

may run

one

foul

may have

one

of,

whom
when a whole

individual,

a chance, but

community are against you and determined one and

destruction, there

See note on No.

Kra.

Amanne=:Oman-ade.
53. Nkrahea

nhma nsL

on your

all

chance for you.

is little

9,

nkrahea.

Oman,

on No. 474.

see note

(1762)

All destinies are not alike.

See note on No.

Nkrahea.
54.

9,

nkrahea.

Wode wo kra kaw, na woantua no

a,

wo ahufaw.

gfa

If you are in debt to your soul, and have not paid

(776)
(your soul)

it,

gets angry with you.

Wode

fail to fulfil

a fowl.

kav).

Lit.

owe a debt

to,

some vow you have made,

i. e.

e. g.

(in present context)

a promise to

Note

dan kaw,

to sue

the following, de kaw, to hold or have a debt;

for recovery of a debt

Woantua.

Ahufuw.

55.

tua kaw, to pay a debt.

Perfect tense.
Lit. swelling of the chest,

Ohi nkwati Tannq nkq aka

No

one consults the

lots

one.

kgn

do, q.v.

fetishes

Tanno and Bea

No. 34.

(222)

without calling on (his) fetish

Perhaps the most famous

Tannq.

cf.

fetish in

(also a river), are

(lit.

Tannq).

Ashanti and the

Gold Coast. Called after the river Tanno in which

The

sacrifice

ICaW, (Ashanti, ka) deriv. perhaps kaj to remain.

it

has

its

abode.

supposed by some

Supreme Being Onyime

Tanno being the first in importance.
The following
is a popular myth with regard to them.
When the Supreme
Being was premeditating as to where he should set down the

of the natives to be the children of the

(q.v.

No.

1),

abodes of his children on earth, the goat heard of

it

and being

ASHANTI PROVERBS

47

a great friend of Bea ran and told him that

when his father sent

up and go very quickly so that
he should arrive there hefore his brother. So when the children
were called before their father, Bea came first and his father, as
a reward, set his abode down in the coolness and shade of the
forest country, whereas Tanno was given a home in the more open
Tanno and him, he should

for

In consequence, to this day the followers of Tanno,

grass lands.
'

turn their back on

or

',

'

There are many minor

whose name

rise

is

hate

',

added to their own,

Tanno Konhroma.

taboo the flesh of the goat.

i. e.

The water

their power to Tanno

Tanno Yao, Tanno Akwasi,
Tanno is brought from long

owing

fetishes all
e.

g.

of the

distances to found a temple or shrine for the spirit in villages far

from the

The

river.

water drunk, and the

The Tanno

Tanno are never

the

fish in

fetish is so famous, that its

almost as a generic term for

eaten, nor its

on various ceremonial occasions.

fish are fed

all

name

is

sometimes used

fetishes, as in the

saying here

quoted.

Aha.

For note on the negative

nkq.

Nkivati,

of various

Lots,

kinds,

see No.

33,

mfa,

strings with different articles

attached to the ends, aJcamatwe {see No. 412), and dice (see note

on No. 25,

sikyi), a

sometimes a stone

pot of water with models of hoes, axes, and

celt,

in

it.

These are fished out with a wooden

spoon and the omens read from what turns up.

The consulting of

nsuoyd.

men, dvMsihfo,
medicines,

who

lit.

also

lots is

No. 22), but there

priest, okomfo, (q. v.

'root folk',

i.e.

This last

is called

part of the duty of the fetish

is

another class of medicine

persons

who dig

for roots for

combine with this occupation that of diviner or

oracle man.

56.

Sasabonsdm ho ayi

When

a, osoe obayifofi.

(2782)

a sasabonsdm (devil) goes to attend a funeral, he lodges at

a witch's house.

Sasahmisdm.

Deriv.

honsam, a

devil, or

evil

spirit {not the

disembodied soul of any particular person, just as the fetish

a

human
Its

its
is

is

not

spirit).

poweris purely for

evil

and witchcraft. The ohayifo is perhaps

Sdsa or sesa

servant, as the terms are sometimes synonymous.

the word used for a person being possessed of a spirit or devil

{oye no sdsa).

ASHANTI PROVERBS

48

a monster of human shape, living far in the

and only occasionally met by hunters.
It sits on tree-tops and its legs dangle down to the ground and
have hooks for feet which pick up any one who comes within reach.

The asasabonsani

depths of the

is

forest,

There are female, male, and

It has iron teeth.

A large fungus growth very like

found growing on trees

is

little

sasabonsam.

a big cabbage in appearance often

sasabonsam kyew.

called

i.

devil's

e.

hat.

Ayi.

Burial, funeral.

Deriv. yi, to take away, to remove.

(For

custom of burjdng slaves, wives, &c., with a dead master,

The grave

note on No. 467.)

deep in one side of which a cavity

a room, with three walls.
last

home.)

or screened

The body

is

is

(Of. the

again dug, forming as

Chinyanja mvdzi,

placed in this case, which

Chiefs and

off.

house in which they

a deep trench from 6 to 8

is

men

is

it

see
feet

were

village

'

'

or

then fenced

of importance are buried in the

which then becomes their tomb.

Deriv. bayi, sorcery (synonymous term ayeii), a wizard,
Obayifo.
or more generally witch.
A kind of human vampire whose chief
delight is to suck the blood of children whereby the latter pine
and die.

Men and women

die,

possessed of this black magic are credited with

volitant powers, being able to quit their bodies

and travel

great

distances in the night.

Besides sucking the blood of victims, they

are supposed to be able to extract the sap and juices of crops. (Cases
of coco blight are ascribed to the

work

of the gbayifo.)

These

witches are supposed to be very

but that his friend or even his

common and a man never knows

wife may be one.
When prowling

at night they are supposed to emit a phosphorescent light from

the
armpits and anus. An obayifo in everyday life is supposed
to

be known by having sharp shifty eyes, that are never at rest, also
by showing an undue interest in food, and always talking about
it, especially meat, and hanging about
when cooking is going on,
all of which habits are therefore purposely
avoided.
A man will

seldom deny another, even a stranger, a morsel of

what he
eating, or a hunter a little bit of

hoping thereby
tell, is

to

raw meat

may

be

any one asking it,

avoid the displeasure of one who, for all he can

a witch or wizard.

to

(See No. 76.)

The gbayifo can also enter into animals, &c., e.g.

buffalo, elephant,
snakes, and cause them to idll people.
The gbayifo is discovered
by a process analogous to the 'smelling out'
of
witches

among

the

ASHANTI PROVERBS

49

carrying of a corpse ', see note on No. 77. Witches

and wizards are guarded against by a suman (q.v. No. 17, ghosom).
and a little raw meat or other food is frequently placed at the
Zulu,

i.

e.

the

'

entrance to a village for them to partake

This offering also

of.

frequently takes the form of a bunch of palm nuts pinned

down

to the ground with a stick.

57.

Sasahonsdm

odum

When

te use,

wose oye qhayifo, na menne

nso sow mmoatia.

se osi

odv/m atifma

(2783)

is down on the ground he is called a

how much more when he is perched on top of an odum
tod the odum tree is also bearing a crop of tailless

a sasahonsdm devil

wizard,
tree,

monkeys as
Menne.

Lit.

its fruit.

I do not mention

The odum

Odum,.

The odum

neg. of de.

tree {Ghlorophora excelsa).

among the Ashantis as

may constantly see offerings
too, may alight on them, and

tree is universally considered

a potential abode of a fetish and one

placed at their base.

The

ohayifo,

abodes of spirits, is nothing in itself

being the body in which the fetish or

tree, like all earthly

but only by virtue of

may

spirit

An

mentioned here, the sasahonsam.

also, as

its

An odum

dwell.

tree that

may have been

universally

revered, on falling down, then becomes merely a tree, for the

fetish which invested it with awe will have gone to seek a new
Odum trees are never cut down for firewood, nor used
abode.
for

making

Sawyers,

stools.

who

down for Europeans, for timber, are

mad or die.
legend about the odum and the supposed etymology
cut them

supposed sooner or later to go

The following
word dunsin, a stump,

of the

posed origin of
trees
its

is

suffix fa, see

(Cf. sup-

curious and interesting.

No. 78, hontromfi).

When

the

all

the others to add

were given names the odAum tree asked

to theirs, but this they would not agree
all

name

Later

to.

firewood,
on, however, as the trees found themselves cut down for
even
and
untouched
stood
still
odum
the
while
building, &c., &c,,

reverenced,

it

seems that they, when too

dwhdn = odum, the odum tree,

It

is

interesting to

note

regarded as the abode of

wept wlien cut

'.

and

sin,

late,

took

its

that rubber trees were

little

name,

i.e.

a piece or fragment.

long

for

children fetishes because

'

they

ASHANTI PROVERBS

50

for rubber, however, soon caused this idea to be set

Big prices

though the priests

aside,

Mmoatia.

first tried to

prevent tapping.

man monkey,

half-mythical

supposed to be ex-

ceeding swift and used by devils and wizards as messengers.

58. Se odum

When

ho

osi

a, ose

oye Otanng,

an odum tree stands

a devil comes and perches on

Odum.

it

Tanng, but when

....

See note on No. 55, Tanng.

Obonsam.

See note on No. 56, sasabonsdm.

akum wo na

Otvu a

dbesi so

See note above, No. 57.

Otanng.

59.

na obonsam

there, it declares it is

ne

wo agya wg ho

a,

wunnye din

se,

'Aha mo

nho'.

When

(3477)
Death which has killed your mother and your father

(with you again), you do not say to him,

Owu.

See note on No. 16, owu.

When he hears you

but can hear.

ately

want

'

to complete his

Na, agya.
No. 37.

Wunnye
name of.
.

eo.

work

For Ashauti

Wunnye,

din.

Death, personified,

is blind

neg. of gye,

system, see note on

ni,

you do not receive

-the

lit.

'

ni

awu

',

na

sm

'.

Death has come and

and say, I
'

killed

your father and your mother, do not

My father and my mother

and my father and my mother
'

are dead

',

but weep

will go (with you)

Owu bekum wo na

'.

wofre no a^ya a, obekum wo, wofre no ena a,

obekum wo. (3480)
If Death comes to kill you and you supplicate it, calling it Father',
it will kill you, and if you supplicate it, calling it
Mother ', it
'

'

will kill you.

Owu

adare

nngw fako.

(3481)

Death's sickle does not reap one place alone.

63.

'.

weep, saying,

62.

there

of destruction.

Owu be/mm wo se ne wo m a, nsu se, Me se ne me

se,
Me ne m'agya ne me na bekg
(3479)
If

is

I alone remain

alone remain', he will immedi-

classificatory

'

61.

'

Owu

nhind ye owu.

(3483)

All the different forms Death takes are just the one
Death.

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
64.

51

Owu na wannya hahi whkq a, na uko asaman. (3484)

When Death has no particular place to go to, then it

goes

off to

the world of spirits.

Asaman.
65.

Ovm

See note on No. 35, osaman.

wo adwwma-ye

ne wo ase hye

If both your father-in-law

some work,
66.

it is

woman

'

se,

Fwe aberevja

'

(take her)

day

'

is

an

se,

to

its

association with its original root

and become exactly the equivalent of the English

treated as a verb it would have to be negative,

'

No. 33, mfa,

(2485)
you to do

first.

say,
it

for

(3486)
Look, there
it,

you, you do not say to

This word has lost

Se.

de na wokg kan.

Death's you will go about

Ovm to wo a, vmnse no
When Death overtakes
old

owu

a,

and Death appoint

Were

that'.

see note

on

nsisi.

An

Aherewa.

old woman, not a disrespectful term, sometimes

used for mother.

67.

Ovm wg

gkyekye/o adaka ano safe.

Death has the key

68.

Ovm

nye ^a na wgadi

Death

is

(3487)

to open the miser's chest.

mu

ahyemfiri.

(3493)

not a sleeping-room that can be entered and come out of

again.

Deriv. hyen, to enter, and_^n', to come out.

Ahyemfiri,

69.

'

Mirewu kyena, mirevm

'

am

ne',

na yede ye ayie

going to die to-morrow, I

am

(3494)

going to die to-day,' do they

begin the funeral custom (because of such words)

70.

Wurewu a, wunse

When
am

se,

'

Mirewu

mirewu o

'

(3495)
am dying

you are (really) dying, you do not say, 'Oh, I

71.

dying

Obi nim nea

Oh, I

'

owu wg a, anka and ho ara da. (263)

know where Death resided, one would never

If one could

stop

there.

72.

N'ea wahintiw

When

man

awu

no,

wontutu'mirika nkg n'ayi

ase.

(2170)

has met his death through having stumbled (fallen),

one does not run to attend the funeral of such an one.

Awu.

Subjunctive mood.

D 2

ASHANTI PROVERBS

52

For negative, see note on No. 33, mfa,

Woiitutu, nkg.

73.

nsisi.

See note on No. 56, ayi.

Ayi.

Ohom nye Krakye Dente

Hunger

nye.

not good (good, in sense

is

neither

is

of,

'to be lightly thought of),

Krakye Dente.
Probably after Tanno (see No. 55, Tanng),

Krakye Dente.

the most famous fetish on the Gold Coast.

its chief fetish

priest

is

The present abode

of

a cave, situated about thirty feet high on

a rocky hill-side at Kete Krakye on the Volta river, in what was

German Togoland.
The spot, which the writer once

once

with a broad path leading to

stands the symbol of this fetish, a

feet

visited, is situated in

At

it.

tall,

a grove

the entrance to the grove

conical

mound about

seven

high with the apex hollowed in the foiTa of a bowl to receive

made

the sacrifices

ihe face of the

and swept

to

cliff,

The path and open space at the foot of

where the cave is situated, are kept clean

it.

the grove

itself

Climbing up the face of the

cave,

contains a large circular clearing.

cliff,

one comes to the mouth of the

which has been roughly built up, rags hang in front of

opening.

The entrance

which leads into the cave, which again by another passage

into a second

up

this

higher up through a narrow passage

is

leads

chamber which opens on to the grove by the walled

One has

front mentioned.

to wait quite

a considerable time

before entering the inner cave to allow thousands of bats to fly out.

The

the cave where one enters

floor of

caused by their droppings.

is

ankle deep in a fine powder

Piled high ugainst one side of the cave

are hundreds of gin bottles, offerings to the okqmfo,

the cave and gives utterance to those

who come

addressing them in the grove below, from behind

built

up

face

who

sits in

to consult the fetish,

the partially

The symbol of Dente, the conical

almost every village in Ashanti, and there

of the rock.

mound, may be seen

in

would seem some uniformity

in this particular design, even

among

other fetishes having no connexion with Dente, for their abode

often a piled
of a cone.

up mass

(Of. the

of clay, feathers, blood,

The following is a tradition

name Dente. The original name of

Delphic oracle.)

of the supposed origin of the

this fetish

is

somewhat in the form

was Konkom, and its chief

Akuapem).

priest resided

some hundreds

of years ago at Date (in

The

fetish priest

lived

in

a cave there.

His sanctuary was

ASHANTI PROVERBS
by a man, who, when the

violated

priest

53

was stretching forth

a hand to receive an offering, dragged him out, disclosing a

man

Date and went,

first

covered with sores.

After this the priest

left

and thence to Kratchi (Krakye), and there took up

to Agogo,

his

Not knowing the Krakye language,

abode in the cave described.

he could not make himself understood, and to inquiries as to his

name, &c., could only reply he came from
local

language

see note

74.

on No.

Obayifo ha

When a

wu

A witch is

which in the

fuller account of 'fetish' worship,

a, eye

no

yav).

(59)

makes her

sad.

See note on No. 56, obayifo.

Obayifo oreko
ani.

',

17, ghosom.

witch's child dies, it

Obayifo.
75.

For

Dente.

is

Date

'

e !

obayifo qrekq e !

(60)
passing

a witch

is

na wonye

passing

obayifo a, wuntiva

(some one

cries),

but

if

wo

you

are not a witch you do not turn your eyes to look.

76. Obayifo

hum wddi-wammd-me, na ohkum wdma-me-na-esua.

The sorcerer

nothing, but he does not kill

(even) a

who
him who

(by magic) the one

kills

eats
eats

(61)

and gives him

and gives him

little piece.

See note on obayifo, No. 56.

77.

Efunu a

ebesi

nnim

The corpse which

sudew.

(1163)

coming to knock against (some one)

is

cares

nothing for cries of sorrow.

The custom

of

'

carrying the corpse

'

(afunsoa)

when

the cause

of death is supposed to be witchcraft is briefly as follows.

open stretcher
laid,

is

made

An

of palm branches, and on this the corpse

being surrounded by

damdram

is

leaves (the vivid crimson leaf

one sees so frequently in Ashanti and along the line from Seccondee

and erne (mint?) and onunum leaves (q. v. No. 38).

The stretcher is then placed on the heads of two men, who carry it out
The chief, or head
into the street. The whole people assemble.
to Coomassie)

man

of the village, advances cutlass in hand, and addresses the

corpse, saying,

'

If I were the one

on me and knock

(si)

me'.

killed

you by magic, advance

so on each in turn comes

when
him with the

the guilty one's turn comes,

forward to butt against

And

who

up

till

the corpse will urge the carriers

can appeal for a change of carriers.

litter.

person so accused

CHAPTEE
Wild Animals,

&c.

II

Thk Monkey, Elephant, Lion, Leopard,

Antelope, Ceocodile, Ckab, Ottbe, Porcupine,

Lizard, Snail, Snake.
78. Kontrom.fi

se,

The monkey

'

Oberan

says,

Kpntromfi.

'

wu

inie

hoho

The brave man

Other names

oduahyen ('the white

tail'),

'.

Tortoise,

(1717)

dies because of his brave heart

for various species of

adu,

(the dog-faced

'.

monkeys

are

baboon),

efo,

(Ashanti, efog, the black colobus monkey).

There are
least is

many myths and

worthy of

stories about

monkeys, and one at

notice, proving as it does that the savages possess

even their rude philologists, and showing that they have that innate

them

curiosity which compels

ask and find a reason for many

mind some would deny to them
altogether), however childish and unsatisfying to our minds the
answers they are contented to accept may be.
They say that when
Onyankopqh created and named all things, He went about accompanied by the efo (colobus monkey), and when he had done this
work, the efo requested that his services and assistance might be
to

things (which inquiring state of

rewarded in some suitable manner, and suggested having his name

perpetuated for all time by having it suffixed to the names of all
peoples, nations, and occupations.
To this the Creator agreed.

Hence we have the

suffix

Mampon-fo; adwuma-fo,
ponding

to fo

(correctly

(which

is

/o=e/o

in all such words,

Sec, &c.

plural) is ni,

e. g.

Asantefo;

The singular suffix, corresand this is, the natives state

no doubt), derived from

onijia, a man.
Monkeys are supposed to have got their tails in the following
way
The Creator {Odomankoma, see No. 1) made men, monkeys,
and tails, &c., &c. (the tails apart from monkeys). The monkeys,
after the habit of their kind, would pick up the various things lying
about that Odomankoma had made, among other things they kept
playing with were the tails.
One monkey, picking one up, stuck
it on behind him, when all the rest copied him.
When they tried
to take them off again, they found they had grown on, and they
:

were compelled to wear them

for ever after.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
79. Koniromfi

80. Kontromfi

says,

se,

The monkey

my

ampa
now

'.

eyes

Wa

Aniwa.
little

eyes

81.

82. Kontromfi
wo'.

gbosom.

1 7,

perhaps, however, more literally means face,

Nsu

se,

ohm

Anim,

For
se,

'

ayi akyeafo ddi.

is

suffix /o, see note

Wohye m'afonom'

se

(1719)

a,

space.

on No. 78.

na meyi asemjpa maka, makyere

'

If you

fill

up

my cheeks

(with food), then I shall

'.

Subjunctive mood.

hama to n'asenmu. (2343)

we nevertheless take a string

kontromfi koh wo ho, na yede

the

monkey has a

and attach

Hama.

word

(1720)

Maha, makyere.

Yenim

in the front, is the

nothing like poverty for taking the

reveal the truth and tell you

We know

lit.

ani, tlie face, or sui'face of the water.

Adi^adiwo, an open

adi.

The monkey says,

83.

it

neck, but

to its waist.

Lit. a creeper,

N'asenmu,.

A sen,

hence used for rope or string.

the waist.

spelt alike (save for the prefix

Note the following words,

vowel which

is

all

generally omitted)

and distinguished from each other only by accent or change

vowel sound
1.

is

the diminutive suffix (sometimes also feminine),

is

Ani

'.

Akyeafo.

(1721)
surprise and enemies)

ne.

1,

The monkey says that there

conceit out of a man.

Ayi

'.

sometimes used for eyes, can be here translated by

is

for face.

Kontromft

speak the truth

'.

front, or surface of a thing.

used

(1718)

I shall really

'

See note on No.

and as ani

'.

Me suman ne m aniwa
My talisman (against

See note on No.

Ne.

'

'

Tie

"Well

'

says,

little

Suman.

Afei

'

se,

The monkey

55

in

{E)sen, a court herald (e as in fed).

a pot (g broad).
(P)sm, from sen, to surpass ( nasal).
{^A)sen, the waist ( between i and e).

2. {0)sen,
3.

4.

words otherwise spelt

makes the Twi language
the European to master.

It is this variety of vowel sounds

which

the same) alters the entire meaning, that

one of exceptional difficulty for

(in

ASHANTI PROVERBS

56
84. Ohi

No

tamarind (?),

Nhye

see note

eye

mma,

is

son.

(195)

'

se,

me

Note the negatives running throughout

onni.

Jfea ewo

dea'.

(The gsoh,

(?) fruit.

the favourite food of monkeys).

on No. 33, mfa,

85. Odtiahyen

The

nvma onni

iihye kontrornft

one compels a monkey to eat the tamarind

nsisi.

mafonom' nye me

dea,

nea ako me yam' na

(1026)

white-tailed one (the black colobus

my cheek is not
is my very own

monkey)

says,

mine, but what has gone into

'

What

my

in

is

belly that

'.

Bua, a

Oduahyen.

Me

dea.

Dea,

tail (lit. stick),

me

as,

de.

This de

possessive pronouns.

and hyeh, bright or white.

This suffix de
is

is

used to form the

probably the word ade, a thing,

and the construction is really the possessive adjective qualifying

Ade, thing, is again
the noun ade; me de, mine (lit. my thing).
a noun formed from the root de, to hold, to possess; ade, something
The writer knows no language in
held, a possession, a thing.
which it is possible to get down to roots and root meanings in
words more often than in Ashanti or Twi. There are few words
of more than two syllables which cannot be broken up into their
component

and the student of the language who will devote

and basic stems will find his
much simplified, and render the acquisition of a voca-

parts,

attention to the mastery of roots

future studies

much more

pleasant task than had he merely endeavoured

to learn dissyllabic

and polysyllabic words without knowing the

bulary a

roots

from which they are built up.

86. Kontromfi ahwakora, na gware kontrornft aberewa. (1715)

It is Mr. Old-man-monkey who marries Mrs. Old-woman-monkey.

87. Kontromfi kyea senea ahyeafo kyea, nso ne to kg. (1716)

The monkey struts about just as a conceited person does, but
bottom is red nevertheless.

There

JVe to kg.

speaks these words,

red bottom

'),

is
'

its

monkey which the natives declare

wo to kg (lit. You red bottom, you
sound this monkey makes seems, once

a kind of

Wo

to kg,

and certainly the

'

one has heard the interpretation given, to be exactly these words.

The black colobus monkey with the white tail ' says ', WaJm,
'

wahu i (Have you seen, have you seen ?). The sounds made by
many birds and animals are put in words by the natives, and once one
'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
has heard these sounds interpreted into words,
the sound

that

57

it is

easy to imagine

produced represents the exact words ascribed.

The native does not think

it

so very extraordinary,

and

quite

is

ready to ascribe a limited knowledge of his language to birds and

beasts while recognizing that he cannot of course always understand

what they
88.

Mahu

say.

awu na wasiw atimilm, na wo wansan

hontroTnfia ne yere

efa wo ho den

de,

(1445)

monkey whose wife has died and he has let his hair
grow long in consequence, but as far as you are concerned,

I have seen a

Bush-buck,
It

how

does

it

concern you

the bush-buck (male), with

is

to which the allusion is

made.

its

long horns like plaited hair,

The saying

quoted in the sense

is

any but his own family.

Wife (see also note on m, No. 37, table of terms of
Yere.
relationship or classificatory system F). The derivation is possibly
that one man's troubles are no concern of

from the same root that

is

seen in yere, to be stretched out on,

spread out, strained upon.

89. Bsdno ahyi nni ahoa.

(3029)

After the elephant there

size

Cf.

No. 90, following.

no other animal

(to

compare with

it

in

and strength).
Lit. 'the big one', deriv. so, big,

Es6no.
he ;

is

the noun prefix.

the water

and no, the pronoun,

Cf. susono, the hippo,

lit.

'

the big one of

'.

The back of anything, hence behind, used of place and of

The same root is probably found in kyi, to dislike, hate, of
a person or thing. In the latter sense it is tlie word used for taboo,
the idea in both these words probably being, to turn the back on.
Akyi.

time.

(See also note on No. 132, wokyi.)

Nni.

Neg. of wg, to be.

Aboa.

An

animal, anything having

life,

a creature

used of and

applied to animals, birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, and even man,

but in this last case generally, though not always, in an abusive

sense,

'

You

The word

beast
is

'.

often used in apposition with the

insect, &c., specified, e.g. see

want to
beast '.

insult a

name

of the animal,

Proverbs Nos. 172, 175.

man very much, you

call

him,

'

onipa aboa ',

If you
'

man

ASHANTI PROVERBS

58

90. Estno ahyi ahoa ne bdmmgfd

After the elephant

is

(still

(3028)

greater) animal, the hunter

See note on idmmgfo, No. 131.

Bdmmgfd.

na adowa di panyin.

91. Esono huntan

The elephant

is

big and bulky but the (little) duyker has most ex-

perience and sense.

Better jperhaps kuntahn, anything huge, ponderous,

Kuntan.
heavy.

Adowa.
for pertness

92. Est>no nni

species of duyker, in

and

Ashanti stories has a character

cleverness.

wuram

anha eko ye obgpgn

a,

(3023)
bush '), then the

hi.

If the elephant were not in the jungle

('

would be one of the greatest of the

buffalo

beasts.

Neg. of wo.

Nni.

Wuram'.

Wura mu,

lit.

in the grass (bush).

in the sense of 'the bush',

i.e.

without the preposition mu, the meaning

The

or bush in particular.

growing where

plural

not wanted.

it is

The word

is

used

jungle, forest, as a whole, whereas

is

restricted to

means weeds,

i. e.

Ekwae, kwaem'

some grass

grass or bush

is

particularly

thick bush or dense forest.

See note on No. 733, ankana.

Anka.

See note on No.

Ye.

Obopgn.

93. Estmo tia

When

afiri so a,

1, ne.

jygn a suffix

ehhuan.

meaning great,

is,

Many of the

large.

(3031)

the elephant treads on a trap,

Afiri.
afiri

Ahoa pgn,

it

does not spring (on

traps in use are extremely ingenious.

it).

Sum

to set a trap.

94. Okdka hu sono

se.
(1515)
Toothache breaks the elephant's tusk.

Okdka.

Okekaw, the many one-tusker elephants are supposed by

the natives to have lost the second tusk owing to toothache.

Se.

95.

Also aben, esbno-hen {^asommen).

Nea esono wui n'afikyiri no, ehg aliahah nhina sae. (2244)
Where an elephant died, all the leaves in his backyard were spoiled.
(Trampled down by people coming to cut up the meat.)
Wui.

Perfect tense.

N'afikyiri.

Lit.

back of house.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
96.

59

nhua ho, nnua qdehhyem-mirempgn,

na wasah agua gnanka, na wasan atijba wo wura nsa, na
wgnhgn wo nto ode mu ana ? (2850)

Qsekah-tid biako hfiud esono,

One

little

knife which cannot flay an elephant, which cannot flay

a buffalo, which cannot flay a big-throated crocodile, and yet

you have gone out of your way

(lit.

turned back) to flay

a python, and gone out of your way to cut your master's hand,
will

you not be plucked from your handle and cast into some
way) ?

place (out of the

Nnua.

Neg. of gna.

Agua.

Subjunctive mood.

Wgnhgn

For note on the negatives

nto.

see

No.

33, mfa,

nsisi.

97- Esdno di asawa.

An

(3022)

elephant eats the

Not asawa, the

Asawa.

berries, distinguished

98. Esono afgn

When

(little)

a,

asdwa

cotton plant, but a shrub with small

from the former word by the nasal

wgnne mpakam-ma

an elephant

berries.

is thin,

that

gha.

(3024)

not to say

is

a.

its

meat will not

fill

a hundred baskets.

Neg. of

Wgrvne.

90' Esono afgn

a,

de.

wohnua no berew

(Even) when an elephant

Wonnua.

(3025)
not skinned on a palm

leaf.

Neg. of gua.

The oil-palm

Berew.

so.

is thin, it is

leaf.

100. Esono ho na wgbg apwruwd.

It

is

(3026)
from the elephant that big lumps of meat are cut.
Deriv. perhaps

Apv/ruwd.

na adowa na gde ne
is a huge beast, but

101. Esfmo kdkkrd,

The elephant

king of the bush

'

meaning,

'

ha.
it is

(3027)
the duyker that

is

the (real)

(jungle).

With the tone

Kakra.
final a.

puruw, round.

rising on the second syllable,

and a long

Kakra, with an even intonation, has exactly the opposite

'

little,

small

'.

Ha. Eha, the jungle, or 'bush', as it is called in West Africa.

By metonymy the word is used for hunting, ye Jm, ahayg, (the last
a verbal noun).


ASHANTI PROVERBS

60
102. Esono nya wo

When

a,

adowa

ho

wo

me.

(3030)

the elephant has got you in his clutches, the (little) duyker

(comes up) and slaps you.

103.

OK

nnyae sono ahyi di nhodi aseredoa alcyi. (300)

one gives up following an elephant to go and follow the

No

little

aseredoa bird.

Another version often heard

...
Nnyae

one

104.

throw a stone

to
.

one (who)

is

obi

nkqbg aseredoa

See note on No. 33,

nhodi.

Obi nni sono ahyi

No

is,

mmoro

No

ho.

at the aseredoa bird.

Jmasii.

infoj, nsisi.

(256)

following an elephant has to

knock the dew

off

the

grass.

Wni

105.

mmoro.

Hudsu.

Witdi sono ahyi

When you

Neg. of di, and

a,

wontoa.

Cf No.

you do not get entangled (with

104, above.

106. Obiakofo na ohum s6no, na amansan

one

man who

kills

and nsu, water.

(893)

follow an elephant

creepers).

It is

boro.

Deriv. hua, to brush against,

nhma

di.

(455)

an elephant, but many people who eat

its

flesh.

Amansan.
(Cf. santen),

Deriv. gman, people, nation, and san, to draw a

line.

a long line of people.

107. JEbia wobedi s6no na

ahia wo.

nhia wo, na wtidi apatd

biribi

a,

na dompe

(444)

Perhaps you will eat a whole elephant and nothing will stick in
your throat, and then you eat a (little) fish and lo! a bone
has stuck in your throat.

Perhaps the word

something that ..."
Ehia.

is

really a sentence

e hi a,

'

there

Nhia. Hia, to stick in the throat ; perhaps the same word as

to be in trouble, distress,
e/jia

108.

which

is

is

/wa,

generally used impersonally,

me.

Wqde hokwrokb na edi amim a, anhd esono heba qfie. (753)

mere bulk and size could be used to further greed and violence,
then the elephant would have come to the haunts of men (to
seize what he wanted).

If

ASHANTI PROVERBS
109.

61

Wode sdno nlwma bu kotoku, na wode den ahyemi (768)

You may make a bag out of an elephant's hide, but what
going to find to put in

Bu.

The idea

is

are you

it ?

of bending or folding

up the skin

nnim nea es6no di yee kese. (278)

No one knows what the elephant ate to make

form a bag.

to

110. Ohi

111.

mmu ahaban. (346)

a leaf in order to measure the size of an elephant's

Obi nsusu sdno yam'

No one breaks

off

belly with

Mmu.

it.

Neg. of bu.

on No. 33, mfa,

Ahaban.

For idiomatic use of the negative

Deriv. ha (q.v. No. 101) and ban

Bnye aduan na

see note

nsisi. ,

arranged in a row
112.

it big.

{1),

lie

or be

Icese

sen no.

to

(1).

nyd

esono

di Tcym

adowa

nti

na oye

(3597)
It is not the greater

amount of food that the elephant eats than the

duyker that makes

113.

Womfd akdrd ntow

A wax

Tow,

Ntow.

114.

sono.

(bullet) is not

when guns were

lit.

it

greater in size than he.

(1084)

used to shoot an elephant.

throw or

to

cast, as a stone or a spear, hence,

introduced, of firing

lit.

'

throwing

'

a bullet.

a, ankd nniiia nnya bdbi ntra.

(1260)
numerous in the bush ', then man would have no

Gyata dgso wiram'

If lions were very

'

place to stay.

Gyata.
115.

Often called simply,

Woboro gyata

a,

wo

tiri

pa

wo.

'

the great beast ' {^aboa hese).

(611)

own head

If you strike a lion, your

will pain

you (you

will not do

the lion any harm).

116.

Gyahene ho nye den

Even when a

a,

grme kankan.

Onne. Neg. of de.

Kankan. Civet cat.
117.

Ade hta

When

osebo a,

a leopard

Wura.

(1257)

lion is not a strong lion, it is not called a civet cat.

Deriv. perhaps, kankan, stinking.

owe wura.
is

(800)
hard pressed for food,

See note on No. 92, wuram'.

it

chews grass.

ASHANTI PROVEEBS

63

nennan sisia ase ma osisia wosow biribiri. (1852)

The leopard that prowls about under tlie thicket causes the thicket

118. Kurotwiamansa

to shake greatly..

Eeduplicatiou of nam.

Nennan.
119.

Kurotwiamansa fa awuru

When

a,

gdannan no hunu.

a leopard catches a tortoise it turns

As

Atouru.

Odannan.

it

(1851)

over and over in vain.

aTcyehyere.

Eeduplication of dan.

120. Kurotwiamansa

se,

gnam ha mu hwa,

ahyekyere

na

ode ne ha.

(1853)

The leopard declares he prowls the bush to no purpose, and that

tortoise really owns his jungle kingdom.
The following

is

the story on which the saying

is

based.

the

A leo-

pard was prowling about the bush in search of prey, and suddenly
seeing a tortoise, sprang on

it,

exclaiming,

'Manya wo', 'I've got you'.

The tortoise, however, replied, As for me, I have been watching

you long before you ever saw me '. The saying is quoted in the
sense that, a king may think he knows all about the affairs of his
subjects, whereas in reality they probably know a great deal more
'

about
121.

his.

Ahoa kHrotibiamansa hunu

ato nija,

ankrana aboa

bi

nni wiram'.

(519)
If the leopard could spring

no animal would be

upon

its

left alive in

prey to the right hand, then

the bush.

Lions, leopards, and other animals of the cat tribe are all supposed, as
left

it

were, to be left-handed, that

on seizing their prey.

is

to say, they spring to the

A hunter will try to get a

shot in preference to another.

left

shoulder

Native hunters say they know these

animals are left-handed by observing that animals found killed by

on the right side, and

by observing spoor which, when turning, goes off to the left.
Possible derivation, em fa; em, honour, {di no eni) and
Nifd.

leopards, &c., are always, so they say, clawed

fa, place.

the

left

There

is

a scrupulous distinction in

and the right hand.

Ankrana.

Wuram'.

Ankd, ankdna,

many ways between

(See note on No. 725.)

see note

on No. 733.

See note on No. 92.

122. Aboa a gsebg antumi anni no, agyinamoa

mfa no afo. (497)

The animal which the leopard has been unable to kill and eat, the
cat is not going to eat its carcass.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Antumi

There

Deriv. gyina, to stand, and emoa, ditch, hollow,

is

a phrase, oho gyina emoa, he has gone to hide him-

gone to stand in a

self (lit.

hole),

hence of the cat crouching to spring.

Another common name for the cat

literally often calls his cat,

household

For note on the negative see

of di.

iieg.

nsisi.

Agyinamoa.
hole.

Anni,

anni.

No. 33, mfa,

63j

is ill

'

is

qhra

me qhra

',

and an Ashanti

soul),

(lit.

my

When

soul.

one of the

and the family cat disappears, hope of recovery

is

The Ashantis do not eat cats, but the Fantees do.

Though not held in any particular veneration they are considered
as uncanny and never ruthlessly interfered with.
given up.

123.

Ohi nhyere gsebg ha atow.

(233)
one teaches a leopard's cub how to spring.

No

Ah
Sir

almost similar

Hugh

cub how to

tiger's

saying

common

is

kill',

the

124.

Wode

No

one teaches the

i.

'

e.

The king's sous do not

'.

nhoma sua adwinni

sehg

When you

'

interpretation in both countries,

Malay and Ashanti, being the same,

need to be taught violence

Malaya, where, as

in

Clifford told the writer, they say,

na wade

a,

awie.

(765)

use a leopard's skin for practising leather work on,

shows you have mastered your trade.

it

No. 373)

Adwini, a skilled trade, such as goldsmith, leather-

Adwinni.
worker, &c.

(Cf.

adwinni (double n)

= adwini di, to

Leopard-skins, used for omanhene's drums,

rarer than sheep- or goat- skins,

experimental work unless a

practise a trade.

litters,

&c., are

much

and hence would not be used

man was

thoroughly sure of his

125. Osu fwe sehg a, ne ho na efgw, na ne nwa/rah-hwdran

for

skill.

de, empojpa.

(3054)

When rain

beats on a leopard it wets him, but

it

does not wash out

his spots.

Oau.

126.

Eain, see note on No. 26, nsu.

^ko hum Kranni

ne nam.

When

a,

merikg no ayi,

na Ohranni hum

'ko a,

minni

(1598)

a buffalo kills an Accra man, I do not go to his funeral, and

when an Accra man

^ho.

kills a buffalo, I

The West African

buffalo or

the elephant (some might place

'

it first),

animals when wounded and followed up.

do not eat

its flesh.

bush-cow ', probably,

after

the most dangerous of

all

ASHANTI PROVERBS

64

See note on No. 56.

Ayi.

Suffix ni for onipa,

Okranni.

Nkran

is

an Accra man.

the Accra of the European.

The saying above quoted is meant to express deep and undying

hatred, or two persons or conditions that could never have anything
in common or become reconciled to each other.
127.

Otwe

d/iia

ye tid

The duyker's

a,

tail

nea ode pra neho ara nen.

may be

but

short,

it

brushes

(3412)
its

body with

it

not-

withstanding.

Nen

Nen.

= ne no.

128. Otwe nhoma suane nea eye hare.

The duyker's skin

Light, quick, nimble

Hare.
129.

(3413)

where

(hide) splits

it is

thinnest.

here thin, fragile.

Otwe ankg gua, ne nJmna ho. (3414)

The duyker does not go to market, but

its

skin does.

Antelope hides are used for covering loads to keep the rain

Anko.
130.

oflf.

Lit. has not gone.

Otwe ne otwe ho na wohu gyahene

a,

na wgko afa na woguah.

(3415)

When two
off

131.

duykers are quarrelling, and they see a lion (coming),

they run together (forgetting their quarrel).

Otwe ani ansen

When

a,

na

the antelope

Bgrmngfo.

efi

is

(3416)
the hunter

it is

who

is

the cause.

Also spelled gbgmofo, and ghgfo; deriv. hg to

Hunters among

to hit.

bgmmofo.

unhappy,

this people,

as skilful trackers or as close observers of the habits of

their brothers in East

strike,

with a few exceptions, are not

game

as

and Central Africa.

They have one accomplishment, however, which, as

Angoni, or Chipeta shikari.

far as the

known to the Anyanja,

They can call up the smaller game,

present writer knows or has seen,

is

not

bush-buck, duyker, &c., by imitation of the bleat of the doe or kid.

(Cf. the calling of moose.)

Hunting among the Ashantis is a recognized profession. It is

who would care to take the risks involved, for not
by any means the greatest of these risks is the actual danger run
not every native

by hunting bush-cow or elephant.

risks.

'

A mad

hunter

'

(obgfo

The Ashauti shikari runs other

is a common expression,

damfo)

ASHANTl PROVERBS

!65

a sort of equivalent of our as mad as a hatter '. If the hunter does

not take great care to propitiate the spirits {sasa) of the larger
'

species of

game he may

supposed in time

to

kill

by ceremonial dances

become mad.

The gtrgmo

especially dangerous animal in this respect.

man

the

goes

he

{abgfosi),

{bongo),

is

is

an

In a hunter's dance

over again in realistic mimicry the killing of the

animal whose sasa he wishes to avoid entering his body.
all

Butchers also are thought to go

mad

sooner or later for a

similar reason.

132.

Otwe nya nantu

When

a, wokyi.
(3417)
(you see) a duyker which has a (thick)

leg,

that

is

something

you avoid (make a taboo).

Nya

nantu.

Lit. got a calf (on its leg).

The verb kyi is used in two senses, to hate, to dislike,

of a person or object, and to hate in the sense of refuse to eat au
animal or thing owing to some religious (totemic) observance, that
Wokyi.

is, it is

exactly rendered by the

The native
'

I hate eggs

',

literally says,

or whatever

'

word

I hate

taboo.
fish

'

',

I hate goats'

flesh

',

may be his particular taboo. The deriva-

tion is possibly the root kyi, back, to

turn one's back on, see note

on No. 89, akyi.

133.

Otwe m'porgw adu kiirom'

!
(3418)
Let the antelope rot in the hollow of the tree
'

(A congener

of our

dog in the manger '.)

The following is the stoiy on which the above is founded.

certain man had a hunter whom he used to send to kill game
but he ne^er allowed him the smallest portion of any animal he
brought in. One day the hunter, having killed an antelope
(a duyker), hid it in a tree and went and asked his master saying,
If I should happen to kill anything to-day, will you give me a
The hunter then went off mutterpiece ?
The master said No

'

'

'

ing as above,

AdM.

'

.'
.

For dua.

134. Odenkyem da nsu mu, nso

The

'.

Let the antelope.

gnom mframa.

(859)

crocodile lies in the water, but it also drinks (breathes) the air.

Nsu.

Onom.
1693

See note on No. 26.

Lit. drinks.

Cf.

Hausa sha
E

iska, to

drink the

air.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

66
135.

Odenkyem weree

A crocodile's
The

sene were-pd de.

skin

skins of

(860)
sweeter than any other skin.

is

many animals

down and make soup

are used to boil

Some, sheep's, goat's, Sec, only in times of want, others, again,

of.

as the hippo's

and

elephant's, are considered a delicacy.

were, skin, is found in many idiomatic expressions,

which curiously remind one of English slang, e. g. to jump out of
one's skin; by the skin of one's teeth, save your skin, &e. E.g. ne

The word

were
no,

the price of his skin, the value of a slave

ho,

lit.

his skin is not big

enough

jumping about, fidgety ; me were

I have forgotten

me

were kyekye,

for

him

my

mma

ne were nso

that

is,

of a person

skin has come out,

fi,

lit.

my

skin has become tight, I

am

happy, &c.

See note on No. 483.

Were-pd.

136. Funtumfrafu derikyem frafub, wqwq yafu/nuhoro nanso wonya

a,

biribi

wofom, nanso won ninnara wo yafunu koro, nanso wodi no

amenemutwitm.

The

Two-headed crocodiles have but one belly for both, yet when
them get anything they fight among themselves for
'

'

either of
it,

for

though they both have only one belly for each of their

separate heads, each wants the food to pass

(This

throat.

Pioverb

'

proverb

is

not

among those

down
in

its

the

'

own
Tshi

book.)

Funtumfrafu dehkyem frafu. There is a mythical crocodile supposed to have two heads and two necks which merge into a common
belly, which again merges into two tails.
This emblem is one of
the many '^Ashanti weights ', most of which are probably symbolical
see note

on No. 591.

This clever metaphor clearly states the ideas of a communistic

people.

Fvmium, to

Funtumfrafu.

collect together, fra, to mix,

and

/u^=afunu, belly; funtum-frafu denkyem frafu, therefore means

literally,
Bellies mixed up, crocodiles mixed up '.
'

Won

nlimara.

i.e.

137.

of the food

Deriv. aniene, throat

rubbing (in

W'U'twa asu wie a,

When

nhinara=:nhma ara.
mu, in twitwi,
passage down the gullet) the

Lit. they all;

Amenemutwitwi.

its

na wuse odenkyem ano

you have quite crossed the

has a lump on

its snout.

river,

to rub,

throat.

jtqw.
(3405)
you say that the crocodile

ASHANTI PROVEKBS
Wutwa

wie.

Translate,

'

When

67

you have finished crossing

',

The English idiom to finish doing anything ',

which is expressed by a finite verb and a participle, is in Ashanti,
and all other native languages known to the writer, expressed by
two finite verbs. E.g. 'he has finished doing' is translated by two
'

or quite crossed

'

verbs in two principal clauses, he has done, he has finished.

finite

Wa

'.

understood before wie.

is

138. Okdtd a gda

Even the

siM ho po

twere abe.

crab, that lives

(1739)
where the gold dust

(Palm nuts are supposed

to

eats

the hair of a child whose brothers and sisters have

a child

is

called hegyinaha,

lit.

'

it

all

nuts.

died (such

will stand (remain) child

also note on No. 486, kobuobi. for prefix

such children by way of cheating Death

is really a slave, and also No. 574 note.

added

'/to

to

').

See

names

of

into supposing the child

locative complement of the verb da.

To skin with the teeth.

Here a

Ed.

Twere.

nwo anoma.

139. Ok6t6

A crab
140.

palm

Crab claws are tied on

Either the land or sea crab.

0Mt6.

is,

be the food of poor people.)

bme asuo

Okdtd

(1740)

_.

does not give birtli to a bird.

'ii

na onim asuo

kasd.

Because the crab lives near the river he

(1741)

knows the language

of the

river.

Perhaps past tense.

Bene.

For

'Ti.

141.

nti.

Speech, language

Kasa.

mu

nni nam.

young crab has no meat in

Foford.

Nni.

Lit.

new, here

'

turns back.

its

(1743)
claws.

""

young '.

Neg. of wo.

Ok6t6 guah a, oguan ko ])om!.

When

it

considered a bad omen.)

Okdtd foforo aperew

143.

ka asem {X).

deriv.

Ok6t6bopemmo a,gsann'akyi. (1742)

When a crab falls down plump on its bottom,
fall so is

142.

a crab runs

away

it is

(1744)
towards the sea

Pom epo mu.

E 2

it flees.

(To

ASHANTI PROVEEBS

68
144.

Ok6l6 na onim sika dabere.

Lit. 'the sleeping-place

JDabere.

145.

(1745)

knows where the gold dust

It is the crab that

0Mt6 annya adaye

na oda amoa mu.

nti

Da, to

146.

lie,

Ok6t6 po di sukgm,
Even the crab gets
up above.

tux

and

to sleep,

Sukgm.

Lit. water hunger,

Neg. of

that

in, it lives in

a hole.

good.

gsoro.
(1747)
speak of the monkey that sleeps

nsu gkgm.

de.

147. Aboa dompo nni asmnguarede nti na

its soul,

ye,

menne okwaku a gda

thirsty, not to

Menne.

Because the otter

be found.

(1746)

Because the crab has no good place to sleep

Adayi.

is to

of.

(?)

has made

is

why

it

gnam asu ho

hg ak6td.

(505)

no preparation for the washing of

walks about digging

for crabs (to offer

to the soul).

JVni aswmguarede.

lowing

is

guarede).

Di asu/mguarede {asu-mu-guare-ade). The fol-

an account of

'

a soul washing

'

Perhaps once a year an Ashanti

{okra-guare-ade ; gkrafixes

on a day on which

wash his gkra (soul or spirit). See note on No. 9, nkrabea.

The relatives are informed, and as many pure white fowls collected

to

as the person can afford.

On

the appointed day the fowls are carried

an awowa (brass or metal bowl).

down

AdiJbira'^ (a

to the water in

small plant) and

nsome leaves which have been collected are then dipped in the
water and the fowls are sprinkled over.
ing his soul then addresses

it,

asking

The person who is washprosper him and bring

it to

him luck. (This part of the ceremony may also be performed at home).
On returning to the house the fowls are killed and the blood sprinkled
about the corners of the house compound.

mashed and cooked (no

white).

There

Yams

or plantains are

being used in order that they

may

be

These and the fowls are eaten by the assembled friends.

is for

that day a complete cessation of all

demand payment

oil

of a debt or

work

no one can

swear the king's oath

(see note

on No. 496, woka) on the person on that day. The idea of a good
or perhaps rather, lucky gkra being white is a strong belief; gkra
bin, black soul, is said of an extremely unlucky man ; there is no
connexion with morality or purity of soul in our sense of the word.
'

The town

of Ejura (which should rightly be spelled

called after the plant.

Edwira)

is so

ASHANTI PKOVERBS
148. Kgt6k6 reko kotgk6

When

a,

the porcupine

omfa adidide.
going to

is

69

(1750)

visit the porcupine,

he does not

themselves Asante

Kot6k6,

take any food with him.

The

Kgt6k6.

Ashantis

man

call

goes on a visit to an Ashanti

me impune

lacessit

he will rely on the hospi'

is

nemo

'.

Adidi (reduplication of

Adidide.

149. Aloa akyekyeree nni ntama, nsoso

The

man

The idea in the name Asante Kgtok6,

tality of his host.

the

The saying above means, when an Ashanti

Ashanti Porcupines.

di,

and

ade).

awgw nme

no da.

(522)

tortoise has no cloth, hair, or wool, nevertheless

it

does not

ever feel the cold.

Neg. of wg.

Nni.

Eeduplication of nso.

Nsoso.

Neg. of

Nvje.

150.

de.

Mmoadoma nhindforo

bo,

akyekyere h'kgforo

hi,

wapon

afwe.

All animals (can) climb stones, but let the tortoise try

tumbles down.
N'kgforo.

to,

and he

(Said of an unlucky person.)

Imperative mood, with the auxiliary

kg.

Lit. let

him

go and climb.
Wa2)gh. Perfect tense, 'he has fallen

down

'.

See note on No. 757.

151. Akyekyere

nni nufu, nso gwo a, onim nea gye yen ne ha. (1924)
The tortoise has not any milk, but when it gives birth, it knows

how

to rear its child.

By metonymy

Nufu.

152. Akyekyere kg serew serew

The

for

nufusu {nufu nsu),

lit.

breast water.

na oguah ara

tortoise goes off in a laughable

Tien.
(1925)
manner, but he can escape

all

the same.

Nen

ne no.

153. Akyekyere na gkyere ne hgbere na wghg no.

(1926)

It is the tortoise itself that exposes its vulnerable spot (the head)

and has

When

it struck.

the natives

which

is

much

makes

it

show

want

relished),
its

and

to kill

eat a tortoise (the flesh of

they scratch the tortoise on the back, which

head.

154. Akyekyere pe ne yere amanne,

ose,

'

Wow m'akyi nvmesa {wgw mmesa

gu m' atiko), nd mehkgfwe agoru\

(1928)

ASHANTI PROVERBS

70

When

the tortoise seeks a quarrel with his wife he says, 'Plait the

tress of hair falling

down my back and

let

me

be

off in search

of some fun'.

155. Akyekyere

The

se,

Oharima mfere aguah'-

'

tortoise says,

(1929)
need not be ashamed to run away

A man

'

'.

Fere has a great variety of meanings, the idea of em-

Mfere.

barrassment or shyness seeming to be at the root of

It is

all.

used of the respectful fear a child should have for a parent, and
also for the strictness

The word

No. 378.)

ridicule.

definition') signification,

se,

'

Ntem

a good thing

Nkwi nye-na

ye,

na gjom ye

Haste

'

is

(1931)

'.

a good thing and deliberation

is

also

'.

anka akyekyere nni hi ? (1467)

grow, would not the tortoise have somel

a,

was not

Nye-na.

as in the sense used above, fear of

No. 718.

tortoise says,

If hair

'minimum

make taboo; and

Cf.

156. Akyekyere

Igi7

(See

Onyanlcopon, sometimes in the place oihyi (q.v. No. 132),

to shun, to

The

child.

used in a religious (religious in the wide

Tylor's famous

sense, as in
e.g. fere

with which a parent treats his

is

difficult to

Da

is

suffixed to certain verbs

and gives the verb the

idea of difficulty in the performing of the action implied in the

Thus

veib.

158.

ye-na, difficult to be done

Wokg atvuru kurom' na

When you
Awuru.
159.

oo.

Another name

tortoise crawls,

other and teach

Reibea.

lit.

it eats earth,

tatd.

hena na ohegye won lata

(3504)

and his child crawls, and which will take the

him how

to

Gye

walk upright ?

taia, to

baby language, spoken

to receive (gye)

you

for the tortoise, akyekyere.

re.

teach an infant

to the child to

and stand and walk towards the person who

160.

(1584)

and

Present continued action, expressed by

Ohegye won
Tata,

hi.

toi'toise

(Cf No. 297.)

Awuru reihea (a) we ha rewea, (no)

The

tow-na, difficult to throw, &c.

wudi

odi dote a,

go to the village of the

eat some

is

how

encourage

to walk.
it

to try

holding out the hands

it.

Qketew a otare pgdg ho ho ye tow-na.

(1542)
throw a stone at a lizard which
(without breaking the pot).

It is difficult to

is

clinging to a pot

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Tare has the idea in

Otare.

71

of anything adhering to

it

oi-

lying

up against a thing; hence, to plaster with mud (the wall of

a house).
Here of the lizard lying close up against the pot.
Ho. A complement of the verb tare.
close

Tow-na.
161.

See note above, No. 157, nye-na.

Oketew ne ketebg se din na wgnse Iwnam.

The

but their appearance

similar,

162.

and the antelope

lizard {oketeiu)

Oketew nim

ayanikaw beba

se

Because the lizard knows

on

Any

it

nti

(1545)

(Jcetebq)

have names which are

not the same.

is

na obutuw siei. (1546)

become painful, it lies down

its belly will

(before the pain comes).

one

who

has watched lizards will have noticed them press-

ing their bellies against the ground, raising themselves up again

on their two fore

feet,

then laying themselves

again, for

flat

all

the

world like one of Sandow's exercises, where you raise and lower
yourself with your arms, while lying face

The chameleon's belly

is

down on

the ground.

supposed to burst and the animal to

on its giving birth.

The natives consider lying on the stomach a cure

die

The saying above

better than cure

for belly-ache.
'

prevention

is

'.

wg yam aduru

Oketew

Had

the Ashanti congener of our

See note on No. 10, adi

Siei.

163.

is

asie.

anka yam and no adurade. (1547)

its body would not be

a,

the lizard medicine against eczema, then

clothed with eczema.

Yam.

skin disease (eczema

X).

The rough mottled bodies of

some lizards give them the exact appearance of having some skin
disease.

Adwade.
164.

OMtew
The

hibe

shirt or burnous.

WMko na fijtri mfi

lizard does not eat

atihergrg.
(1548)
pepper and sweat break out on the

(A man bears the brunt

Aiweroro.

A small frog.

of his

own

frog,

actions.)

The common word

for frog is apotgrg.

Both words are onomatopoetic, rg rg suggesting the croaking of frogs.

165.

Nwaw

de neho

sie a,

na wgfa no

If the snail takes care of itself,

^s a big snail.

tope.

when

(3427)
it

is

taken,

it

will

be taken

ASHANTI PROVERBS

72

Snails are collected and strung on sticks

and

A full-grown

Tope.

^166.

Nwaw wu nkwan mu
When

167.

Owg

de ahoyerew

owing

is

emporgio.

a,

a snail dies in the soup,

It

na

oka.

it

(3430)
does not rot.

(3446)

to being disturbed that a

Owg hka onipa kwa.

bites.

(3447)

(3448)

man

snake does not bite a

without a cause.

170. Owo nkesiM nko na ebesuw wuram'

If it

snake

to apply to a snake bite are quickly plucked.

The herbs

they fetch a big price

snail.

168. Owg aduru, wglew no ahoghare.

169.

are considered a great delicacy.

a,

afika hiribiara nseee

were only snakes' eggs that were addled in

would not have mattered

'

e.

particle

e,

(3449)
',

that

The

final

at all.

Lit. nothing would have been spoiled at

makes the statement very emphatic.

JVseee

e.

the bush

all.

r
^171.

Owg

te se

A snake

hama, na wgmfa nkyekyere ade.

(3451)

like rope, but it is not (for that reason)

is

taken to bind

a thing with.
172.

Ahoa nanka nim adekyee a, ankd gda nwia-da? (524)

If the python knew when it was dawn, would it sleep in the daytime?
Nwia-da.

173.

Lit.

'

day sleep

'.

Wonhu gwg ti a, wgmmg no aha. (1450)

Unless you see a snake's head, you do not strike at

it

(any other part

of the body).

Wonhu
or

174.

'

you

',

wginrng.

3rd pers. plural, can be translated by passive,

indefinite pronoun.

Onankanini da ase anya gnwdm.

The python lies on the ground and has got a toucan.
This proverb

is

represented

among

the Ashanti weights.

(Cf.

No. 136).
See note on No. 591.

The saying

is

used meaning that a

getting anything, however impossible

man need never despair

may seem at the time.

it

of

OHAPTEE
Insects

The

III

Spideb, Fly, Ants.

nam na gso ne dan. (525)

The spider walks aud carries his house (web).

175i Aboa ananse

See note on No. 89, aboa.

Aboa.

The spider

Ananse.

in Ashanti folk-lore

the hero in most of their animal tales.

been

so,

first as

this

that the very word for a story in this language, be the

spider one of the dramatis personaa or not,

asrni, lit.

comes easily

To such an extent has

words about a spider.

is

anansesem,

That these

i.

e.

ananse

stories probably

had

a religious or totemic origin seems possible, for to this day a sobriquet for the Supreme Being

Ananse hokroko, the Great Spider '.

Hausa folk-lore
rather of the lovable rogue order. The following little story,

The spider
he

is

is

out of the scores current,

down from the lips of a

The Spider collected
'

in a gourd,

He

is

'

credited with being very wise, but in

is

given, being a literal translation taken

native.

all the wisdom of the world and shut it up

and was climbing up a tree to deposit it on the top.

got into difficulties, however, before he reached half-way up, as

he had tied the gourd on to his

climbing properly.
" Father, if

His

son,

belly,

and

it

hindered him from

Ntikwma, who was watching him,

said,

the wisdom of the world with you,

"
you would have had sense enough to tie the gourd to your back

you had really

all

His

father, seeing the truth of this,

threw down the gourd in

a temper. It broke, and the wisdom it contained became scattered,

and men came and picked up what each could carry away.'

The wife of the spider

is

known

as Konori or Konorg.

176. Ananse a ompe anwene bi anwene, na gnwene tempoh niu.

A spider which does not really wish

to spin spins its

frequented road (where the people passing soon break

Ahweme.

Nwene, to weave or

This word

plait.

the moulding of a pot, in which use

(2098)

web on a much

is

it).

also used for

we probably have a survival

first making a basketwork

showing that pots were once made by

frame on to which the clay was daubed.

further relic of this

ASHANTI PROVERBS

74

method of manufacture may be seen in the

ornament

are sometimes used to

177. Ananse se asantrofi

nkm'owa hene

a,

Se wohefwe use so

'

se,

fwe nhorowa hene

The spider says to the night-jar

criss-cross designs

which

pots.

'

(?)

nso wobedi

a, five ase so, se

so di

(2099)
If you are going to look after
'.

the beans, look after the beans, but if you are going to he
leader in the nkorowa dance, then confine your energies to that'

be leader in the nkorowa dance).

(lit.

The following is the story on which the above saying is based.

The night-jar (?) had a plantation of beans which he had reason to
suppose the spider used to come and steal from. Now, both he and
the spider were very fond of dancing the nkorowa dance, and the
spider used to take advantage of this, and steal off to the bean farm
whenever he saw the night-jar at the dance. One day the asantrofi
on the following plan to circumvent the spider.

hit

some of

them

Plucking out

model and

set it up in
The spider, seeing him thus engaged, managed to slip away and went off to steal
Much to his surprise he found what he thought to he
the beans.
the asantrofi bird there, and so again returned to join the dancers.

his

his feathers, he stuck

in a clay

bean garden and then returned to the dance.

Lo, and behold, there was the asantrofi

among

the revellers

slipped to the beans once more, but again there

was the

Off he

night-jar.

Returning once more and finding the night-jar (back, as he thought),

him in the words of the saying quoted

meant to imply that there is often some

at the dance, he addressed

above.

The saying

is

ulterior motive underlying

178. Ananse anion hasa.

The spider has not

He

what looks

like merely friendly advice.

(2100)
sold words.

has given them freely.

of spider stories current

every story

is

known

The allusion is to the great number

among the Ashantis, among whom in fact

as anansesem,

whether the spider appears or

is

lit.

'

words about the spider ',

alluded to in the story at

all.

See note on No. 175, on ananse.)

Anton.

Perfect tense.

179. Agya Ananse adi asemmone na 'yeiiam no, na

na gsen padee

ani.

wannya

hahi ankorg

(1240)

Father Spider did wrong and we drove him away, and as he had no
place to go he hangs from the crossbeams of the roof.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
For the story on which this saying

75

founded see note on

is

No. 175.

Asmnmone=Asem hone.
Ankorg. Akan dialect
No. 33,

For note on the negative

for kg.

see

m,fa,jisisi.

180. Agya Ananse nwoo ne ha NtiJcwma na gwg nea gso ne

(1241)

hgig.

Ntihuma he had some one

Before Father Spider begot his son

to

carry his bag.

This saying

and can go
or,

if

to,

I can get some one to take your place

I managed quite well before I had you

'

Nwoo.

Efere nti

',

'.

Past tense, formed by lengthening of final vowel.

NtikvMM.
181.

quoted in the sense of 'you are not indispensable,

is

you want

See note on No. 175.

na agya Ananse de gtwe kyew hye adgw.

(1112)

Because of shame Father Spider takes an antelope skin hat when

he goes to ask people to come and assist him at his hoeing.

ffye adgw.

The meaning

may

be given.

Cf. hye da, to appoint a

day for doing anything.

The following

somewhat obscure.

is

Antelope skin hats (not

now

interpretation

seen anywhere) were

worn thirty or forty years ago by some elders '. The allusion
to the markings on the bodies of some spiders not unlike
*

may be

The spider

a spotted bush-buck's skin.

is

supposed to have put

on this hat to cover some blemish on his head.

182. Mireguare sughyew na ananse reguare ne

winiej

mma, na meguare

suoh-

(1237)

I bathe in hot water, and the spider keeps washing his children in
it,

so I shall

When
say

'

wash

in cold water

water bubbles and

There

is

'

sings

'

'

I'll

Ntb

tells stories to
.

nkyere.

Anansesem.

Lit.

boiled, these natives

'.

The saying

get the better of him somehow

183. Ohi ntb anansesem nkyere Ntikwma.

one

on being

Father Spider washing his children

quoted in the sense of

No

and what can he do then

is

'.

(359)

Ntikwma.

For the double negative see note on No. 33.

words about the spider ', but tliis is the term
'

used for any story whatever, even one in which the spider does not

appear in any way.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

76
The

Ntikwmd.

As the

spidei's child.

origin of all stories, the son, Ntikuma,

spider

is

the fount and

would be supposed

know

to

every story in the world, having heard them from his father.

The

me

some-

saying

used in the sense of

is

thing I do not

know

'

know all about

that, tell

(See note on No. 176, ananse).

'.

184. Nwansana de ne nsa gu n'ahyi

a, ose,

Nea aha

'

akyiri na edgso

'.

(2570)

When

the fly stretches his legs

There

'

still

remains a

(lit.

lot to

hands) behind him, he

come

what

(lit.

'

is

says,

behind

is

much).
If one wsffcches a fly closely
its feet

backward over

its

it

body.

will sometimes be seen to stretch

This proverb

is

used in the sense

of 'I have done a great deal for you, but you can

hope for

still

future signs of favour.'

ampa funu

185. Nwansana

When

ho

Funu.

wgde no

a,

up

a fly does not get

off

(2571)

sie.

a dead body, he

EfwnM. Deriv. funu,

is

useless, rotten,

buried with

it.

hence a carcass,

dead body.

Ampa.

The ho

take itself

186.

probably the reflexive pronoun, and

is

It might, however, be taken as

oif.

Nwansana pobi, onni

ano, naotwerehehun.

The bluebottle

has no mouth, but

fly (])

it

pa

complement

ho, to

oi funu.

(2572)

can strip the green palm

nuts.

Neg. of wq.

Onni.

Deriv. ahe, and hun, gi-een, unripe.

Bebun.

187.

Nwansana pohi

si

Akyem

Aheya.

188. Nwansana ye

Wherever
Ye
'

else

about to

'

',

wotaforo mu.

on the

(2573)

you

lick inside

gya mu. (2575)

going to alight, it does not alight on

is

be prepared to

it is

a biting

the same (and

it is

fire.

an auxiliary verb having the meaning of

'.

se.

(1463)

surely the tsetse had good reason to bite

knows

it.

Ashanti awowa.

189. Ohurii di hem, nwansana na oye me

Now

dish,

onsi

fly is

Here ye

sisi.

a,

fly sits

dialect, in

sisi a,

mu

abeyd

Though the bluebottle

fly),

for here is the

me (as every one

common house fly doing

not supposed to bite at

all).

ASHANTI PROVERBS
This saying
^

treated, to be

tt

is quoted in the sense of I prefer, if I must

be badly
badly treated by a supeirior and not by my equal or
'

', or, again, it was a saying ofteu put in the mouths of slaves
who, when their old master had died and left them to his nephews, on
being badly treated by them, would say that after all they could not

inferior

blame their former master

for

any bad treatment, here were his

nephews doing the same.

190. Ohurii nni gyamfo.

The biting

fly

(1464)
has no one to come to his aid in trouble.

(Of.

No. 192, below.)

For note on

Gyamfo.
191.

Ohurii

si

akyekyere ahyi kwa.

The biting
192.

suffix

(1465)

nothing by alighting on the back of the

fly gets

'

Melca nnipa nMnd,' nti

'

I shall bite

all

fo see No. 78, kontromfi.

na

annya

ohv/rii

ogyarnfoi

tortoise.

(1480)

men,' because of that the tsetse has no one to come

to his aid in trouble.

193. Mf6te ]pam ansa-na woaye ya.

(1146)
Ants have to unite (in great numbers) before they (can) make
a noise.

Ya.

hissing sound.

Pam. Nasal a. Pam, probably

mend by placing together.
Woaye.
194. Mfotee

Lit.

te se

A white

dwie, nanso o ne

ant

is like

means

to join, to

Perfect tense.

no

nse.

(1147)

a louse, and yet they are not really the same.

Also dihiw.

BOiie

195. Mfote a

have made.

the same root,

wuwu

a wobedi wo

nam

no,

na woie ho

a,

waive

wo

tarn.

(1149)

The white ants that

you are

...

a.

alive eat

The

will,

when you

die,

devour your

flesh,

when

your clothes.

first

is

the relative pronoun, the second the

adverb, introducing the adverbial clause of time.

196.

Obi nkgtoa ghahini

No

wg ne h6n and nd

onse

se,

one tracks a black ant to the mouth of

'You

stink'.

'

its

Wo

ho hon'.

(216)

hole and then says,

ASHANTI PROVERBS

78
Nkotoa

onse.

For note on the second negative see No.

33,

mfa, nsisi.
Ohdhlni.

The

large black ant, which has a most offensive smell

not the large biting ant, which

is

197. Obi nnyina nkrdn mil ntutu nkrdh (313)

No one stands among black ants and picks
198. Nkesua to nkrah mu a, ma enna mu, na
When an egg falls among black ants, let

walk over

it

hkrdh.

off

black ants.

wonam
it lie

without being able to do

it

ho kwa.

(1539)

there, for they will

any harm.

'

CHAPTER IV
BiEDS

The Hen and Cock, Vulture, Hawk, Parrot,

Birds in Genieal.
199. Ohi ntgn ne kokghere kwd,. (363)
No one sells his (laying) hen without a good reason.
Kokgbere.

Egko, akokg, a fowl

An

a cock.

here,

onomatopoetic word,

feminine suffix

akokonini.

Chinyanja, nkuku, and Hausa,

cf.

kaza.

200. Akoho now, nsu

When

a, ode

kyere Onyankopgn.

(1653)

a fowl drinks water, it (first) takes it and shows

it

to the

Supreme Being.
This pretty idea

of course derived from noticing the habit

is

a fowl has of throwing its head back

Onyankopgn.
201.

See note on No.

Akokg di wo ygmko awi

When

a fowl

day

it

is

a,

pam

no,

when

it is

drinking.

on Onyame.

na dabi

ohedi

eating your friend's grain, drive

wo
it

de.
(1644)
away, for some

will eat yours.

202. Akokg ani sa burofua.

The

fowl's eye is

203. Akokg

'

se,

The fowl

Ade

Ade ansa

says,

ansa.

ade kye,

Memee.

'

If

Nan.
is

anka memee ?
(1655)
had not got dark, should I have had
'

a,

thing^s) appear,

my

i.

e. it is

fill ?

Cf.

dawn.

See note on No. 733.

Past tense formed by lengthening of final vowel.

204. Akokg nan nkum

The hen's

it

Lit. acZe asa, thing(s) are finished, i.e. it is dark.

lit.

Anka.

(1652)
keen to see the single grain of corn.

ha.

(1648)

foot does not kill (her) chicken.

Sometimes nantam'

(i.e.

'in the space between the feet')

given instead of 7ian, in this saying.

205. Akokg hyen kye

When

ofie a, ghere.

(1646)

a white fowl remains a long time in a house,

(with earth and dust).

it

gets red

ASHANTI PROVERBS

80

206. Ahoko ntakdra na ema ahokq ye

It is the feathers

Na.

See note on No.

(1658)

hese.

on a fowl that make

it

big.

na.

1,

(This saying has been heaid in the sense that,

of subjects

207. Ahoko ntakara nyih

When

it is

the

number

whom a chief has who make him important.)

a,

etuatua ne

honam mu.

the feathers of a fowl grow, they

still

(1659)
remain attached

to its

body.

The feathers are here again likened to the

who even when they increase in wealth or

No. 206, above.

Cf.

subjects of a chief

importance should

still

be subject to their

chief.

208. Wo hyere akokotan a, wo tase ne mma kwa. (1956)

When you have caught the mother hen, you pick up the chickens
without

difficulty.

The

Akokotan.

suffix tan, applied equally to

animals and persons,

denotes a state of parentage.

209. Ohi ntwa akokg ano

No

one says

'

mma

akye.

(385)

Good morning before the cock has done

'

so.

Ntwa ano. Lit. to cut the mouth, i.e. forestall in speaking.

The day ends roughly when a man retires to rest. A child born at,
say, 10 p.m. on a Monday is called Kwdbena, i.e. Tuesday's child.
210. Akokobere nim adehyee, na ofwe onini ano.

(1664)

The hen knows when the dawn comes, but she nevertheless looks
to the cock (to

211.

it

known).

Akokonini bow nsa na ne were

When

the cock

Were
212.

make

afi.

A kokonini

se,

is

afi

akSroma.

(1669)

drunk he forgets about the hawk.

See note on No. 135.

'

To tamfo nko

a,

anka mahoh anadwo na woakiim me

'.

(1673)

The cook

Had I nothing but enemies left, then when I have

crowed in the night I should have been killed '.

A cock
killed,

says,

'

crowing at midnight or long before dawn

as it is considered

rubbing a cock's feet with

unlucky.
salt

is

immediately

custom in Scotland of
which crowed before the usual time.
Of.

'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
213.

Okokonini, gyae woho kyere,

Used

Hono.
214.

na

cock, leave off being puffed

was only an

81

loo nd ne kesua h6no.

(1671)
up with pride after all, your mother
;

egg-shell.

of the outer covering of things, husk, bark, shell.

Obi mfa akokg nanase ode, mfa nkoto akokofiberew nanase.

No

one takes the string of beads

it

on the leg of a partridge.

(The owner often

beads round

Nanase

identifies a fowl

by a

bit of cloth, string, or

its leg.)

Lit. the thing at the

ode.

bottom of a

foot or leg.

Mfa, nkoto. Note the negative verbs following the

See No. 33, mfa, nsisi.
tive mfa.
215. Akokg nni aso nanso bnnya ne sotore

beating

216.* Akoko-pa

all

na gwd

asense, asense

tore, to fall

(),

gets its

Me

'

on

(?).

nko mifi he

(1654)

'

ordinary fowl hatches out an asense chicken, and the asense

one (asks in wonder) saying,

Akokg

se,

'

I alone, where did I come from

A fowl with curled rufiled feathers.

Asense.

217.

(1651)
it

the same.

Deriv. aso, ear, and

Sotore.

them boxed, but

nega-

first

wqde ho no ara.

a,

fowl has uo ears, so does not get

An

(151)

a fowl's leg and goes and puts

off

'

Kyere akyekyere tutu no

woabere'.

The fowl

says,
'

replies,

',

raa

ono akyekyere

se,

'

Na wo de,

(1656)
'

Catch the tortoise and pluck it,' but he (the tortoise)

for you, you will (lit. have tired) tire of trying

As

that'.

Akyekyere.

218. Akokg

How

ti si

big

na wgrebg mufe ? (1660)

a fowl's head that tliey should be striking at

ahe

is

Si ahe.
to

Also called awuru.

Lit. it stands

warrant one hitting

how much,

it if

i.e. it

is

it 1

not large enough

one does not want to

kill

the fowl

altogether.

219. Okokonini, gyae akimtuh-akuntuh, ms yen iihina ye kesua

(1670)
Cock, desist from self-glorification, for

we

mma.

are all the children of

eggs.

Akuntwh.
swagger.

Lit. to bend,

hence to walk with an affected

gait, to

ASHANTI PROVERBS

83

220. Akokg a wo ne no da

The fowl which

no,

wompe no

sleeps in the

nfem.

same hut

a hurry to go and search for (you

roost,

221.

and you will be able

(1641)

you are not in

as yourself,

know

come back to

it will

to catch it then).

Akoko da nfem a onyi kaw rrnna ne wwra. (1642)

When a fowl comes soon to roost, it does not get

its

master into

debt.

222. Akokq ne krakum

ko.

(1650)

The fowl and the turkey quarrel.

Krakum.

Dutch, kalkoen.

223. Merebekwm, akokg,

(1815)
I am going to
bird

kill

makum

(?),

dawn

adekyee beye deh

what the dawn

will do.

not what causes the cock to crow or the

is

breaking, in the native mind.)

Subjunctive mood.

I^a mafwe.

Adekyee.

See note on No. 203, ade ansa.

Wunim nyansa

hebrebe a,

If you are too wise a

morning

'

womd

man

to a fowl

akokg akye.

(2331)
'

Good

will find yourself led into

com-

(said in a sarcastic sense),

(i. e.

mitting some supreme

225.

se

ohereku to give forth its liquid notes, but rather these are the cause
of the

224.

na mafihe

(my) fowl, (and) I have (already) killed the clock

in order to see

(The coming of dawn

^)f\

ohereku

you

you say

folly).

kurom na okum akokg ma wo di a, enye ne de no na

wo de a gwgfie no na woadi. (1568)
"When you go to some one's town and he kills a fowl for you to eat,
it is not his fowl you have eaten, but your own which is at
Wokg

obi

woadi, na

home.
226. Aboa kdkosakyi kasa kyere obonukyerefo

When

a, ale.
(513)
the vulture gives the hyena advice, he heeds it.

Kdkosakyi.

Also

Obonukyerefo.

The saying

is

oj>efe

and akrampd, the vulture.

Also called patahi, the hyena.

based on the following story.

the hyena died and

all

The mother

of

his friends assembled to take part in the

Day after day passed, and still the body remained

uuburied, and the mourners began to feel the pangs of hunger.

funeral custom.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

83

The hyena alone seemed to remain plump and fat and in no hurry
an end by allowing the body of his
mother to be buried. Now the reason was that he was all the

to bring the obsequies to

time visiting the spot where the corpse was and eating some of it.
The vulture, which had been attracted by the smell, had seen
the hyena was doing, and on the mourners again pressing the
hyena to bury the body, and on his again refusing to do so, drew
him aside and told him he had seen all that was going on, whereall

upon the hyena, fearing

disclosure, quickly agreed to

bury the

body.

The saying means that two persons

of similar natures

and tastes

soon mutually understand each other.

227. Ahoahokosakyi nni tuo, na olqh asormn&h.

The vulture has not a gun, but he

Nni.

sells

(514)

elephants' tusks,

Neg. of wg.

Asommen. See note on No. 94, se.

Dead elephants, and other game are
wheeling

aloft

often located

by vultures

above the carcass.

228. Ahoa kdkosahyi

se

The vulture says

akasadi nti na qha sumana

it is

in order to avoid

so^

payment

(516)
(for

wh^t

l^e

eats)

that he remains on the dung-hill.

Akasadi.

Deriv. di kasa, to fine or

make

liable for

expenses

incurred.

229. Aboa akrampa, wudi

hi bin

na

obi

nni wo

de.

(517)

Vulture, you eat the excrement of every one, but no one eats yours.

230. Kokosakyi akramjM, we din anye de, na ne ho anye hudm. (1679)

The vulture has not a good name and its body has not a good
smell.

Of

Hiiam.
231. Kokosakyi

mpe

a good smell

ofie

aha

a,

bgn used only of a bad smell.

ankd

onsisi

sumdnd

so.

(1680)
it would not

If the vulture did not wish to come into the house,

stand about on the dung-hill.

se, odompo ho hgn.
(1681)
The vulture says that the civet cat stinks.

232. Kdkosakyi

Bgn.

See note above. No. 230.

F 2

ASHANTI PROVERBS

84
233.

(2691)

Opete tahara tiea owira rikontompo a, otu iwene.

When

a vulture's feather

plucks

out and casts

it

master a

tells its
it

lie,

he (the vulture)

away.

Owira = Owura.
234. Opete ho na eye nkwasea, nanso okyi aguare-anni. (2687)
A vulture's body is a foolish looking thing, yet even he does not eat
without

having had his bath.

first

See note on No. 132, wokyi.

Ohyi.

The following is one interpretation given to the

A Hausa man, whom every one knows stinks,
bathing his hands and feet (ceremonial ablutions).

Aguare-anni.

writer of the above,

may be

seen

'

'

235. Osansafiri ahunum reba

akokq.

se,

'

Mekgkyere nipa madi

',

na

afei

akowia

(2775)

The hawk comes swooping down from the sky

to catch a man and eat him ', and behold

saying,

'

am

he makes

going

off

with

a fowl.

Modi.

Subjunct.,

236. Osansa kg abuw

When

a,

hawk

the

se

sit

hawk)

wuhu

may

that I

ode n'akyi

goes to

(another kind of

237. Ako ntakdra,

lit.

Na

eat.

is

understood.

gyaw akroma. (2776)

on her eggs, she leaves the akroma

to keep her

ne hko

a,

watch

ntow no

bo,

(in the sky).

na

oji

dodow mu.

(1610)

A parrot's
at

it,

you see but a single one, do not throw a stone

comes from where there are a great many more.

feather, if
for it

238. Ako ano ye den

a, obi nkyere no nni.

(1607)
Because the parrot has a loud voice, no one catches hold of it to eat

Ano
parrot,
is

ye den.

Lit.

mouth

is

hard.

might perhaps be given

hard', but the phrase

is

it.

This, in connexion with the

its literal

meaning

'

mouth (beak)

generally used in the sense

of,

loud

mouthed, blustering.

Nkyere

nni.

Nni, negative of di.

For note on the double

negative see No. 33, mfa, nsisi.

239. Ako mpe seobi

hUmnkesuantina

gtow gu duam'.

(1608)

parrot lays its eggs in the hollow of a tree because

wish any one to see them.

it

does not

ASHANTI PROVERBS
240.

AnZma

biako

wo wo nsam'

85

nnomd du a ewg ahunum'.

a, eye sen

(2480)

One

bird in your

'

'

',

exist in

'

',

'.

The verb

Eye.

make, to

ye, to

be good

Anoma

not to be confused with

i/e,

to be,

do.

nnam

See note on No. 261,

Sen.

241.

better than ten birds in the sky.

has here

thing)

to

is

Here the verb takes the place of the proposition in English.

its original meaning of to stick to (a person, place, or
from which is derived its subsidiary meaning of to be
to

Wg.

Wg

hand

biara

wu wo

kyen.

soro a, eye den ara a, ne ntakara ba

gu fam'.

(2481)

When any

bird dies in the sky, whatever happens

come

does), its feathers

242.

Anoma

bone

The bad bird

gsee ne berebuw.

nest

particle, translated here

'

fouled

(lit.

weaves)

food), it goes to sleep

245.

Anmna

When

To

fast

being more than

Guinea

247.

Anoma
There

it

lit.

(2483)

by going and coming.

(2484)

so.

up

(the food) (and) sleep.

(2487)

gi ain, it treads it

under foot (there

eat).

bo.

(2488)

too long on a tree, it has a stone

thrown

at

it.

Lit. it receives a stone.

(2489)
not enough meat in a bird to divide up (among a number

of persons).

Nkgso.

nest

to cover

can

ogye

nam, nkgso kye.

is

squat on,

corn.

Anoma kye dua so a,

When a bird remains
bo.

sit on, to

hungry.

koro di awi a, otiatia

Ogye

definite article.

does not trouble to fly (in search of

one bird alone eats the

Awi.
248.

its

Anoma kese antu a, obua da.

When a big (full-grown) bird
da.

by the

'.

The bird makes

Obua

it

No. 754.)

'.

243. Aridma de akg-ne-aba na enwene berebuw.

244.

(Of.

(2482)

Deriv. bere, place, and buw, to

Berebuw.

whatever

(lit.

nest.

Perhaps past tense,

Osee.

'

own

fouls its

Emphatic

Na.

hence

na

falling to the earth.

So, to reach.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

86
248.

Anoma
It

is

ne nua ne nea g ne no da.

one of

A^ua.

its

own

Here in

its

through the mother's

249.

(2490)

family that a bird roosts with.

wide sense of any one wlio has traced descent

side.

See note on No. 37, abusua.

Anoma ano ware a, ode didi asuogya na gmfd ntwa asu. (2492)
When a bird has a long bill, it uses it for eating on its own side
of the river

and not

for stretching across the

water

(to eat

the opposite bank).

This saying

is

often heard quoted in cases of land disputes.

on

CHAPTER V
Domestic Animals The Docf, Cat, Sheep and Goats,
Cattle and Hoeses.
:

250, Okraman a oho ahayg wanhu, na agyinamoa na obeye den

The dog which has gone a hunting has not had any
can the cat (hope

to)

do

(1765)

luck, so

what

Ye ha, to hunt. See No. 101, Aa.

Agyinamoa. See note on No. 1 22, agyinamoa.
Ahayg.

251,

Wo kraman se gbekyere sono ama wo a, gdada wo. (1769)

"When your dog says he will catch an elephant for you, he

is

deceiving you.

See note on No. 89, esono.

Sono.

Ama.
Enghsh

The verb here takes the

Suhjunct. mood.

place of the

preposition, for.

Odada.
252, Okraman

Also
se

sisi

and

gyige, with similar meaning.

gremfa gyere da,na gfa gyere no, gfa n' agya yere. (1770)
will never commit adultery, but when he does so,

The dog says he

he commits

it

Fa

OreTnfa gyere.
for 'to

with his
gyere,

commit adultery'.

own
lit.

father's wife.

to take (another's) wife, euphemistic

For note on gyere see No. 88.

Note that this adverbial particle,

No.

like yi, does not only intro-

duce a subordinate clause of time in which the event takes place in

the past, but also one in which the verb

253,
^

Okraman ne atiremsem da ne

bo,

may be

na enna ne

present or future.

tirim.

dog's thoughts lie in his chest, but not in his head.

is

(1773)
(That

is,

he

always barking (talking) and never keeps anything to him-

self.)

Enna.
254, Obi

se

wo

Negative of da.
se,

'

Okraman ani ye anan

If any one says,

'

'

A dog has four eyes

a, gboa,
',

he

is

ahien ye nhwi.
lying,

two are

(416)
(tufts

of) hair.
,

Oboa.

Boa, to

lie

or to be mistaken

bodpa, to pretend, see No. 361.

also like its

compound,

ASHANTI PROVERBS

88
265.

Wo

lii

kramah

ho

abusua

If you take a dog

(i.e.

Okrdman anom ye no de a,
Even when a dog's mouth
round

bells

bell,

Lit.

'

mouth

in the

hung round

(1768)

gnaw

at the

Translate by in
'

',

is

sweet

'.

root probably as

da

in dade, iron),

and cows' necks.

dogs'

257. OhramMnfa hesua a, ebebg wg

When a dog picks up an egg,
Wg.

kgnmu nnawa.

watering, he does not

is

dawa (same

Da, or

often

gnive ne

his neck.

ye no de.

Nnawa.
a

ant ase da.

a quarrelsome, noisy person) as a relation,

See note on No. 37, abusua.

Abusua.

Anom

mpa wo

nisu

will never dry in your eyes.

teai-s

256.

a,

n' anom'.
it

(1766)

will break in his

mouth.

but really a verb, wg, to be. See note on

No. 240, wg.

258. Okrdman na obu

he

se,

'

Ade

hese

nyera

The dog has a proverb which runs,

Obu

si

pata

as

bu in hu

fg,

hu hem,

'.

to

a saying, proverb, riddle.

na eny^ gno na

so

'.
(1767)
big thing does not get lost

gforee a,

na

ohi

na gmdd no

so

(1772)

sii hg.

When

= ebe,

pronounce ; he

259. Okraman

Bu, probably same word

be.

utter, to

'

a dog

is

(found)

up on top

of the store rack,

and could not

have climbed up himself, then some one must have

lifted

and

put him there.

Fata.

rack or ceiling, often above the dwelling room where

odds and ends, pots, calabashes, and yams and plantains are kept.

gmaa,

Oforee,

sii.

Past tense, formed by lengthening of

final

vowel.

260. Okrdman

gpe 'mirika-hHnu

se,

atii,

na menne

se n'ase

guan atew

ayera.

(1771)
The dog says he likes to run about without any particular reason;

how much

faster will he

run when he hears his mother-in-law's

sheep has broken loose and

Att'i.

is lost.

Subjunct. after verbpe, see note on No.

Menne.

Neg. of

not to speak

of.

de, to

mention

lit.

2, wo'pe.

I do not mention, that

is,

ASHANTI proverbs
wo jliafo

261. Agyinamoa

Had

a,

anka gye

nnam kyen

the cat only some one to help

it, it

89

hramaii.

(1285)

would be sharper even

than the dog.

Agyinamoa.
'

See note on No. 122.

Tlie idea is that the cat

walks by itself.

Pia

Piafo.

on

as

swm

swm

akyiri,

atiko, to help,

encourage, egg

as a man his dog when hunting.

Anka.

See note on No. 733.

Nnam

The

hym.

comparati-ve degree

Hence

verb hyeh or sen, to surpass.

pass ',

'

he bad pass

262. Agyinamoa

',

nam fie

is

expressed by using the

in pidgin English,

'

he good

&c.
se

ne kotoku

a,

aTUidwohoa

mfa ne nsa

ntom,

(1283)

When

the cat walks about the house carrying his bag, the night

auimal (the mouse) does not put his hand inside.

Deriv. perhaps

Fie.

comes

To carry slung over

Se.

Mfa,

Yam.

wu

a,

nkura yam'.

nsisi.

(1286)

Eye me yam is equivalent to eye me de.

me ho atq me yam, I am happy. Lit. my

is

chest has fallen into

my

Botokura.

stomach.

See note on No. 34, kon do.

(1284)

The field-mouse.

See note on ne. No.

1.

Ohi nkyere agyinamoa akrqmmo.

one teaches a cat

Akrom/mo
266.

the place a person

Here the words eye won, are probably

Lit. the belly.

The common phrase

No

ofie,

the shoulder, to hang up.

264. Agyinamoa dkoa ne hotokura.

The cat's slave is the mouse.

265.

the cat dies, the mice rejoice.

understood before yam.

Ne.

come out

See note on No. 33, mfa,

ntom'.

263. Agyinamoa

When

to

fi,

out from, his house.

how

(228)

to steal.

= Bo nkroh.

Ohi nkyere agyinamoa apdkyi mil fivL (228)

one teaches a cat how to look into a calabash.

No

267. Ahoa agyinamoa nni

hirihi,

nanso qwq ahoghare.

If the cat has nothing else, it has agility.

(506)

ASHANTI PROVERBS

90
The

Ahoghare.
dialectal

form or perhaps an error; ahoghare

and ghare,

some unusual

original gives ahoeUre, perhaps

derived from ho

is

lightness of body.

lit.

268. Aboa agyinamoa nim

se

ntivemu ye de

a,

anka gtwe ne

mu dm

Ahurokyiri.
(507)
If the cat really thought stretching itself (after a sleep) was a
delightful sensation, it would go on stretching and stretching
till it

reached to Europe.

Europe.

Alurohjiri.

man's back

269.

i.

',

what

e.

Oguanteh nwo aberehyi.

'

Lit.

White man's

far

away

behind where the white

lies

or

'

'

"White

man comes from.

(1233)

sheep does not give birth to a goat.

Oguan

Oguanten.

(q. v.

No.

1 7,

guan) and

ten,

long

here, long-

legged.

270. Nea oguan gyinae na ne ha gyinae.

Where

Lit. stood, past tense.

Gyinae.
271.

Obi mfa aberekyi nto guanten ho.

No
272.

(2165)

the sheep stands its kid stands.

one compares a goat with a sheep.

Oguan bewu, na onnyd nwui

When

a sheep

going to

is

a,

wgmfre no guanfunu.

but

die,

is

not yet dead,

(1227)

it is

not called

a dead sheep.

273.

Oguan ana ka nkyene a, onnyae we.

a sheep's mouth touches salt,

When

mpaw

274. Oguan funu

A
275.

276.

osekah.

it

(1230)
does not stop eating

it.

(1228)

dead sheep does not choose the knife

Oguan vmda ye gdesani wuda.

The day on which a sheep dies

(it is

to be cut

up

with).

(1231)
is

also the

day on which a man

dies.

Oguanteh se, Mefwe gsebg na mawo no so'. (1232)

The sheep says, I shall look on a leopard that I may give birth
'

'

one like

The

idea

is

to

it'.

common among

in its mother's

the Ashantis that a child

womb by what

is

influenced

the mother has seen or been im-

pressed by during pregnancy.

The saying

is

taken as meaning, one should not be guided by

ASHANTI PROVERBS

91

appearances. In this case the ewe, seeing only the leopard's beautiful
skin, does not inquire as to its ferocious nature.

Na

,277.

When

ram

from

'f'

278.

mawo.

Subjunctive mood.

Odwennini ye

Aberekyi

its

ne

asisi a, efiri

is

emfiri ne

mmen.

(1060)
heart and not

its

horns.

qhedah guanten

se

Mma

brave, (its courage) comes from

a,

Though the goat determines

tuntum mjia

mu

da.

(94)

to turn into a sheep, there will always

be a patch of black somewhere.

Pa, generally in

M2>a.

rub out, blot out

,^

279. Aberekyi

obi

se,

'

lit.

'

reduplicated form of popa, means

nnamtew nkowu.

The goat says no one will

The Ashantis say

'

its

black will never be rubbed out

that,

'

to

'.

(95)

(willingly)

walk

to his death.

whereas a cow or sheep will walk to the

slaughtering place, the goat, which in the ordinary

way

will follow

like a dog, has often to be carried.

Nnamtew nkowu.

For note on the negatives see No. 33, mfa,

nsisi.

280. Aberekyi

se, nea ahogyabum wg no, ehg na adidi wg.

The goat says that where there is much blood, there

Abogyabum.
to spread

281. Aberekyi

'

se,

or bogya, blood, and bvmi, to cover,

Wgatg me na, na wgantg me

says,

bought

'

me

They have bought

Aboa aberekyi na ohu ne be se, Ade

The goat has a saying which goes,

mmen

The outer

Mmen.

(98)

mother, but they have not

2>a

na wgkata

'

Nantilti

'.

my

'.

covered over
(283.

mogya

food.

(?).

The goat

jf282.

Deriv.

(97)
is

'

so

good thing

(498)

'.

is

(sure to be)

'.

ani awo, nso ase ye mono.

surface of a cow's horns

is

(2109)

hard, but underneath is soft.

Sing. a5en.

284.

Obi ntg nantibi nammgn.

No

Nammgn.

>

Deriv.

285. Enye nantwi nko na

It

(354)

one buys a cow's footprint.

is

man,

foot,

and

ofiri Sot,raha

bone, hollow or hole.

baa Kwmase.

(3612)

not only cattle that come from Salaga to Coomassie.

ASHANTI PKOVERBS

92

Shraha.
Salaga, a large Hausa and caravan centre in the
Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, once a famous centre of
the slave trade, to which the above saying alludes.

Now

Kumase.

from hum, to

ase,

The

Coomassie.

under, beneath,

i.e.

derivation

'under the

is

kill

when

mount
286.

and

from a large tree under which executions used to take

the town was the head-quarters of the Ashanti para-

(tree)',

place,

oificially spelled

kill,

chief.

mman

Opghkg

A horse

kwa.

(2707)

does not turn to the side without a cause.

answering to the

287. Opqnkg agyimi

nea

a,

Though the horse

a

is

(That

is, it is

rein.)
qte

no

so

nnyimii

e.

(2708)

a fool, it does not follow at all that the rider is

fool.

Emphatic with negative.

E.

288. Oponko anko qsa

a,

ne

dua

kg.

(.2709)

If the horse does not go to war, its tail does.

See note on No. 317, gsa.

Osa.

Ne dua

kg.

victory to an army,

and his captains.

tail.

289.

horse's tail is considered as a

and

is

charm

to bring

always taken on a campaign by a general

It is often called ohodua,

aboa dua,

i.e.

animal's

Horses, of course, do not live long in Ashanti owing to

'

fly

'.

Qpgnkg wg dua, esono wg dua, na opgnhg de kyen s6no de kakra.

(2710)

A horse
is

has a

little

DvM.
Esono.

Kakra.

tail

and an elephant has a

tail,

but that of the horse

larger than that of the elephant.

Lit. stick, hence tail.

See note on No. 89, estno.

See note on No. 101, kakra.

CHAPTER VI
Mice, Rats, Animals the names of which abe not
specially mentioned.
^"290.

AJcura

Even

nantwi

te se

if the

a,

na agyinamoa ahoa ara

mouse were the

nen.
(1837)
he would be the

size of a cow,

cat's

slave nevertheless.

Agyinamoa.

291. Ahira

See note on No. 122, agyinamoa.

= Ne no.

Nen

se,

Nea okum me nye me yaw se nea ode me five fam,

'

He who kills me does

who throws me on the ground

The mouse
one

says,

'

292. Nkura dddow bore tu

When

a great

Enno.

hole, it does not

a, ohedi,

na owqma na

Aboa.

See note on No. 89.

Fufio.

See note on No. 14.

A wooden pestle used

mortar (owgaduru).
child, or child of

it)

eiiho

ne ban mu.

(51 1)
it,

does not go into his hole.

pounding grain in a wooden

for

The derivation

is

owo

ba^ i.e. the

pounding

the mortar.

294. Okisi hofa adwe na Onyd/me bg-ayeremu

a,

gdan atwene. (1553)

Supreme Being flashes

the rat goes to eat palm nuts and the

them away.

the lightning, he throws

Onyami.

See note on No.

Being strikes (the darkness)

1,

Onyami.

Lit.

when the Supreme

clear.

OMsi a])0 adwe. (1555)

The rat is tired of palm nuts.
Ai)o.

tires of

The chief food of the rat is

The saying is taken to mean, a man

Po, to refuse, to decline.

supposed to be palm nuts.

296.

become deep.

the rat getsfufii, (pounded yam, cassava, &c.), he will eat

Owgma.

295.

as the

Neg. of do.

but the pestle (used for pounding

When

(after

'

(1836)

'.

me as much
I am dead).

liurt

(1838)

number of mice dig a

293. Ahoa kisi nyafuju

When

a, enno.

not

what he has too much

of.

Okidnird anhu adwe-bg, na gbere bg

When Mr. Rat

does not

know how

a,

owe

hi.

to crack a

Mrs. Eat does, he eats some (of

her's).

(1557)
palm-nut kernel, but

ASHANTI PROVERBS

94

297. Wohq oMsi hurom' TM owe nnwed a, wowe hi. (1572)

When you go to the rat's town and he eats palm-nut kernels, you
(Of. No. 158.)
eat some too.
Plu. of adwe,

Nhwea.
298.

mmo hama. (171)

one begins to twist creepers into a rope in front of an animal

Ohi mji ahoa no anim

No

(he hopes to catch).

Mmo.

Neg. of

ho.

299. Ahoa a qhdia nnini waw.

The animal that

about the

man

lying in wait for

it.

up, hence of the screen of palm leaves or branches

To prop

Waiu.

(495)

coming (towards the hunter) knows nothing

is

which the hunter

sets

up and behind which he crouches

300. Ahoa a ne ho wg nhwifififiri a, wonhu. (496)

When an animal with a hairy skin sweats, it
noticed.

301. Ahoa

hi

(Cf.

renka wo

When an

animal

is

not (so easily)

No. 305.)

Root_/?, to

Fifiri.

at the

See note on kgtew dua, No. 327.

water-hole.

a,
is

come out from.

qhhweh ne

se

nhyere wo.

not going to bite you,

it

(500)

does not show

its

teeth

at you.

Oniiweh, nhyere.

302.

Ahoa ne nea owe wura wg wuram.

It

303.

For the negative

is

No. 33, mfa,

(is to

be found) in the

Ahoa no nhintaw nnyaw ne dua. (528)

That animal does not hide and leave its tail sticking

Mmoadoma

nsisi.

(526)

the animal that eats grass that lives

304. Ahoa no kaw nea n' ano so.

That animal bites wherever
305.

see

out.

(529)
its

mouth reaches

to.

nfnnafi fifiri, na nhwi na emnw, yehhu.

(541)

All animals sweat, but the hair on them causes us not to notice
(Cf.

it.

No. 300.)

The saying

is

used in the sense that a rich or powerful

man

bear losses or troubles better than a poor one, though both

equally have their worries.

can

may

CHAPTER

VII

Wab, Fighting, Hunting, Guns, and "Weapons.

306.

Dmn gv, a, wqnhyen no ahen.

When an army suffers defeat

(956)

a horn

is

not blown in

its

honour.

Deriv. perhaps c?o and ?WM.

An Ashanti army is divided
main body, flankers, rear and advance guard, and possibly
both tactics and formation were modelled on our own, though this

Dmn.

up

into

they themselves deny.

The main body

is called

adonten {dgm

ten)

and also contains the

bodyguard of the ancestral stools which are carried to war.

This bodyguard is known as ankobea (lit. do not go anywhere
special

The

else).

henkum

right flank is nifa

(left

hand).

(lit.

A body of men

right hand), the left flank

is

are thrown outside these flanks

again, called nawase, whose duty it is to prevent a flanking movement on the part of the enemy. The nawase do not disclose their
position unless attacked.
The advance guard are known as twafo
(cutters), as the

bush.

men

name

way through

implies, to clear a

the dense

These are preceded again by the scouts, some four to six

called ahwanserafo.

The rearguard

is

known

as

hyidgm

(lit.

behind the army).

The whole

force is under a general, gsahene (see note on gsa,

No. 317), and under him again are the various safohene, or company (dom fahuw) commanders. Each safohene has his own drums

and horns (No. 507, bgmma).

Strategy

is

A general on

following story is authentic.

not unknown, and the

camping

for the night

round an imaginary camp, and cutting hundreds of

plantain leaves spread them on the ground with the white or light
He then
coloured side uppermost to represent sleeping men.
lit

fires

all

retired with his force.

all sides,

The enemy attacked the supposed camp from

and mistaking the

fire

of their

own men

for that of their

opponents, inflicted heavy casualties on themselves.

The Ashanti,

however, rarely fight at night, darkness no doubt holding

terrors other than fear of the

enemy.

many

Horse's tails are considered

a war charm (see No. 288), and the wounded are switched with

ASHANTI PROVERBS

96
them

to

make them

rise.

learned from Europeans.

The camp

The use of stocltades they say they have

They are known as apia or apampim.

followers are called asansafo (nsansa, a camp).

When the hattle is going against an army, the chief will stand upon
his stool (an

unheard of insult on ordinary occasions), perhaps really

with the idea of insulting the manes of his ancestors into assisting

army when prayers and

the hard-pressed

entreaties have failed.

Skulls of fallen enemies are put round war drums, the jaws on the

Only a general and company commanders take their women

horns.

folk with them.

Bows and arrows and

shields

weapons of the Ashanti, but

tradition

on

307.

so

were undoubtedly formerly the

many hundred

and remembrance has been

tafoni,

lost

years ago that

and forgotten.

all

(See note

No. 522.)

Dom

nhui

The

slain are

wqhkan

a,

atgfo.
(957)
not counted before the

(hostile)

ai*my has been

routed.

Nhui.

Neg. perfect tense of gu.

Wohhan.
Atofo.

gsaman.

met

Translated by the passive voice.

Deriv.
Otofo,

to, to fall
fo, personal suffix, see note on No. 34,
any one who has been Idlled in war or accidentally
;

his death.

308. Dgm, wgko no abooduru, na wgnko no ahi-dodow. (958)

An army is driven back by courage and not by insults, however
many.
Abooduru.

309.

Bgm kum
The

Deriv. abo, chest, and duru, strong.

ano-sese-ade,

(victorious)
insults,

but

army
it

Ano-sese-ade.

na dgm nkum dgmmarima. (959)

slays him who shouts out challenges and

spares the brave man.

Lit. the

mouth that keeps on saying

things, i.e.

insults.

Dgm

Dgmmarima.
310.

311.

gbarima, a

Dgm nnim dgm ahyi. (960)

An army does not know what
gbarima, wgye no

A man

is

made

at home.

dgm

dno,

is

man

of war, a warrior.

at the rear of an army.

na wgnye no

in the forefront of battle

fie.

(50)

and not (by remaining)

ASHANTI PROVERBS
312.

OM aha a,

na

When war

lias

nsise aha.

(1600)
come, rumours have come.

Deriv.

Nsise.

97

to

se,

say,

reduplicated,

'say,

lit.

say',

i.e.

reports.

313.

Oko ba

na nsise

a,

When war
314.

ho kurow.
it is

Woko, ko wo anim

When
315.

comes,

a,

(1601)
rumours that cause the

na vmyi dqm.

(1589)

you fight and press on to your

Woko nkrah na enko

When you

a,

of the town.

fall

front,

then you will conquer,

wontwene abe hnu mu.

(1590)

are fighting black ants and they will not go away, you

do not peel palm nuts and put amongst them.

Nkran.

The large and

fierce black ants that

may be

seen at

times marching in an irresistible column and quickly putting to

flight the entire
line of

a person

down

household in any habitation that

A form

march.

may

lie

on their

among the Ashantis was

of torture

to peg

in the path of a drive of these insects.

The saying above quoted means that war is war and not to be
waged in kid gloves.
Enko. Note the use of the 3rd peison neuter sing, for the 3rd
person plural.
Wontibere

For the negatives

nnu.

see note

on No. 33,

mfa, nsisi ; nnu, ueg of gu.

316.

317.

a, womfd nnommum.
(1591)
and do not win, you do not lead away captives.

Woko na wunyi dgm

When you
Osa,

fight

woko no nkatae dodo.

Many

(2730)

gun-lock covers go to war.

Possibly the word has this meaning only by

Osa.
War.
metonymy, the original meaning being a narrow path (cf. war
path '), leading through the dense bush or forest.
'

'

'

Note the absence of any preposition in Ashanti, in

See note on
fact there are none, their place being taken by verbs.
ma.
wo;
and
No.
No. 240,
14,

Woko

no.

Nkatae.

cover of antelope, or often wart-hog skin, to slip over

the lock of a flint

gun

to keep the

formed from the verb hata,

powder dry. Nkatae, a noun

Every gun used by the

to cover.

Ashantis has such a cover attached to the barrel which readily slips

round under or over the pan, as desired.

(See No. 329.)

ASHANTI PROVERBS

98
318.

won agya inma.

Osa, wghg no

When

one goes to war,

it

(2731)

is

against one's father's children

brothers by one father but by

Agya mma.

Half-brothers (or sisters) by the same father but

Descent

different mothers.
is

(i.e.

different mothers).

is

not reckoned a kinsman at

matrilineal
all,

hence the ' father's child

'

and in the event of a dispute the

children half-brothers might find themselves ranged on different

(See note on No. 37, ahusua.)

sides.

E.g. ahusua ye dqm, one's

own

relations, i.e.

on mother's

side,

are an army.

319.

Ohi nturu yarefo nk6

'sd.

No

man on

one carries a sick

Nturu.

320.

Obdfo

d,

back when going

his

See note on No. 33, wifa,

nkb.

w6kodi nd

(377)

yaw na

hrode bedew rekg he

to war.

nsisi.

otuo a2)ae aha ne nsa yi,

na wo

de,

woso

(549)

The hunter to whom you serve as attendant has been wounded in

the hand by the bursting of his gun, so, as for you, where are
you setting

Wokodi

him

Brgde.

with the bundle of plantains

Di ghdfi> yaw, means to accompany a hunter

kind of attendant, carrying food and water and

yaw.

to the bush, as a

assisting

off to

to cut

up and carry home anything

Plantain, not indigenous.

shot.

Deriv. horo ode,

lit.

European

yam.
Bedew.
321.

rough basket plaited out of palm leaves.

wafom no biara nye ketewa da. (550)

animal that a hunter has ever missed is small. (Cf. No. 323.)

Ohdf6 aboa a

No

Wafom.

Fom,

to

make a mistake,

generally used with

so,

hence

to miss with gun, arrow, &c.

Another common saying to express exaggeration is as

Erme me tow owansah kese hi tuo me fom no so, To-day I
a very big bush-buck but missed

322.

follows
fired at

it.

Obgm^o, a woakum

pete {a wonn ine nam), woasee wo atudwu.

(600)
Hunter, who have killed a vulture (the flesh
of which cannot be
eaten), you have wasted your powder.

Atvduru.

See note on No. 13.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
323. Ohomgfo aboa a oho

na

99

(601)

oso.

To the hunter the animal that gets

off is

(always) the big one.

(Cf.

No. 321, above.)

324. Ohqmofo din lata sonnam

The hunter's name

To

Bata.

ho.

(602)

clings to the elephant's meat.

lie close

against, hence as here, to be mentioned in

connexion with.

E sono nam.

Sonnam.

wuram

325. Ohomgfo fi
asem.

When

(See No. 89, esono.)

ha na ohura mmere

a,

wommisa ahayg mu

(603)

the hunter comes from the bush carrying mushrooms, he

is

not asked for news of his hunting.

Wuram.
326.

'

See note on No. 92.

wuram ma

Ohgmgfo kg

ma awgw

mede memae.

When

osu tg afwe no, ma,

(604)

a hunter goes to the bush and

bitten

by

ntummoa heka ne ho,

nhmana ye due na

ade no, ma, gfwereni awg no, ne

flies,

and

suffers

is

beaten by the rain, and

from the

cold,

thorns, all these hardships are included,

am

327.

pricked by

is

when

I tell

him

sorry for him.

Ntummoa.
i

and

Deriv. tv/m, black

and mmoa,

insects.

Ohomgfo kgtew dua na ahoa amma a, gsah ha ofie. (605)

the hunter crouches behind a tree, but the game for which

When

he

'

is

lying in wait does not come, he returns home.

Kgtew dua.
cover taken
hole,
(Cf.

,(328.

329.

where he may have made an

for

game, perhaps at a water-

artificial screen

of branches.

waw. No. 299.)

Ohgmgfo nnim ahoa yarefo. (606)

The hunter does not spare (lit. know) the sick animal.

na ghwngfo hekum ahoa a, efi ne hatae. (3062)

If the rain falls and the hunter kills an animal, that is thanks
the skin cover of his gun lock.
Osu

to

Katae.

330.

Lit. to fix a stick in the ground, hence used of

by a hunter when waiting

'

to

See note on No. 317, nkatae.

Gye akyekyere kgmd agya,' nso ye ahayg

Here take the tortoise and go and give
also call that hunting 1
G 2

(1262)

it

to father,'

would you

ASHANTI PROVERBS

100
331.

Enye

No

homofo na ehgq luuram'

obi ni

one weut with

(3589)

hunter to the bush

tlie

contradict you, for you were alone

332.

there

(i.e.

when

it

is

no one to

happened).

(3388)
a, na odi dbaninsem.
when a gun has a man to cock it, that it performs war-

Otuo nya otiafo

It is (only)

like deeds.

Otiafo.

No. 339.)

(Of.

Tia

otuo, to pull

flint-lock gun, to

back the striker of a

cock.

Ahanin, a male, and asem.

Ahaninsem.
383.

Otuo pae ka ohqrngfo

When

a,

wommisa nea
blamed

to eat venison is not

asked about

334.

in

Otuo

to,

mmeka.

huah

(3390)

Europe and wound a man

For the negative

see

Wo atuo sua a, na wo asem sUa. (3391)

When your guns are few, your words are

When

(Lit. is not

for the accident.

in Africa.

See note on No. 268.

AhUrohyiri.
.

(3389)

man who happens

it.)

gun does not burst

Mpae

336.

nam.

Otuo mpae Ahiirokyiri nimeka onipa wg Ahihirim'.

335.

odi gbgfo

the gun bursts and wounds the hunter, the

a,

na

ne jjoma

the lock of a gun

nsisi.

few.

(3392)

se 2>e-

out of order,

is

No. 33, mfa,

and a

(the gun)

it

stick are

just alike.

Otuo
that

337.

The

ta.

Otuo ihtow aboa

bi

lit.

springs back,

mu na

ekofi
is

were m,u.

adgnteh.

adgnteh

mu

a,

na mkgo

bahi

e.

(3395)

fight, it

did not go amiss.

See note on No. 306, dgm.

Twerebo nti na otuo di dbaninsem.

Thanks to the

flint-stone the

(3422)

gun performs warlike

No. 332.)
Twerebo.

(3394)
to another

missing from the right flank of the battle

and appears in the forefront of the

.

bi

wound one animal and cause pain

a gun (a soldier)

Nifa
339.

huah,

(Lit. the skin of another.)

Otuo yera nijn

When

gun

nnyae hhghyehye ahoa

gun-(shot) does not

animal.

338.

lock of a flint-lock

will not catch or cock.

is,

Tibere, to strike,

and

gbo, a stone.

deeds.

(Of.

CHAPTEK

VIII

Childhood, Youth and Inexperience, Age and Experience.

340. Oha a gbeye yiye, wgnyen no kete-pa so nko.

The child which

any good

to turn out

is

(6)

not reared entirely

is

on (even) a beautiful mat.

Deriv. possibly ba, to come, to come forth, something

Oba.

produced, also used of the young of animals.

Note gbd,

is

a being the feminine and diminutive

a girl, the long

wa.

suffix

Wonyih.

Yen,

Also used of

rear, nurture, or bring up.

to

rearing animals and chickens.

A mat

Kete.

341. Oba

se gse,

child

when a

ba ne

to

ntwa.

When

gse see note on

no nufu

gu wo

See note on

m.

151, nufu.

wade baha na

eyi,

na womfd gsekan

(10)

Okra,

When your

iete

falls

on your

gu

a, se

mu

'.

no

se,

'

Wo

asav) nye fe

not good

it

off

',

na nse no

se,

(11)

child dances badly, tell him, saying,

',

you wipe

lap,

but you do not take a knife and cut

fibres,

off.

ba saw asa-bone
'

No

your child's excrement

(the place)

Wo

37,

(8)

sere so a,

with dry plantain

344.

No

child cries that he is given the breatt

See note on

Nufu.

Wo

For

wgmma

a,

Is it only

343.

but he belongs to the mother's

Referring to the matrilineal descent.

37, abusua.

Oba nsu

(7)

like his father,

from which he takes his name.

Abusua.

342.

of grass.

nanso gwg abusua.

(may be)

side

No

woven

and do not say to him,

'

'

Your dancing

(Little) soul, just

is

dance as

you want to '.

Okra.

See note on

No

9,

nkrabea.

endearment,
e.

Deriv. tetew, to tear up, to spoil.

Here used

as

term of

ASHANTI PROVERBS

102

Wo

345.

ha

wo kora ha

sisi

enye.

enye,

a,

nanso wo hora ha bid wo ha

a,

(12)

When your own

child cheats your fellow wife's child, that is not

and when your fellow

light,

wife's child cheats

your own

child, that is not right either.

When

Kora.
'

hora

is

346.

'

has two or more wives each

hora means 'jealous

found in Hausa where one wife

nnim

Oba-hone

hasahyere.

is

'.

is

An exactly

called

called the

similar idiom

hy another

hislda.

(13)

bad child does not take advice.

Nnim.
347.

man

of the other

Lit. does not

Nea ahofra pe

What

ototo.

know.

(2124)

a child wants he buys.

who must have everything he

(Said of a foolish person

sees

and

(Of.

No.

fancies.)

hwaw na ommo

348. Ahofra ho

ahye yere.

(557)

child breaks a snail, but he does not break a tortoise.

368.)

Nwaw.
Ommg.

See note on

Neg.

165.

Also called awuru.

Ahyehyere.

349.

No

of ho.

Osehan-fua na egye neho abofra nsam.

It

is tlie

(2846)

knife-blade without the handle that frees itself from the

hands of a child (by cutting him).

350. Ahofra nsam' ade nye hye-na.

It

is

not difiicult to

Hye-na.
351.

a,

nserew ahwatia.

you are a

Akwatia.

352.

(573)

a child's hand.

See note on No. 157, nye-na.

Woye ahofra

When

fill

child,

(3564)

do not laugh at a short man.

Akoa-tia, short fellow.

Ahofra nte ne na ne n agya asem

rihyene nnim').

When

eye

mmum

a child does not hear the words of

there
is

a,

no

is

misfortune in that

salt).

odi

aduan a

(581)

its

father and mother,

... he partakes of food in which

ASHANTI PROVERBS

103

Na.

See note on No. 37, nt.

See note on No. 37, ni.
Nkyene. See note on No. 577.
N'agya.

NninC.

Neg. of wq.

353. Abofra hu ne nsa hohoro

When

a child

a, na g ne m^anyinfo didi.
(564)
knows how to wash his hands thoroughly, he and

(his) elders (can)

Hohoro.

partake of food together.

Note the distinction

Reduplication of horo.

in

mean-

ing between the following words, hoho, to wash the hands or

face,

horo to wash things, pots, clothes, &c., guare, to bathe the whole

body, hence used for

354. Abofra twafufu

When

'

to swim, '.

otwa nea ebeko rCanom'.

a,

a child cuts

(583)

a piece (of boiled) yam, he cuts off

ofif

what

will

go into his mouth.

See note on No. 14.

Fufu.
355. Abofra

na

led

gpanyin nsa, na n aduan de eko panyin anom.

efikg

(566)

chUd's ring does not go on an elder's finger, but as for his (the
child's) food it goes into the elder's

Names

Nsa.

hyerekwan,

middle finger,

356.

finger,

king

thumb ahyereway
nsateahenf,

fingers are, koJeorobeii,

lit.

point

king of the fingers

lit.

finger after the

to lay

of the

first

mouth.

out

the

ahene ahyiri, third finger,

kohobeto, little finger,

lit. is

lit.

the hen going

Obi nsoma abofra nfwe n'ani akyi.

No

(343)
one sends a child on an errand and looks to see

if

he

is

pleased

or not.

Nsoma

nfwe.

N'ani akyi.

Lit.

n'ani akyi, means

by
357.

his expression

Woko

kmow

bi

'

For note on the negatives see No. 33.

eyes, used for eyebrows '.

behind his

'

Fwe

to look to see if a person is pleased or otherwise

'.

mu, na dwom a mmofra

gyaw won.

to

no na miMnyimfo na

(1577)
go into some village, the songs which the children sing,
the old folk once sang and left behind to them (that is,
tradition is handed down).
eto

When you

ASHANTI PROVERBS

104
358. Abofra su

When

togmmg no duam'. (578)

cries, he is not bound to a

a,

a child

Wgmmg.

Neg. of

359. Abofra ye nea wgnye

When

a child does

ho.

nea wonhu.

a, oliu

what

is

wonhu.

(587)

not (usually) done, he perceives what

not (usually) perceived.

Wgnye

log.

they do

Lit,

is

360 below.)

(Cf.

one does) not do ... do

(or,

not perceive, (impersonal verbs here translated by the passive).

360. Abofra ye nea gpanyih ye

a, ohu nea gpanyin Jm.

(586)
what a grown up person does, he sees what a
grown up person sees. (Meaning, he is punished as a grown

When

a child does

person
361.

Abofra bodpa

When

punished.)

is

wu

a,

359 above.

Cf.

wgbodpa

sie nd.

(558)

a child pretends to be dying, (the best thing to do)

is

to

pretend to bury him.

Bodpa.
362.

See note on No. 254, ghoa.

Abofra a ghg asu na gbg ahina.

The

who

child

Na.

goes for water

Here emphatic,

mmusu ahron
Out of nine mischievous

363. Abofra bu

suifers for five of

Ahron
onum.

a,

gfa

a child goes to

mu

anum.

(See No.

1,

na.)

(555)

on others, he

himself.

For notes on numbers

lie

the pot.

tricks a child thinks to play

364. Abofra kgda gya na gpere ho

When

who breaks

the one, or, it is the, &c.

them

anum.

(554)
the one

is

a,

by the

ne niama hyew.
fire

and

see

No. 772, adu-

(559)

is fidgety,

his cloth catches

fire.

365. Abofra nfwe ghwansen ase kwa.

(563)

child does not look into the soup pot for nothing (he expects to

be given some).

Okwanseh.
366. Abofra hetewa

Deriv. osen, a cooking pot, and nkwan, soup.

bi te fi kese

Mm'

a,

ma

no due, na wahu amanne

(567)

When

a small child lives (alone) in a great big house, pity him, for

he has seen misfortune (that

his years).

is,

he has responsibility beyond

ASHANTI PROVERBS
To

Te.

to live, {tena, to

sit,

105
The translation

be seated).

sit, i.e.

of this word literally by the native interpreter has given rise to one
of the
are so

commonest of the hideous pidgin English expressions which

common in West Africa, he live for the verb live being
'

'

'

',

used in the place of the English verb

to be
Most pidgin English
can be traced to some idiom peculiar to the vernacular, which has
'.

'

been followed by the native interpreter when putting the words

into English.
Fi.

See note on No. 262, /e.

Bim'

Bi mu.

Amanne
367.

Oman

ade.

Abofra kotow i)anyin nkyeh.

The

(568)

child squats beside the elder.

To

Kotow.

squat, also used of

African tribes (the

variably adopt this

'

to kneel

down on

down

'.

The Ashantis

many
Mananja and Angoni, for instance, who inposition when resting, eating, &c.) This may

do not (now) seem to squat

their thighs like so

be a result of European influence and the almost universal use of

Whether their remoter ancestors adopted a squatting posiby an examination of an ancient

stoolsi

tion could no doubt be proved

female, for obvious reasons, even

among

habitually squat, never adopting this position).

Pro-

male skeleton
tribes

who

(tibia), (the

Thomson, of Oxford, has shown that this squatting position

course of time has an effect on the external portion of the upper

fessor
in

tibial articular surface.

Panyin.

See note on No.

368. Abofra ano ye den

Even when a

a,

ode hy'en aben,

na qmfa nhyen wgadHru. (571)

and

child has a strong mouth, he blows a horn with it

not a mortar.

Ano ye

1.

den.

(Of.

Lit.

No. 348.)

a strong mouth,

i.e.

quarrelsome, loud voiced.

(See No. 238.)

Omfa nhyen.

Note the double negative.

(See note on No.

33, ngisi.)

Wqaduru.
wide mouth
369. Abofra

se

See note on No. 14, qwq.

is

The grain mortar with

its

likened to some huge musical instrument.

qhqforo dunsin a

ma

qmforo, na qkqso

anim asan

aba.

(574 and 403)

When

a child says he

is

going to climb the stump of a

tree, let

ASHANTI PROVERBS

106
him climb

(it),

when he has gone up

for

way) he

it (a little

will

turn back again.

Dunsin.
Dua, a tree, and sin, a piece, a fragment of anything.
For etymology (according to Ashantis) see No. 57, odwm,
See note on No. 80, aniwa.

Anitn.

Asan

may

The

aba.

turn back

370. Ahofra

gya mu,

se obeso

... he goes up

it

that he

na ehye no a gbedah

akyene,

literal translation is

asan and aha are subjunctive mood.

ma

onso mu,

(575)

When

a child says he will catch hold of

371.

Ahofra

se gbeye

obi

When

when

for

it,

it

mpanyinne

nnim.

fire, let

him catch hold

burns him he will (soon) throw

a,

ma

na

gnye,

it

of

away.

ebia obenya

gpanyin

a,

(576)

a child says he wants to act as if he were already a chief, let

him do

so

as to whether he will ever become one, that no one

knows.

Mpanyinne.
372. Ahofra sika

te se

A child's gold
it is

Sika.

373.

Mpanyin-ade.

anyankoma gya, wotiha

dust

is like

broken up

it

soon burns out.

See note on No. 591.

Ahofra sua adimni-di

When

na adum. (577)
anyankoma tree when

so a,

a firebrand of the

a,

enye gsebg

nJwma na ode

sua.

a child is learning his trade as a leather worker,

practise on a leopard's skin.

Osebg nhoma.

(Cf.

(579)
he does not

No. 124.)

Leopard skins being rare in comparison with

sheep and goats' skins will not be used for experimental work.

374. Mmofra hu hgre a osu atg aboro no

When

a,

wose gye

children see an eagle draggled

by the

opete.

(591)

rain, they say it is

a vulture.
Osu.

375.

See note on No. 26, nsu.

Mmofra fCkotu

wgahlmtu; mpanyinn'kotua,wotiatia so. (592)

them (the mpempema mushroom), they
do not do so skilfully when grown-ups go to do so, they

When

a,

children go to pluck

trample on them.

The mushrooms to which this saying refers are known as the

mpempema, i.e. 'thousands and thousands'. They are very small

ASHANTI PROVERBS
and grow

The saying

close together.

107

refers to

anything that

is

almost impossible to do.

376. Obi nsoma abofra gsoro na onhuann' ase antweri.

(341)
one sends a child up aloft and then knocks away the ladder

No

from beneath him.

Nsoma.

onhuan.

377. Obi nsoma abofra na

No

See note on

gmmefa no

one sends a child on (a

does not perform

No

No

mfa, nsid.

33,

Deriv. tweri, to lean against.

Antweri.

so

abufuw.

(342)
errand and gets angry

difficult)

(if

he

it well).

Lit. on, about.

so.

Abufuw.

378. Opanyin fere ne

When an

and fuw, to

Lit. ebo, chest,

mma a,

na ne

elder (a parent)

mma

suro no.

strict

is

See No. 34, Icon do.

swell.

(2602)
with his children, then his

children fear him.

See note on No. 155, mfere.

Fere.

379. Opanyin

When

se

nd wanye

h,

mmofra nsuro

carry out his threat

but does not

(lit.

(2613)

no.

the grown-up threatens to punish,

(lit.

says) but does not

act),

the children do not

fear him.

380. Opanyin kye

When an
(old)

381.

man knows how

Opanyin nyin wg

An

(2606)

a, edivo.

elder portions out the dish, it becomes cool.

Tie

'

382.

to

have amassed

Obi ntutu

No

batwew.

'

(2611)
becomes

(i. e.

To grow

riches, to

anoma nkghyere

name).

Oi>anyln di nsem

Cf.

rich).

at the elbow

'

is

have put aside money

gpianyin.

a phrase meaning
'.

(382)

oue plucks a bird and goes and shows

its

383.

to settle disputes).

elder grows at the elbow

Nyin wg ne batwew.

(A wise

it

to an elder (to inquire

No. 719.

nhma

ahyi

a,

gman

If an elder were to follow up every

bg.

(2597)

(little) offence

(in

order to

ruin.
inflict punishment), a people (nation) would (soon) go to

Oman.

See note on No. 474.

384. Opanyin nni abansosem aleyi. (2598)

An elder gives no heed to idle rumours.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

108'
Nni.

Neg. of

Abansosem.

does not follow.

di, lit.

Lit.

words over the wall

'

'.

385. Opanyin a wanyih ne nea wakq Asante aba, ne nea wakg Aburokyiri
a ewo gman

aba, atorofo

The

elder

who

mu

nen.

has grown very old

is

(2596)
the one (who says) he has

gone to Ashanti and returned; (who declares) he has been

Europe and back, a

to

among the people

liar

is he.

The h which has been

introduced comes from the pronunciation (wrong) of the word by the
Ga or Accra people, and became adopted from them by Europeans.
This

Asante.

the correct spelling.

is

This proverl) is evidently one from the Coast regions, where

Ashanti was looked on as some unknown land from which no man
returned
'

'.

See note on No. 268.

Aburokyiri.

See note on No. 604, gtorofo.

Atorofo.

Nen

= Nc no.

386. Qimnyih didi adibone

If

oyi n'asanha.

a,

an elder eats greedily, (he

Adibone,

Adi, to

N'asanka.

387.

Opanyin due,

An

The saying means

and as inaccessible as Europe.

alive,

an old man's tale

elder

'

dish

bone, bad.

made

of

Mante, mante'.

evades

baked

clay.

(2601)

lesponsibility

I have not heard

by saying,

'

I have not heard,

'.

The saying

Mante.

and

eat,

flat

(2600)

he has to remove his own dish.

finds)

is

sometimes taken to mean, an

also

'

elder

should turn a deaf ear to a good deal of the tittle-tattle he hears

Mante

is also

the

name

of a

charm supposed

'.

name

to act as the

implies.

388. Opanyin begye me nsam' akonnua a, onnye asase a mete so. (2603)
Though an elder may take fiom my hand the stool I sit on, he
cannot take from
Begye.

Lit.

Ahonnua.

of aesthetic art.

the

',

the ground I

stool, often

The

paramount chief of
stool

me

sit on.

come and take.

all

showing in

stool is the

its

carving a high degree

symbol of chieftainship.

the Ashantis sat on the so-called

the stool of next importance being the

Omanhene of Mampon.

Each

chief has his

'

'

The
golden
of

silver stool

'

own

and

stool

ASHANTI PROVERBS
when he

109

dies his stool is blixckened all over, a concoction of sooty

webs and white of eggs being used.

spiders'

set in the

'

house

stool

{rikowhua

',

fie),

The

stool is

then

along with other stools of

Every twenty days {adai) a sheep is killed and

the blood smeared on the stools, each being taken in turn, while
departed

chiefs.

at the same time the chief or gkyeame (q.v. No. 481, note on
gmdmj)dm) mentions the name and deeds of its departed owner.

The meat

is

dancing.

The above

Sunday adai

'

among the people and there is singing and

all takes place oa
On
Wednesday adai

shared

'

'

'.

the stools are taken out from the

all

and carried in procession to the burial ground

stool house

'

'

the chief at present

occupying the stool leading, carrying a gun, as a mark of servitude

As the procession goes along the crowds

and any one who wishes may make requests to any of the

to the departed spirits.

follow,

now supposed

(which are

stools

be tenanted, for the time being,

to

by the spirits of their departed owners).

results as the

reached, only the

'

Queen mother

Ou

the return to the

presents, drink,

The

and

',

'

Here another sheep

stool house

the spirit

carriers,

on the occasions mentioned above,

An

side,

Ashanti,

'

when
sit

may

it

on

on

its side lest

stool

be seen swaying

'.

when

it,

up

a departed spirit wander-

the next one to

sit

down would
'

'.

The cowries seen fastened under many

'

The

world.

spirit

rising from his stool, will generally tilt it

contract pains in his waist

pennies

is

the chief distributes

the spirits are pushing them

against the wall or lay

ing round should

'

end) on a stool are for tinkling to

from the asaman,

summon

from side to

burial ground

and gkyeame and

food.

(one at each

bells

The

stool carriers

banmofo, undertaker, are allowed to enter.

killed.

deafening clamour

crowds pour out their petitions.

stools

are

'

earnest-

representing various transactions, which are then, by the

taking and giving of such a pledge, considered as definitely clinched

bargains.

389. Opanyin me nsdno.

An

(2607)
(That

elder can satisfy his hunger with his intestines.

has other resources to

fall

is,

he

back on when needs be, when hunger

(used metaphorically for trouble) overtakes him.)

Nsdno.

and

Note the words nsdno,

sono, to be different.

intestines

esono,

an elephant

ASHANTI PROVERBS

110

390. Opanyin ne mmofra hu nantew a, wgsoa ne bgig. (2608)

When the elder and the children know how to adapt their steps

to

one another's, they (the children) carry his bag.

Hu.

To

may

how

see, to perceive

hence to know.

Fwe means

is

done or

appearance,

its

it,

that one

perceive {hu) its nature or application.

391. Opanyin anim asem ye oka-mi.

It

a thing

to look at a thing, regard

(2609)

not an easy matter to speak face to face with an elder.

is

See note on No. 157, nye-na.

Oha-na.

392. Oi>anyin ano sen suman. (2610)

(The words from) the mouth of an old man are better than any
amulet.

Swmah.

See note on No. 17, obosom.

393. Opanyin tirim na wglion ahuma. (2613)

It is on the elder's head that the axe-head

is

knocked

off

(the

shaft).

Translated by the passive.

Wbhdh.

Hgh

used of pulling or

is

knocking out something embedded in something

else, as

a stick out

of the ground, a hoe from its handle, &c., probably an onomatopoetic word.

An

Alcwma.
stick

(1),

axe, also

stone axe.

forgotten stone age in Ashanti,

collection of over a

the Pitt Rivers

abonua,

called

deriv.

hundred

Museum

the

in Vol.

African Society.

The present writer made a large

axes (now in

at Oxford), see a

paper on

'

Ashanti

Collection

',

by

Prof.

XII, No. xlv, Oct. 1912, of the Journal of

There is no recollection or tradition of a stone

age among these natives, and the celts are

name of gnyhme akuma,

word abonua, if correct, qbo,

the

stone

celts or neolithic stone

of Ancient Stone Implements from Ejuea,

H. Balfour

gbo dua,

There are abundant evidences of a long

i. e.

God's axes

stone,

known by them under

;

the etymology of the

and nua {dua), a

stick,

which

is

the native word for axe, being the only clue that these celts were

used by the remote ancestors of the Ashantis and not, as some

persons are inclined to believe, by a different race and civilization
once inhabiting this region. The wearing away of an axe on
a stone

is

also

twa, No. 507.

mentioned among the drum messages, see note on

ASHANTI PROVERBS

111

The interpretation given to the above saying is, that an elder, or

of weight and experience, can bear the brunt of troubles
which may assail the youthful and inexperienced members of his

man

family.

394. Opanyih

asa

to

na ewo mmofra de

a,

AVhen the old man's bottom

rnu.

(2617)

fatness has gone to the chil-

is flat, its

dren.

To

Lit. has

asa.

come to an end, decreased, diminished

hence,

has got thin.

Ewo

mu.

Lit. it is in.

305. Ojpanyih nto ho-hyew nto ahofra nsam'

An

(2618)

elder does not roast a hot stone and place

it

in the

hand of

a child.

Nto

For rote on the negatives see No.

rito.

Note how the vowel sound

to roast

396. Opanyinntra

The

33, nsisi.
to (nasal),

close o sound, to place.

to,

meaning of a word,

alters the

na asadua mfgw.

ojle

elder does not sit in the house

(2619)

and (allow) the loom to get wet.

Asawa, cotton, and dua, a

AsadiM.

397. Ojpanyih wo nkwa

a,

ormi mfensa.

Even when an old man

stick,

i.

e.

loom.

(2620).

strong and hearty, he will not live for

is

ever.

Neg. of

Onni.

Mfe

Mfensa.

di.

three years, but used for an indefinite

ajbiesa, lit.

period of time (see note on No. 767).

398. Mpanyimfo na ebu

(2622)
Experienced

he

se,

'

he.

na wonse se,

'

'

Leave

my

alone

'

',

Gya me

ti

'.

but you will

head alone'.

See note on No. 258.

The following
saying.

',

men have a saying, Leave my legs

not hear them saying,

Ebu

Gya me nan

Long

is

ago,

the explanation given

when wild

by the Ashantis of

this

animals, lions, hyenas, and leopards,

were even more numerous than now, a man, when he lay down to
sleep, always took care that his feet and not his head were nearest
Thus, if a wild animal got into the hut, it would
to the doorway.

most probably

seize the

man's

legs,

who would then

shout

'

Leave

ASHANTI PROVERBS

112

my

legs alone

head alone

whereas had his head been nearest the door, and

he would have been unable to shout Leave my

'

been seized hold

'

of,

The proverb means, a man of experience

'.

will not

put himself in a position from which he cannot extricate himself.

399. Mpanyimfo se, Maye

The elder (lit. elders)

If the old people

2>eii

says,

once upon a time

400. Se mpanyimfo pe

wo

se

'

(or,

'

2623)

'.

have done as you (are doing now)

I was as you are)

'.

awe a, lounhuruw ntra ogya. (2624)

want to roast and eat you, you do not jump over

vjo atoto

fire.

Note the construction in the subordinate noun clause

(See note on No. 2, W02>e.)

Atoto awe.

after the verb pe.

401. Mpanyimfo ye wo guannuah, na

se

wuguah

a,

akyih no wgserew

wo.

When

(2625)
the grown-ups (frighten you to) make you run

do

so,

Guannuan.

402. Akwakord

An

ho ansdna

te

Wgwoo.

(1877)

was born.

on No. 366.

Past tense, note lengthening of final vowel.

Here

Panyin.
on No.

in

the

sense of one

in

authority, see

note

1.

403. Aherewa a onni

The

wgwoo panyin.

in the world before a chief

Lit. lived, see note

Te.

and you

Reduplication of guan.

man was

old

off,

afterwards they laugh at you.

se

no n'atadwe gu ne kotokum'.

(100)

woman with no teeth has tiger nuts in her bag. (She

may have some reason unknown to you for keeping them.)

old

Se.

'

'

The names for the teeth are

canine teeth

nyepi, molars

military term), incisor teeth.

gbgmgfo

adonteh

Human

se (lit.

se (lit.

hunter's teeth),

main body teeth, from

teeth are valued as sumans.

404. Aherewa fwe akokg, na akokg fwe aberewa. (101)

The old woman looks after (her) hens and the hens look after the
old woman (by laying eggs and hatching out chickens for her).
Akokg.

See note on No. 199.

405. Aberewa kg asu

When

an old

a, gbeba,

woman

na ne ntem na

yerepe.

(102)

goes to fetch water (we know) she will come

ASHANTI PROVERBS
back, but

it is

how long

she will be about

113

it

that

we want

(to

know).

Ne

nt&m.

adverb

lit.

Here ntem would seem

really a

noun instead of an

her quickness (in returning).

The saying means that

persons do things that younger

if old

people do, they must not expect any consideration on account of

(Cf. following.)

their age.

106.

Aberewa nim ode

woman

If an old

own
Ade.

fence.

(mnye ne ban.

(says) she
(Cf.

(103)

knows (every )thing,

her put up her

Imperative of gye.

hum

'

Makye, makye,'

'

Good morning, good morning,' (eventually)

Makye.

who

let

No. 405 above.)

See note on No. 85, me dea.

6nnye.
107.

a,

sitting

Me ma wo

aherewa.

kills

akye, I give you morning.

by the house

return salutations,

(1992)

all

is said to

an old woman.

The old woman,

day, and having nothing to do but

be killed eventually by them.

CHAPTER IX
Chiefs, Fkee Men and the Nobility, Slaves, The Family,
Nationality, Paeents and Eelations, Women and Wives,
Marriage, Birth.

408. Ohem-mone nni

There

babi,

vassal chief

Ohem-mone
Nni.

na gsafohene-bone na gwg

such thing anywhere as

is iio

may

'

babi.

a bad king

(1300)
though a bad
'

',

be found.

Ohene-bone.

Neg. of wg.

Osafohene.

sub- (or, vassal) chief, also in a military sense,

Oman-hene,

a captain of a war company.

Ohene

king, is the highest title.

either to the

i.e.

chief of a nation,

somewhat vaguely applied

supreme chief or king, or even to some quite small

village, though this latter is more correctly

town or

chief of a

gdekuro,

is

holder of the village.

lit.

409. Ohene a dbehum wo mfmae

a,

na wokan ahene dodow a woasom

(1301)

When

the chief

who will kill you has not yet come (on the stool),
how many chiefs you have served under 1

can you count

410. Ohene

bi bere so

In one

wohu, na obi bere so wgdyere.

chief's reign skins are treated

(1303)

by having the

hairs singed

in that of another the skins ai'e spread in the sun.

off,

(Times

and manners change.)

Bere.

Lit, time.

Wgdyere.

Lit. they

have spread (them) out.

Translated by the

passive.

411.

Ohene bedi wo kasa

When

a chief

is

a, efi mamfo.
(1304)
going to compel you to do something, he does so

by the authority of the people.

Bedi
kasa.
Di
wrong he has done.
Mamfo. For note on
omMnfo.
.

kasa, to compel a person to

suffix

pay

/o see No. 78, kontromfi.

for

some

Mamfo

ASHANTI PEOVERBS
412.

Ohene hekum wo

When

ennim ahamatwe.

a,

(1305)

a chief is going to kill you, it

Ennim. Neg. of wq mu.

Ahamatwe. Lit. draw or

115

is

useless consulting the lots.

pull the strings, see note on No. 55,

aJca.

413.

Ohene ne wo

When

kS, a,

na okum wo.

will kill you.

Me

Ka.
414. Ohene

One

(1307)

a chief and you are on (too) intimate terms, (some day) he

(Cf. 421.)

ne no ka

= he and I are friends.

anim na wqnka, na nakyi de, wose. (1308)

mind in the presence

of a chief, but

does not speak out one's

behind his back one does.

Anim.

See note on No. 80, aniwa.

See note on No. 89, akyi.

N'akyi.

415. Ohene nufu dgso a,

When

amansan na enum.

a chief has plenty of milk, then

(1309)
all

people drink of him.

Nufu. Lit. breasts, but by metonymy milk.

JEnum. Note this idiomatic use of the 3rd person

sing, neuter

pronoun for the 3rd person plural masc. or fem.

416.

Ohene nya ahotrafo ]pa

When

Ohene nnya wo a, na wuse,

As long as a chief leaves you

Nnya

lit.

ne

'

one who

is

peaceful.

sits beside.

wo.

Ohene aso
that
'Sono.

419. Ohene aso

ka'.

you

(1311)

say,

'

He

and I are good

Lit. does not get (hold of) you.

te se

is

me

alone,

'.

'sono aso.

The ears of a chief are

The

(1310)

Lit. cool.

friends

418.

here so dwo.

Lit. in his time.

here so.

Bibo.

417.

na ne

Deriv. A3 and tena,

Ahotrafo.

Ne

a,

a king has good councillors, then his reign

(1312)

as the ears of the elephant

(i.e.

all

going on).

See note on No. 89, esdno,

te se

sgne ;

emu akwah

ears of a chief are like a

horo apem.

strainer;

(1313)
there

are more than

a thousand ways to them.

Sqne.

he hears

An openwork

basket for straining palm

oil.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

116
420. Ohene ntam
da.

oath

chief's
it

se

te

hay ere amoa,

mu

obi nto

mfa neho

mfi adi

tdtrotg

(1314)
is

like the hole a

yam

is

planted

in,

no one

falls into

and gets out again unhurb.

Mam.

See note on No. 496,

One

Bayere.
Ntg, mfa,

No. 33, mfa,

woM.

yam

of the

many

mfi.

Note the negative throughout,

species of

(ode).

see note

on

nsisi.

(1315)
421. Ohene tamfo ne nea g ne nofi mmofraase.
The enemy of a chief is he who has grown up with him from childhood.

Tan, to hate.

Tamfo.

Mm,ofraxise.

422. Ohene

Deriv. mmofra, ase.

te se odirni,

A chief is like

onni anim wni akyiri.

an odwm

tree,

(1317)

he has no front and no back.

See note on No. 57, odum.

Odum.
423.

No. 413.)

(Of.

Ohene ba ntuiu 'mirika nkgfwe

A chief's

(1321)

tiri.

child does not run to look at a head (that has been cut

off).

The heads

Mutu
No. 33,

of persons executed are brought to the chief's house.

.

Note the two negatives,

nkgfwe.

424. Ahenhwa di adwene na wadweh asem.

A chief's
There

see

note

on

nsisi.

servant eats

is

fish

and gets

(1322)

ideas.

a play on the words adwene, a

the noun from which

Ahenhwa

is

adwene, thought.

and

fish,

(Of.

diJben, to think,

No. 446.)

Ohene-akoa.

425. Ahenhwa na gma ohene ho ye hu.

(1324)

It is the chief's servant that causes the person of the chief to excite
fear.

426. Osafohene nsua na wako.

(2756)

war captain does not take the oath before going

in order that he may, &c.)
Osafohene.

Nsua.

to fight.

(Lit.

See note on No. 306, dgm.

iSua, to

take an oath before going to fight.

Tlie safuliene has already

taken the oath and

do so again before going to war.

The oath

is

is

not required to

taken as follows:

ASHANTI PROVERBS
The man stands before the

sword

chief,

117

in hand, tl:e left

hand being

Me
mama me wura ne m,e sase nea m,ede m,eye obi
Me soma korabo na wanko a, mede me ti me

placed on the heart, pointing his sword at the chief, he swears

kd ntam

kese se

meko

ahoa no, meko matg.

Se nea

sane ho.

me

kae yi m,anye a,

'I swear the

Translation

me ka ntam

If I fire a bullet and

fall.

and

my own

',

my

great oath that I will fight for

king and my country rather than become any one's

and

kese

'

it

slave, I will fight

will not pass (in front), I myself

head will go forward.

If I do not do these things

I swear, I take the great oath.'

427. Ade a ghene pe na wgye

ma

Whatever a chief wishes

is

no.

(783)

done for him.

me

Ade.

See note on No. 85,

Ma.

Really a verb, here translated by the preposition 'for',

dea.

on No. 240, wg.

see note

428. Nnipa nhina pe ghene aye, na (wganyd

alienni ye yaw.
(2432)
All

men would

like to be chief(s), but

?)

wgannyd na

when they cannot

wose,

mpo

get what

they want they declare that even to rule as a chief has

its

worries.

The

Wgannyd.
is

original gives this verb in the positive, but this

probably an error.
Deriv. ghene

Ahenni.

di,

to rule as chief.

429. Ade hia ghene nana a, okita tuo, na gnsod akete. (798)
When a chief's grandson is poor, he holds a gun but he does not
carry a mat.

Nana.
Akete.

More often ndnd, gba is understood, see 37, nt.

To carry one's own sleeping-mat is considered very de-

grading.

430. Ade hia

When a

gdehye
free

Odehye.

a,

man

ehia no kakrd.

(797)

lacks something,

it is

Plu. adeyhye, a free man, as opposed to a slave {oclgnho)

also used in the sense of one of

Kakrd.

See note on No. 101, kdkra.

dam a, wgfre no asShow.

man of noble family is mad,

(834)
people say he

for wine.

Odehye.

good family, a nobleman.

431. Odehye bg

When

something very big he lacks.

See note above, No. 430.

is

only the worse

ASHANTI PROVERBS

118

Lit. they say.

Wqfre.

Deriv. how nsd.

Asahow.

432. Odehye din nyera da.

A free man's

name

is

(835)
never lost.

433. Odehye, wodi no apata, na wonni no sono. (836)

Nobility should be borne as one eats fish (humbly) and not as one
partakes of elephant flesh (proudly, and boasting about

Apata. Fish, dried,

meat

is

is

common

food all over Ashanti.

naturally rather a luxury, and people will give

for a small piece just to be able to say they

434. Odehye hhyehye, na sika na ehyehye.

Fame

have eaten

it).

Elephant's

much even
it.

(838)

of being noble born does not spread abroad, it

is

the fame of

riches that spreads.

See note on No. 591.

Siha.

435. Odehye anko

436. Odehye

Among

mu

ahoa guah.

a,

man

Wlien the free

(839)

does not fight, the slave runs away.

nni abofra.

royalty no one

(840)
is

a child.

437. Odehye, wonnoa wonni, na sika ne

An

ancient

aseni.

name cannot be cooked and

(841)

eaten

after all,

money

is

the

thing.

Wonni.

Neg.

of di.

438. Odehye, wgmpae.

A man

Wgmpae.
439. Odehye

The

need to have his name proclaimed.

Pae, used of the proclamations of the gsen, herald.

nsgre, wosi

no mfensa.

(843)

offering on the grave of one of the royal house is placed there

for

Nsore.

up

(842)

of royal blood does not

many

years.

burial grove.

Deriv. probably n, not, and sgre, to lise

but also by metonymy, the offering placed on the grave.

Mfensa. Lit. three years, but used for indefinite number; see
note on No. 767.
;

This proverb

is

quoted by a person

who

is

reprimanded or

re-

proached for not having performed some action, and is equivalent

to answering, Oh, I have plenty of time yet in which to do that,
there is no hurry'.
'

;
'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
440. Odehye

akoa nni ade.

te Jig a,

AVhen the

Nni

man is
Bi ade,

free

ade.

This saying

is

119

(844)

there, the slave does not take

command.
command.

to take possession, inherit, take

not strictly accurate as there have been cases where

the legitimate heirs have been passed over and the stool given to

See proverb following.

a slave.

wu a,

441. Odehye

When

akoa di ade.

man

a free

dies,

(845)
(See No. 440, note.)

a slave succeeds.

442. Odehye nye ahofra na wgdbg ne din abg own din.

One

(846)

common fellow that he should have

name coupled with the name of Death.
of royal rank is not a

his

Child, boy or girl, but also used in the sense of servant,

Ahofra.
fellow.

Death personified

Owu.
owu.

Note,

among

word

criminal, to mention the

of a chief.
e.g.

'

bad

it is

death

'

wakanTeyene gu,

in connexion

he has cast away

lit.

Onyankopgn

de,

oka

bdhi, he

on No. 16,

etiquette, if not actually

There are many euphemisms to express

gone to the spirit world

salt

with the name

'

he

is

dead

'

okg asaman, he has

remains elsewhere.

Waye

he has become the property of Onyankopon.

443. Akoa m])aw luura.

for description, see note

the Ashantis

(1625)

slave does not choose (his) master.

Ahoa.

A servant, slave, but the latter is better bdgnko.

used in the sense of that fellow

'

'

quite well treated in Ashauti and

Akoa is

also

Slaves were probably

(akoa no).

had not much

to complain of.

It is true that they were liable to be sacrificed, or perhaps buried

with their master on his death, but such a fate was also possible
for free

men.

Slaves

who proved themselves

did, succeed to their masters' property.

born such, might be put in three classes

able could, and often

Slaves, apart from those

:

(1) those

such by having been bought or captured in war

pawned by

or

their relatives or themselves to liquidate debts, or

as security for a debt

who voluntarily placed themselves

To fully understand the proverbs
remember that so-called slavery

(3) those

under a master

for protection.

which follow

is

it

who became

(2) those pledged

necessary to

'

in Africa, as practised by the Africans themselves, was seldom or

never that terrible thing with which later and exotic associations

have invested the word.

'

An

African Slave.'

The words have gained much pf their

ASHANTI PROVERBS

120^

meaning, to our

sinister

owing to the transplantation of

ear,

a more or less necessary and not wholly to be pitied individual,

from

his indigenous surroundings

vantage
to a

'

to,

(where his status

in,

and ad-

the social system were assured and fully recognized),

civilized

and a

'

'

Christian

'

community, which had long

forgotten all that thousands of years of experience in dealing with

this class

had taught his rude African master.

slaves in the Christian markets of the world,

that this

brought to Africa and to her people are apt to

open sore was much of our own

traffic

blind one to the fact that this

One

making.

home,

and

'

(in

(another word

'

'

'

prevented from seeing that here, in

is

slavery

The demand for

and all the horrors

is

its original

almost needed to express

a mild form, and shorn of

it)

did

more glaring abuses) does

much to hold together the communistic savage community till
such time as education and advancement favour greater independence and individualism.
444. Ahoa

nliye neho

A slave
Nhye

ntu

does not
.

445. Akoa nitmoura.

slave

knows

446. Akoa di guan

When

his

own mind about going

For use of negatives

see

to war.

No. 33, mfa,

nsisi.

See note on No. 317, gsa.

Sa.

(1615)

sa.

make up

ntu.

its

(1622)

(his) master.

ne ho guun no.

a,

a slave eats a sheep, he

(1612)

is

in trouble.

Guan. Oguan, a sheep, see note on No. 17, guan.

Besides
perhaps being a play on the words guan, sheep, and gtian,
trouble
(cf.

No. 424), the proverb means that the slave who eats a
sheep,

that

is, sacrifices it to a fetish, must be in

great trouble, or have
committed some crime unknown to his master, or is making
some
promissory offering to his fetish, in any of which
circumstances his
master would want to know all about it.

447. Akoa ampgw

When

a slave

a,

na

efiri

wira.

(1626)

not well behaved, the cause can be traced

to (his)

is

master.

Am^ow.
is

The

literal

meaning oi pgw

(often reduplicated jjopow)

rub up, hence here perhaps used figuratively,

in which sense the word is often
used.

to clean, poUsh,

polished, polite,

Wira

Wura ; wira

is

in the

Akan

dialect.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
448. Akoa nni avm na wonkuim owura.

When

121

(1619)

a slave does not commit murder, his master

is

not killed.

The master was held absolutely responsible for every act of the
who was considered as having not only a .body which was not
his own, but also a mind. Hence any act of a slave was considered
as an act of his master.

slave,

449. Ahoa nim som

When

a,

to take his

Ne

gfa

a slave knows

ti

ade

head thing,

Cf. tiri nsa, the

as a legal symbol that the

who knows how

permitted

i.

e.

the price paid for a person

woman

girl

has been given in marriage.

ade.

(1621)

to serve succeeds to his master's property.

No. 441.)

(Cf.

451. Akoa nya neho

When

is

wine placed before the parents of a

450. Ahoa a onim som di ne wura

A slave

(1620)

di.

to serve (his master well), he

earnings.

Lit. his

ade.

or thing,

own

Tie ti

how

ofre neho Sonant.

a,

(1623)

a slave becomes a rich (and free) man, he calls himself one

of the

Asona family

(a noble family).

For notes on Ashanti totem and family names,

Sonani.

see

note on No. 37, ahusua.

452. Akoa difo.

(1611)

slave is (as a matter of course) guilty.

453. Akoa nkyere nnannua.

A slave

(1617)

does not point out where good sticks for building are to be

found.

Nnannua.
usual house
slave

nnan, plu. of qdah, a house.

Lit. house sticks,

is

a framework of sticks plastered with mud.

The
The

on seeing suitable sticks should go and cut them, and not

why he has

merely come and report, when he will only be asked

not brought them.

454. Akoa nni

A slave
Nni.

Mpgw.
kroma.

mpow

kwa.

(1618)

does not eat the second

Neg. of

yam

crop without good reason.

di.

The second crop

This second crop

is

of

yams; the

first is

called

mmoto-

used exclusively for planting out the

following season, and for a slave to eat them would

contemplating flight before then.

mean he was

ASHANTI PROVERBS

122

455. Akoa nyansa wo ne wura

slave's

wisdom

womd

456. Ahoa sure asuko na

When

(1624)

tirim.

in his master's head.

is

oho

oguah.

a,

(1627)

a slave has ceased to go for water and

made

(again)

is

to go,

he runs away.
Asukg, the verbal noun from ho, to go, and asu,

Sare asuho.

up doing something one has been in the habit

Here a slave, who had become so far a privileged person
that he was no longer the hewer of wood and drawer of water ',
on being ordered to become so again, would consider himself so
badly treated that he would try and escape and find a new master.
Sare, to give

water.

of doing.

'

The saying means that a privilege once granted

difficult

is

to

withdraw.

457. Ahoa

te se

wode nsu hahra gu no

hyehyire,

slave is like unto corn

ground into

sprinkled on it, it becomes

by kind treatment.)

te se

A slave

Tshi Proverbs

'

twerebo

member

easily influenced

ground.

(The

original.

a,

enye

make the gun

(1629)

'ye.

useless.

gun which, if it were

(He is a necessary

of the community.)

Neg. oi wo,

= Yiye.

Wo nhoa
If

is

has hyehyere for hyehyire in error.)

enni otuo ana

slave

See No. 339.

Twerebo.

Enni.

459.

',

like the flint on the striker of the

is

wanting, would

'Ye

(A

Indian corn roasted and

Kyehyire.

No. 1628 in

458. Ahoa

soft.

na ahono. (1628)
when a little water is

so a,

flour

suro

wonni ram

mma

wo.

speak) before your

fuce,

they will not gain

wo anim asem

your slaves fear

(to

a,

(1630)

victories for you.

Wonni.

Mmd.

Neg. of

di.

Di nim

or

nhomm,

to

win a

fight.

See note on No. 727 and No. 14.

460. Nnqnhgfo banufwe nantwi a, qhom hum no. (976)

When two slaves look after (your) cow, hunger kills
Nnohhqfo.

it.

Nnqnho, the Ashanti name for the country to the

now the Noiiheru Territory of the Gold Coast.

north of Salaga,
Fo, a personal

'

'

on No. 78, hontromft. As many

of the slaves used to come from here, the word Nnonkgfo, sing.
suffix,

see note

ASHANTI PROVERBS

123

gdgnkoni, came to be synonymous with akoa, slave, and used entirely

in that sense.

461.

'

Ahia me nafwe

'

am

ma

na

me,' nti

obi yee ahoa.

in want, so look after me,' that is

slaves

(lit.

one became a

glave).

Past tense, formed by lengthening of

Yee.

See note on No. 443, akoa.

Akoa.

462. Owura ne ahoa ntam' nni,

'

(1335)

why some men became

twe

ma

Between master and slave there

final vowel.

This comes under class

mentwe'

(3501)

no 'pull and

is

3.

let

me

pull' (no

striving for the mastery).

463.

Wo vjura tan wo a, na gfre wo akoa dehye,. (3503)

When your master hates you, tlien he calls you a free-born
Akoa

dehye.

slave

who was

debt or some other misfortune lost his original status

No. 443, akoa.

The

slave.

originally free-born, but through

see note

on

slave mentioned here comes under class 2.

464. Ohi ntq akoa na ommehye no

No

so.
(352)
one buys a slave to act as a restraint on himself.

Mtg
No. 33,

Hye
465.

Mme,

a, ohi

466.

kyere wo, ton,

Wunni.

Neg. of wo.
Lit. sell, eat, i.e. sell

Wofere vjo afdnM

When you
Wofere.

on

di.

(921)
sells

you

for

will fetch.

Ton,

di.

note

hence, to oppress.

have no master, some one catches you and

what you

see

neg. of auxiliary verb hera.

press on

so, to

Wunni vmra

When you

Note the double negative,

ommehye.

nsisi.

a,

fear to

and use the proceeds.

wudi nnuanftn.

(1115)

reprimand your slave

girl,

you eat

stale food.

See note on No. 155, mfere.

Nnuanfm.

Nnuah, aduah, and/m, noifi,

bad.

This proverb might almost seem to be spoken by some mistress

in Mayfair, worried by the servant problem and fearful lest her

cook takes ofience and gives notice.

467. Akoa ghantanni, wgde no sie funu. (1614)

A proud slave is taken and buried with the corpse (of his master).

was the custom in Ashanti in the old days, when a chief or

any one of importance died, to kill slaves, wives, and attendants, to
It

ASHANTI PROVERBS

124

asamah (see No. 35,

and before the
news of his death was publicly announced, two slaves, generally
girls, were taken to where the corpse was laid out for washing and
killed, either by strangulation or by having their necks broken
across a stick this was known as yi agtwtre, to remove from the
After the body had been washed and decked in
bathing (place)
all its finest cloths, another victim was killed at the entrance to
accompany

their master to the spirit world,

As soon

osamah).

as the chief breathed his last,

'

'.

the house by having his throat cut

(first

having the sepgw knife

driven through his tongue and cheeks to prevent

oath), the blood being allowed to fall

him swearing any

Chiefs were

on the drums.

often buried sitting on the shoulders of a

man who

thus standing

Before burying or killing the different

was entombed alive.
victims they were each assigned their duties in the next world

which they had to perform

468. Obi nhu

No

bi

for their

kwaberan nhuruw

nsi.

dead master.

(187)

one sees a strong slave belonging to another

about

for joy

nhuruw,

JVhu,

man and jumps

it.

nsi.

For

this

idiom see note on No. 33, mfa,

nsisi.

= Ahoa-oberan.

Kwaberan

469. Obi ahoa di p&reguah na woma asudsct

to

no

a,

oyi

haw sua ma

wutua.

When some
is

one's slave

sold to

who

is

worth a pereguan of gold dust (8)

you for an asUasa's worth (about

j6),

he

is

pretty

sure to go and incur some debt for a sud's worth (about

2)

that you will have to pay.

Pereguan, asuasa, sua.

See note on No. 591, nseraa, for notes

on Ashanti weights.

470. Abusua nhina ye abusua, na yefibefwe mmetema so de. (683)

All family names are family names (and good enough at that), but

we

search well between the thorns of the

oil

palm

for the

good nuts nevertheless.

Abusua.

family or clan name traced through the female

line.

See note on No. 37, abu&ua.

Mmetema.
lit.

Deriv. betem, a cluster, and

cluster of children,

i.e.

bunch

of

mma,

palm nuts.

plu. of oba, child,

ASHANTI PROVERBS
471. Abusua

nfwiren, egugu ahuw-ahuw.

te se

Family names are

125

(684)

like flowers, they blossom in clusters.

472. Abusua ye dgm, na wo na gha ne wo nua. (685)

The family is an army, and your own mother's child

kinsman (brother or

is

your real

sister).

See note on abusua, No. 37.

See note on No. 37, m.

JV^a.

Nua.

See note on No. 37, m.

473. Abusua dua, wontwd.

The family
474. Nea Oman

What one

(686)

tree is not cut.

bi ka serew na gman bi
su.
(2199)
people talk and laugh about, another people talk and cry

about.

A nation,

Oman.

Used, however, also in the sense

a people.

and the people of that town. This probably is its

original meaning, the various towns or villages possibly under
independent chiefs gradually coming under a central authority, the
of a town,

gman-]iene.

475.
'

Oman
When

rebebg a,

e/l

a nation

is

homes
Ofi.

476.

OmoM

mu. (1996)
about to come to ruin, the cause begins in the

qfi

(of its people).

See note on No. 262,jfe.

ho,

na menne abobow.

nation

is

(1998)

(can be) destroyed,

how much more

one home

(lit.

a gate).

Neg. of

Menne.

477.

de.

See note on No. 495.

Abobow.

Oman Ahuapem, wohonya

wose

'

Oka/rabiri /'

ode a, wose,

'

Obusufo ! ', nso woannya

a,

(1999)

The Akuapem people say, when you get wealthy, 'Mischievous

fellow
and when you have nothing, they say Unlucky one
!

'

',

Oka/rabiri.

478.

Lit. black soul.

'.

See note on No. 147.

Oman kwm wo a, na ghene kum wo.

When (the united) people (want to)
you.

(2000)
kill you,

then the chief kills

ASHANTI PROVERBS

126
479. Oman

adesoa,

te se

A people

wonhu

mu

ode dahoro.

are like unto a load (containing

(2001)

many things), you cannot

perceive all the contents in a single day.

Adesoa.

Lit. ade, a thing,

and

soa, to carry,

something carried,

a load.

Mu ade.

Almost a compound word,

lit.

'

the in-it things

',

i.e.

contents.

480. Oman twa wo sania a, wompffpa. (2002)

When it is the unanimous wish of a people that you dress your
hair in a certain way, you are compelled to do so

not rub

Oman
When

you do

Various patterns cut on the hair of the head.

Sama.
481.

(lit.

it out).

reheho a,

a nation

the

gmam^ydm na bkiira poma. (1997)

about to come to ruin, then the salamander

is

holds

staff.

'

mend

mony and

The name in Ashanti means

The salamander.

Omampd/m,.
literally

nation

'

(^j)'^'"''

oman),

The following

peace.

is

i.e.

unite, join together in har-

the Ashanti story of

how

it

came to get this name.

The salamander was formerly known as the Boaman (i.e. break-up
nations).
This name he was given by the esono, elephant, who is
supposed, according to

tliis

story, to

have given

all

the animals their

The salamander protested against being given this name,

but in vain, so he went off and adopted the following plan in
order to get it altered.
He went alternately to the chiefs of the
Nkran (^Acora) and Akiiapem nations, and told each in turn that
names.

the other was about to attack him, and these nations were on the
point of going to war.

was the

It transpired, however, that the salamander

real cause of all the trouble,

and he was causrht and asked

He

to give an explanation of his false reports.

freely

acknow-

ledged what he had done, but pleaded justification in his name,

Boaman

(destroy nations).
His excuse was accepted, but his name
was altered from Boaman to his present one, Mamjpdm (unite
nations).

The salamander
above he

is

is

said

by the natives

to be deaf

in the saying

represented as the olcyeame.

qkyeame, that

is,

spokesman,

is

The staff held by a chief's

generally bound lound with the skin

of the salamander (as a kind of

'

sympathetic

'

magic, no doubt).

ASHANTI PROVERBS

127

The word gkyeame is universally spoken of and rendered as

by the Europeans in this colony. It has of course

'linguist'

nothing to do with linguist

okyeame

a court

is

official

one skilled in languages).

(i.e.

who

The

acts as the mouthpiece of the chief;

etiquette neither allowing a chief to speak directly

to,

or be spoken

The idea of linguist or interpreter is

entirely foreign to the word.
The okyeame need not, and probably
does not, know any language but his own, and if the word is to be
to directly by, his subjects.

rendered in English at

482.

all, it

should be by the word, spokesman.

'

Agya, gyae na menkd,' wokyi.

'

Father, stop, and let

me

permitted to speak

Agya.

tell

(1238)

(you what you ought to do)

',

it is

See note on No. 37,

nt.

Menka.

Imperative.

Wokyi.

See notes on No. 89, akyi, and No. 132, wokyi.

mma

483. Agya

When

nya

mepe

a,

not

so.

ma mma nya

a,

mepe papa/pa.

(my) father's children get (anything), I

like that

(1239)

when (my)

mother's children get (anything), I like that even better.

Agya mma.

Children of your

mother, and therefore, as descent

not considered as your onua

is

own

by another

father but

traced through the female Hue,

own

brother or sister by your

(i.e.

See note on terms of relationship. No. 37, abuma.

mother).

Ena mma.

Children of one's

own mother.

See note above.

The word pa means goodj well here lit. good, good,

good, the word being repeated to make a superlative or express
Papapa.

emphasis.

It

is

also

used in the sense of

'

real

'

',

genuine

',

see

No. 44 and No. 135.

484.

'

M'agya

'

It is

dea,

memfa, ms na dea memfa', na

my father's, so let me take it

it

',

JDea.

with the

it is

ehere awi.

my mother's,

(1243)

so let

me take

that brings (a child) to stealing.

Not

to be confused

enclitic a,

See note on No. 85,

485.

with dea

nea, he who.

probably giving emphasis,

me

'.

de,

dea.

Wo agya akoa twa dua a, vmie, 'Bye m^rew'.

When your father's slave cuts down a tree, you
(easy to cut)

Here

the possessive.

is

(1244)
say,

'

It

is soft

wood

ASHANTI PROVERBS

128'
486.

Wo

KobuoU

ha ne

no,

a,

anka wobese

(2060)
if your mother's son

Even

the big

drum was a
The prefix

Kobuobi.

is

fit

'

hyene kese fata no ana

se

KobuoU

',

would you

thing for him to carry

proper nouns,

ko, before

tell

him

that

is

a contraction

added as a kind
for gdgnko, a slave (q. v.
origin, and
humble
or
of
slave
person
name
of
a
of nickname to the
all died.
have
sisters
or
brothers
whose
children
those
of
also to
No. 460, wnqnkgfo), and

Kobuobi, that

slave

is,

is

boy Buobi may be in duty bound to carry

own real brother you would not

the big drum, but being your

want

to taunt

him with the

fact.

tend to show

how

strong

is

many

This and

See also note on No. 138.

other of the proverbs

the idea of relationship on the mother's

side alone.

487.

Wo na gba ne wo nua. (2061)

Your mother's child is your kinsman (brother

or sister).

See note on No. 37, abusiia, and above.

488.

Wo na

When

di hia a,

wunnyae no nhofa

your mother

some one

else

is

your mother.

Wunnyae, nkofa.

489. Wo na anko gua

(Cf.

No. 492.)

ni.

Note the negatives, see No.

na womdna wo na ne

a,

your own mother does not go

mother

Wo

obi nye na.

(2063)
you do not leave her and go and make

See note on No. 37,

Ifa.

When

poor,

33, mfa, nsisi.

kdra.

(2064)
market, then your step-

to

is sent.

nJa 7i& kcyra,

It must, of course, be

a step-mother.

remem-

bered that the Ashantis are polygamous, so that a child, besides

own mother, may have anything from one

step-mothers.

480.

Wo na

lou

its

hundreds of

See note on No. 345, kora.

na wobeye ayi

a,

didi wie ansa,

nkofwu mpanyimfo anim.

When

to several

na nkotg piti na wo

am

(2067)

your mother has died and you are about to celebrate the

funeral custom, finish eating

shame yourself before the

Didi

ivie.

Ani nkowu.

first, lest

you go and

elders.

See note on wutwa

wie,

See note on No. 33, mfa,

No.

nsisi.

37.

faint

and

ASHANTI PROVERBS
491.

Wo na awu a, wo ahusikt asa. (2068)

When your mother dies, you have no kindred

129

left.

See note on No. 37, abusua.

402.

Wo na nye a, na wo va ara nen. (2069)

Even if your mother is not a good woman, she
nevertheless.

Nen=-ne
493.

your mother

a,

touma ne nantew.

(898)

follow behind your father, you learn to walk like him.

Wunni na na wokg

woM

is

No. 488.)

no.

Wudi wo agya akyi

When you
494.

(Cf.

obi fi agoro a,

na

otu ne

mma

fo

a,

wode tu

(912)

hi.

When you have no mother and you go

to some one's house to play,

and she (the mother) admonishes her children, you profit by
some of that advice yourself.

Agoro.

verbal noun, (for) playing.

495. Agoru a ereba wo na ik wo agya abobdw ano

rAgfwe.

The dance which

door,

is

No. 33, mfa,

496.

nhofwe.

to the square or open courtyard round

built.

Note the double negative

see note on

nsisi.

WoJea vjo agya a,

When

father's

off in haste to look at elsewhere.

The entrance

Ahobdw.

wompe ntem

coming to your mother's and your

you do not go

which the houses of an Ashanti family are

Wompe

n6,

(1211)

woka wo na

(1489)

hi.

you swear the oath of your

father,

you should

also

swear

that of your mother.

Ntam

Woka.

is

understood.
First, there is the

Several kinds of oaths are to be recognized.

common form
particular

'

punish him

known

of oath taken at ordeals, where a

fetish
if

he

'

that he

is

is

man

swears by his

speaking the truth, and

in the wrong.

calls

This form of oath

is

on

it

to

too well

to require a detailed description.

The second form

is less

well known.

Like the

first it is also

a form of legal procedure.

Me

ka ntam,

'

I swear the oath of so-and-so

words said by an Ashanti

another.

man

or

woman who

'.

These are the

has a dispute with

Let us suppose two people are quarrelling, words run

ASHANTI PROVERBS

130

high, perhaps blows follow, suddenly one of the persons fighting

says to the other, I swear the oath of (whoever it may be) that
'

There and then the matter ends for the time

by saying these words the quarrel has been removed
from the sphere of a private dispute, with a possibility of a private
settlement, to become a purely public affair to be heard and settled
I

am

in the right

'.

being, for

of

Eoman

Law

Private

Students

whose oath has been sworn.

in the court of the chief

will notice the curious resemblance in

legis actio sackambntum, which was

method of removing a dispute from the sphere of private
Now the meaning
settlement and securing a trial in judicio.
of this oath is as follows.
The person who used the oath mentioned some particular day on which local tradition has ascribed
some dire calamity to have happened to the family of the tribal
chief.
Each local chief may liave such a black day. When
a person mentions such a day, which subject is ordinarily taboo,
it behoves the head of the family, whose unlucky day has been
thus recalled, to investigate the wliole matter under dispute, and,
if necessary, punish the person who has wrongly used the power
this procedure to the

also a

or dread of this event to prove his case.

one of the litigants

'

swears the oath

other party to answer

is,

also

ntam

it (60

so), lit.

swear the same oath that he

second party

fail to

do

so,

',

the case

is

is

It has been seen that

it is
'

now

the duty of the

beat on the oath

in the right.

',

that

Should the

simply given against him, no

evidence or witnesses being required, the mere fact that he refuses

to

respond to the oath proving him to be in the wrong.

Should,

however, the oath be duly answered, then the case will be heard in

open

down

court.
his

'

Heavy

oath fee

'.

fees attach to these oaths,

The

fee of the

each party putting

party who wins the case will

be returned to him, that of the other party

It

is

is forfeited to the chief.

thought that, did a chief whose oath has been taken refuse to

investigate the case, a similar calamity

would befall his family.

The swearing of an oath constitutes a form of appeal to a higher
court. Not being satisfied with the judgement of one court, a person
can appeal to a higher by swearing the oath of the next most
chief, the oath in this case being sworn against the

important

gkyeame or spokesman of the chief who gave judgement and not

against the original party to the suit.
In this manner appeals can
be carried right up to the court of the paramount chief by the
swearing of the ' great oath {ntam kese). This is the equivalent
'

ASHANTI PROVERBS
of saying,

'

Koromante

Memeneda Koromanle',

is

131

""Koromante Saturday'.

i.e.

a place on the Fantee coast where Osai Panyin of

Cobmassie was defeated and slain by the Fantees.

This calamity

name came

to be proscribed

was considered so

terrible that even the

and became known as simply ntam

the great oath.

kese,

Other important oaths are Akantamansu, from the name of

a battle near Dodowa, where Osai Yao of Coomassie and many
other chiefs were defeated and slain.

Wukuda, Wednesday's oath, is another.

interesting modern example is Ahanakyi,

An

lit.

after or behind

the castle, castle being used as the personification of the English

Government;

referring to the last rising in 1900 in

this oath

Ashauti.

Any man who was

about to be executed was usually pierced

through both cheeks by a skewer-like knife [sepow), which prevented

him from swearing the king's oath

'

sitated the delay of

',

which would have neces-

an investigation and

trial before

he could be

executed.

The third form of oath

By

it

the simple formula,

king'.
it

perhaps more of the nature of a curse.

is

a person invokes the death of the king, the words used being
'

Ohosom nkvn

So terrible a crime

the custom

is

'

to say,

is this

ohene,'

May

a fetish kill the

considered that in describing

he blessed
.

'

(or,

sprinkled) the sacred

"When the writer was endeavouring to

ascertain the exact curse used, he had great difficulty in getting
his native informant to repeat it, and finally only got him to
edioira'

on the king.

do so accompanied by loud cracking of his (the native's) fingers

round the

Now

ears.

any one who thus

'

blessed

'

the king was without exception

But a curious custom is

The curser is permitted to name (within reasonable
in vogue.
limits) the day and manner of his death, and during this interval
He can demand any man's wife, money,
is granted absolute licence.
and goods, to use and do as he likes with till the day of his death.
In this custom we have one of the most powerful checks on the
personal despotism of kings and chiefs ; for on one occasion on
which a man was driven by the treatment he had received from
and without

possibility of pardon, killed.

the chief or king to

'

bless

'

him, with the consequent upsetting of

the social regime resulting from the licence granted, the person
on whom the exasperated populace sought vengeance was the ruler
I

132'

ASHANTI PROVERBS

who had by
death to

his despotism driven his distracted victim to prefer

life.

somewhat similar idea runs through the well-known custom

of committing suicide, but before doing so ascribing the cause to

some particular person who

himself, or again, the

he must

kill you,

is

thereby compelled to commit suicide

custom of swearing an oath on a person

when

the person on

whom

the oath

is

tliat

sworn

is

in the predicament of having to choose between violating the oath

or committing what will be considered and punished as murder.

497. Ohi mfi hea akyi ntu ne

No

Mfi
i. e.

tarn.

(170)

one can pull the loin-cloth

.

ahyi.

Lit. to

off

woman

come behind

without her knowledge.

one's back

and do a thing,

to do without one's knowledge.

498. Ohea ho aguare na

When

woman

wamma

(you can be sure) she

Aguare.

499. Obea

is

verbal noun.

ohwam

tenten so ahe a,

When

ntem

na

a,

goes to bathe and

tall girl carries

is

osiesie neho.
(23)
a long time in returning, then

decking herself out.

See note on No. 353, hohoro.

di.

palm

(25)

nuts, the toucan eats (them).

Ohea tenten. The Ashanti women are shorter in stature than the
men, and the expression tall girl here implies a woman who
does
'

'

things unbefitting her sex, or

Ohwam

di.

The

saying,

who

is shameless.

ahwam

hedi

wo mme,' the toucans

will

palm nuts ', is a common expression among the Ashantis,

meaning some trouble will befall you '.
eat your

'

500.

Mmea hhmd
All

women

ye bdko.

(27)

are alike.

Mmea n'nyae ahka aguare, na ahohmo ho boh. (28)

-^Let women cease to bathe with limes, for even
the {ahohmo) red
ant has an offensive smell.

501.

Ahohow.
and which

A small

red ant that lives in the branches of

trees
found in lime trees. They have a nasty
smell.
The
native women are very fond of using
limes to rub their bodies
with, perhaps to get rid of the smell
that seems inherent in the
black man and woman however clean
they may be. The saying
means, anything inherent in one cannot
be got rid of by artificial
means.
is

ASHANTI PROVERBS
602,

Mmea pe nea sika wo. (29)

Where the gold dust is, that
Sika.

503.

Mmea
When

where the women

like to be.

See note on No. 591.

'

se,

the

Wo

ho yefe

women

'

Ka.

a, efi

woman

You

(30)
are a handsome fellow

',

that

dialect has kaw, see No, 54.

ne hunu.

is

'

run into debt.

to

The Twi

Ashanti.

504. Oha ho ye fe

ene ka.

a,

say (to you)

means you are going

When

is

133

(19)

beautiful, it is from her

husband she gets her

beauty.

Meaning perhaps that he has bought her the ornaments

clothes that

make her look

505. Qhd na onim kunu.

It is the

(20)

woman who knows

her husband.

Na. Here emphatic, see note on No.

506. 06a nyinseh na

When

wanwo

woman

or fine

beautiful.

ha

1.

qwo hanin,

a,

(21)

conceives and does not give birth to a

girl,

she

gives birth to a boy.

507. Old twa

homma

a,

etweri harima

Even when a woman makes

(lit.

dan mu.
cuts) a

(22)

drum,

it

leans against the

,i

man's house.

To

Twa.

portion of the

Women

cut

here refers to the tree from which the wooden

drum has been made.

have nothing to do with drums in Ashanti, either the

carrying or beating.

The following brief notes on drumming are only intended

draw attention to this interesting subject. The writer hopes
discuss the matter more fully in some other work.

great deal

is

to

to

heard in Africa about the wonderful way in

which news can be passed on over great distances in an incredibly

short

the

space of time.

fall

of

It has been reported that the

Khartum was known among

news of

the natives of Sierra Leone

the same day, and other equally wonderful instances are quoted to

show that the native has some extraordinary rapid means of comIt must, however, be remembered

municating important events.

that most of the instances that one hears quoted are incapable of

ASHANTI PROVERBS

13V

and wonld, moreover, probably be found to have been

much exaggerated. Having said this much, however, it must be
admitted that these natives have a means of intercommunication
verification,

wonder and curiosity on the part of Europeans.

is by drumming.
This idea the European will readily grasp, and being familiar
with various means of signalling, will suppose that some such

virhich

One

often inspires

of such means of communication

a method might be adapted to drums

but among the Ashantis the

not used as a means of signalling in the sense that

drum

is

would

infer,

that

is

we

by rapping out words by means of a prearranged

code, but (to the native mind)

used to sound or speak the actual

is

words.

That
a

we have drum-talking

is,

as distinct from drum-signalling,

iympanophonetic as opposed to a tympanosemantic means of

Tympanophony, or drum-talking, is an attempt

means of two drums (a male and a female ') set

communication.
imitate by

'

different keys the exact

'

as it

might

to a

ascribe even the sounds

at

human

to

in

sound or words of the human voice.

(Such an idea does not appear nearly

mind

'

so far-fetched to the native

European, accustomed as the former

made by

birds

is

to

and some animals to attempts

speech.)

"We have

all

perhaps experienced the sensation that

bells

were

Punch brothers
punch will occur to many, and children have a game where one
plays a tattoo on smother's back, beating harder and harder till the
one who is acting the part of drum guesses the tune played.
These childish examples illustrate exactly what the Ashanti
drummer strives to do with his drums.
ringing out words, and the classical example of

'

'

Now

the question naturally arises as to the limitations of this

Can the drum be made to say anything,

drummed restricted to certain preconceived
and prearranged words or rather sentences ? As far as the writer

means of communication.
or are the messages

has been able to discover, the drummers' vocabulary

is

more or

less

restricted to the latter class of messages, but this point requires

further investigation.

These drummers are trained from childhood, and must not only be
experts in

drumming, but

genealogies of

all

also

have learned the traditions and

the kings, and the folk-lore of the tribe as con-

tained in the proverbs, for

drummed come under

it

these

would seem that most of the sentences

two headings.

'

ASHANTI PROVEEBS
The subject

is

135

one of absorbing interest, but only the briefest

description can here be given.

The classes of messages sent come under several heads.

1. The names and deeds of each king or chief who has occupied
the tribal stool as far back as tradition has any memory of.
Drumming thus serves as an important way of perpetuating the tribal
memory.
2.

Messages addressed to the various materials from which the

drums are made, the particular tree from which cnt, the elephant
from whose ear the tense membrane is made, the wood from which
the pegs are made, the creeper used to tie

appeal

also

is

down the

skin.

An

always made to a mythical divine drummer for

permission to drum.

This class of messages always precedes any

drumming.
3.

Many

of the best-known proverbs are

drummed, and among

the commonest to be thus perpetuated are those in which

OnyaSupreme Being) figures. This the writer considers of

considerable interest and importance as proving that the native
name and conception of a High God is not derived from the
Europeans. (See note on Onyhme, No. 1.)
NKOPON

(a

4.

Alarms, especially

5.

War

fire.

messages generally insulting, and not, as one might

suppose, messages giving instructions as to movements of troops or

orders to

war

not being, as

were, in

orders would have to

for the

enemy

The Ashantis account for such messages

the code book by saying that any such
be delivered secretly, and not shouted out

captains.
it

'

'

'

to hear.

few examples taken from the hundreds of messages that an

expert

drummer can send

will

now be

given.

The words and sentences are rapped out on two drums placed
side by side.
The drummer squats beside them with a drumstick
in each hand. The tones of the drums are pitched in different keys.
The message is rapped out with extraordinary rapidity and skill,
the endeavour being to imitate the intonation usually given to the
particular sentence to be

drummed, each

syllable of a

word being

represented by a beat on one or the other or both of the drums.

The following are drum messages beaten at the Wednesday and

Sunday adai held in honour of the departed chiefs, on which
occasion the ancestral stools are carried forth to the burial ground.

(See note on No. 388, akohnua.)

ASHANTI PROVERBS

136
First, as is

always the case when the drums are brought out, the

which

propitiates or condoles with each separate part of

drummer

worthy of note that many

words in these messages are now archaic and the meaning is not
known even to the drummers.)
the composite

drum

is

formed.

(It is

0-ha-yi-fo, g-dg-man-ko-ma, hye-re-ma

se,

o-re-se-re,

wo, ha-hi,

a-gyi-na.

wizard, the sacred

drummer

says he craves of you a place to

stand.

The meaning

is

that the

drummer asks permission from the

A drammer when

wizard (see note on No. 56, ohayifo) to drum.

is

sending, attributes the

evil spirit.

Such an error on the

he makes a mistake in the message he

error to the interference of

drummer

part of a

noted that this

is

an

punished by

form of drumming

(It will

the fine of a sheep.

is

be

almost entirely ceremonial or

religious.)

Twe-re-bo-a, Ko-di-a, Bi-rim-jpon, o-do-man-ko-ma, Jcye-re-ma,

o-ko-q, ha-hi, a,

wa-ma

Tie

se,

ho m-m-re-so, fir-im-poh, da-mir-i-fa,

da-mir-i-fa, da-mir-i-fa/

cedar tree (from which the

drummer

the divine

that

now he has

drum

is

made), the mighty one,

says he had gone elsewhere for a while, but

returned, pity, pity, pity.

Here the wooden portion of the drum

is

condoled with.

0-hu-a, yen-kye-re-du, g-dg-man-ko-ma, kye-re-ma,

hi,

a,

wa-ma ne hg

se,

g-kg-g, ha-

m,-m^-re-so fi-rim-]pgh, da-mir-i-fa, da-mir-i-fa,

da-mir-i-fa 1

ohua tree (from which the pegs are cut that hold down the

skin), the divine

drummer

says he had gone elsewhere for a while,

but now he has returned, pity, pity, pity.

Bo-fii-mu, am-pa-se-kyi, o-do-man-ko-ma, kye-re-ma

se,

(as

before).

O bofumu apasekyi (the tree from which the bark is stripped to

make the string with which the skin is fastened down to the pegs),
the divine drummer says ... (as before).
A -fe-ma,
ma,

se

dun-si-ni, ne, a-sa-re n-kon-ta, g-do-man-ko-ma kye-re(as before).

afana tree (from which the drumsticks are cut), the divine
says ... (as before).

drummer

ASHANTI PROVERBS

137

E-so-no, o-bu, a-ku-ma, o-do-man-ko-ma, kye-re-ma,

se,

(as

before).

elephant

drummer

the great one), breaker of the axe, the divine

(lit.

says ... (as before).

Here the elephant, from whose ear the membrane

made,

of the

drum

is

This concludes the propitiation of the drum,

and this prelude being over the real business on hand will begin,
is

propitiated.

namely, the mentioning of each chief's

are only given one or

name and his deeds ; there

two examples out of the many that exist.

A-si-a-ma-To-ku-A-sa-re,

man-ko-ma, kye-re-ma,

g-fwe-a-du-am-pgn, o-nyh-me, o-do-

se, g-kg-o, ha-hi, a,

wa-ma,

ne-ho, m-me-re, so,

g-bg-g, de-en, g-hg-g g-sen, na, g-bg-g, g-kye-re-ma,

na g-hg-g,

g-hra-fo

ti-ti-ri.

Asiama-Toku-Asare
pon),

(the first king

Supreme Being, God

divine

drummer

What

did

He

create

all

sat on the stool of

Onyhmi, No.

now

He created the herald. He

He created the executioner.

worthy of note here that we

Supreme Being introduced

first

who

note on

says he had gone elsewhere, but has

drummer, but above

It is

(see

liave

two

of the

in connexion with the

ancestor of the chiefs of

Mampon.

It

is

Mam-

1),

the

returned.

created the

names of the

name

of the

extremely unlikely

that this would be so, did their names and the sense in which

they are understood, date only from the advent of the missionary.

The drummer thus runs through the whole

the chiefs

right

down

line of ancestors of

the reigning king,

to

now and

again

a word or a sentence throws a flash of light on some forgotten

custom, and every message has stamped on
handed down from a distant past.
Here is another example

it

signs of having been

0-dg-man-ko-ma,

hg-g, a-de,

Bg-re Bg-re

g-bg-g g-sen, g-bg-g, kye-re-ma, g-bg-g,

ri

Ko-nin-sa-mo-agya, Gya-ma, A-mo-a-gya

o-gya,

wo de

bg, a-de, g-bg de, e-ben,

Ku-a-hu, Ak-wa, bo-a-fo

e-hen o-gya, wo, a-ka-bu, g-gya,

ti-ti-

e-sen, be-gye, wo, fo-kye,

wo

a-tg-per-e o-gya, wo,

Gya-me, A-m-pon-sa-kyi, A-m,-pon-sa, Mam-pgn, A-som Gyi-ma,

rem-pgn fi-rim-pgn, da-m,ir-i-fa, da-mir-i-fa, da-mir-i-fa!

The Supreme Being created

what things did

He

create

bi-

things, the Creator created things,

He

created the herald.

He

created the

drummer, He created Kwaku Jtea (meaning unknown), but chiefly

He created the executioner, Koninsamoagya, Gyame, Amoagya

ASHANTI PROVERBS

138

(meaning unknown), Herald, come and get yoni- black monkey-tkin

what did he leave you 1 he left you akabu (meaning obscure)
he left you death of a thousand cuts, he left you Gyame Am2)onsakyi
hat,

Ampmisa Mampgn, Asom Gyima, mighty

(?) woe, woe, woe
(Asom Gyima was the 8th king of Mampon.)
(a

name

A message to summon people when

as follows

raging in a town runs

fire is

Mam-pgn

hon-ton-hyi, oho, a, e-hi a-ku-ma, mo, in-ma, mo-ho,

m' -me-re-so, o-gya hu-ren

Mampon

! hu-reii !

hu-reh

town in Ashanti), kontonkyi

(an important

worn out the

the stone that has

raging

one, firimpon

V)

axe, arise, fire raging

(archaic),
!

raging

Note, the allusion to a stone wearing out an axe almost certainly

refers to the grinding of celts or axe-heads,

have no recollection of a stone age, calling

'

God's axes

all

such stone axes,

'.

Finally, the following

in time

though the Ashantis

of war.

selected out of

is

As already

many messages

used

stated, in an actual engagement

messages to the various companies are sent by the general by means

of heralds and the ahrafo executioners, the

encourage the
.

First

men and

insult the

come the

drums being used

names of famous

se,

wa-kum

ma n-ni-pa

ye sa-

g-da, wo, a-se, ne, m,-m.er-e-bo-se-e, n-yai'i-

kom-pa-sa-kyi, Kwa-ku, A-gyai,

a, g-da,

then,

chiefs,

n-nipa m,a n-ni-pa ye de-e-ben, wa-kum,, n-ni-pa,

m,an, a-boa-a, dom,-po,

to

enemy.

se,

g-da, wo, ase g-n-wi-ni kg, dwo,

wo, ase, a-de kg-kye, a-no-pa-nso, a, g-da,

wo

ase A-ku-ran-

g-kye-na, ye-be-kum, wo, a-no-pa }te-ma, he-ma, he-ma.

tg,

Men

that they should become what ? men are

become ghosts, the animal the dog says he is
very grateful to you for that thick lump of your liver, the vulture
too, he says he thanks you very much, he thanks you in the evening
.

are slain

slain that they should

when the sun

ing you,

is

cool,

Akurantg

when the day dawns he thanks you,

We

shall kill

you to-morrow

hail-

early, early,

early.

508.

Wo yere a onye no, na ete se

When your wife is a woman
be some one

obi

aguaman.

of no morals, then she might as well

else's harlot.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
509.

Wo

yere anyin a, ivuntutu 'mirika

na ehohyia

139

no.

(3649)

Before your wife has leached puberty you do not run to meet her.

Anyin.

Lit. has not

reaching puberty.

grown.

Quite

Euphemistically used for a girl

little girls

are married and go to live

with their husbands, cooking and engaging in the household work,

though the man does not usually have sexual intercourse

'

510.

511.

grows up

till

she

'.

Wo yerenom anum a, wo tekrema anum.

When you have five wives, you have five

(3650)
tongues.

Wo yere apem a, wo asem a2>em. (3651)

When you have a thousand wives, you have

a thousand

'

palavers

kunu asem, obi nnim mu. (24)

The conversation between husband and wife no one knows about.

512. Obea ne ne

513.

Oyere

te se

nso

kimtu; w6de hatd wo

awgw

a,

de wo.

A wife is like a blanket;

you,

514.

Qyere nye

wife

is

and yet

if

you

so a,

wo ho

helca wo,

'.

wuyi gu ho

(3652)

when you cover

cast it aside

yourself with

you

it,

it irritates

feel cold.

nam na woahyehye amana. (3653)

not meat that she should be parcelled up and sent out to

others.

Woakyehye.
in use is,

515.

Wo

The

original has woakyekye, but the

yere nye a, enle se

Even

if

common word

kyekye amana, to tie up and send.

wo nko wo

your wife be a bad

da.

(3654)
not to say you are going to

lot, tiiat is

sleep alone.

Nye.
516.

Lit. is notgood,

meaning she

Asem, a wontumi nk'a no abgnten so no,

nkyere no.

When

is

unfaithful.

wo ne wo

yere tefie a, nkoL

(2858)

you have anything to say which could not be spoken on the

do not tell it to your wife when you and she sire

street,

together at home.
517.

Woko na

When

obi

ne ne yere reko

a, m])e

ntem mmua, na ewq nea waye

(1580)
you go (to a man's house) and find him fighting with his

no.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

140
wife,

do not be in a hurry to interfere, for there

is

probably

a good reason for his doing so.

518.

Nea orefiibefwe yere nto mmea ho mpe. (2162)

One who is looking out for a wife does not speak contemptuously
of

women.

519. Aware foforo sa

On

ode.

(3434)

the honeymoon the

yams always

taste sweet.

(Lit. (in) a

new

marriage, the yams mix well.)

520.

Wowo ha hone a, wofa ghasahtre.

When you gi\e birth to a bad

(3463)
child,

you

(will)

grow weary

of

speaking.

521.

Wowo nipa, na wgawo ne

man is brought forth

Wowo, wgawo.

tamfo.
his

Note the

(3464)

enemy has

(already) been born.

different tenses, present,

and

aorist.

Tamfo = Tan and fo.

522.

Wgwoo

When

tafoni ha no,

na onkura

ta.

(3465)

the archer was born, he did not hold a bow.

In the original

Tafoni.

would give

this is written

with a capital, which

the meaning of a Tafoni man, (there

is a town of
The Ashantis, before the introduction of flintlock
guns from Europe, fought with bows and arrows and shields.
There is even now a street in Coomassie known as gkyem (shield)
street.
Bows and arrows are now only seen as survivals in the
it

this name).

'

'

523.

toys the little children play with,

and a

the paramount king of Ashanti.

(See No. 29.)

'

Mawo wo

'

of having

(3467)
born you is something no one ever wants
'

sa3'.

Wokyi.

524.

See note on No. 89, akyi, and No. 132, wokyi.

Ohi nhyee da nwoo panyin pen.

No

emblem of

mahere,' wokyi.

am weary
to

shield is a royal

(194)

one ever yet fixed on a particular day to give birth to an elder

(i. e. a man who was to be of importance
some day).

Nhyee

nwoo.

No. 33, mfa,

nsisi.

Past tenses.

For the negative

see note on

ASHANTI PROVERBS
525.

Wowoo

'

Wo

di cwnim

'

Kwasida, na wgwoo

'

Wo

141
yi

adwow Dwoda.
'

(3466)

The greedy person Was born on Sunday and

Monday.
(That

the greedy person and the extortioner are very

is,

akin to each other

find

the extortioner on

or perhaps

it

much
may mean the greedy person may

what he has stored up by his greed taken from him by the

Both interpretations are found given.)

extortioner.

Wo di amim. The literal translation runs, 'You are greedy'

was born, &c., &c. ; You are an extortioner was born, &c., &c.
Dwoda. There are seven days in the week and
Kwasida
twelve months in the year.
'

The

'

origin of the names of these days the writer has been unable

to trace.

This origin probably dates back to remote antiquity.

Every Ashanti child born has, as one of its names, a name derived
from the particular day on which he or she was born.

CHAPTER X
Stbangbes, Eueopbans and Eueope.
526. Ohoho akyi

mpa

asem.

(1403)

After a stranger Las gone there

is

always something to be said

about him (good or bad).

Ohoho.

Deriv. perhaps the reduplication of the

stranger.

demonstrative eho, there, 'in the distance, far away;

over there

Akyi,

See note on No. 89.

Mpa.

Lit. to be wanting, {pa).

527. Oholio

lit.

'one from

'.

ama woanya

sika

A stranger causes one

ama woanya

to get

kaw.

(1404)

money (but) he

also is the cause of

one getting (bad) debts.

Sika.

See note on No. 591.

Kaw.

See note on No. 54.

528. Ohoho ani akese-akese, nanso enhu man mu asem, na nea ode kUrow
aniwa nkete-nkete na ohm mu asem. (1406)

A stranger may have

big big eyes, but he does not see into

going on among the people he

man, with
Akese-akese.

little little eyes,

he

is

what is
among, whereas the town's

knows

all

the town's

affairs.

Note the plural form of the adjective; as

also

nkete-nkete.

520. Ohoho nsoa funu

ti.

(1408)

stranger does not carry the head of the corpse.

Nsoa funu
see No. 77.

530. Ohaho

see

ti.
For note on the custom
Funu, see note on No. 185.

wofi na wannyaw wo

hiribi a,

of

'

carrying the body ',

ogyaw wo kaw.

When

(1409)

a stranger stops at your house and does not leave you anything else, he leaves you debts.

Fi.

See note on No. 2^2, fie.

Wannyaw. Lit. has not left,

Kaw. See note on No. 54.

neg. of gyaw.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
531.

Ohoho

te se

ahofra.

A stranger is
532. Ohoho

te se

A stranger

143

(1410)

like a child.

sunsHumsu.
is like

(1411)

unto the water running over the ground after

a rain storm (which soon dries up and leaves

trace

little

behind.)

533. Ohoho nto mmara.

(1412)

A stranger does not break

laws

mmdra

di

so,

rance of the law

to

to break a law

keep laws.

hye mmara, to make

This saying shows that

a,

wo arvuonyam

ye ketewa.

(1413)

accept the hospitality of a stranger, your dignity

Anuonyam.

Ardm/-ye-nyam,

small.

(665)

It would not be difficult to go to Europe,

For deriv.

is

in the eyes makes bright.

lit.

535. Ahurokyiri nye kg-nd, na po na ehia.

Ahurokyiri.

igno-

'

does excuse, according to native custom.

'

534. Ahohoduah ye wo de

When you

laws.

To mmdra,

Nto mmdra.

if it

were not for the

See note on No. 157, nye-na.

Ko-na.

536. Ahwrokyiri a merekg enhta me, mpoano na ehia me. (666)

(The thought of) Europe, where I am going, does not distress me,
(surf on) the beach that

Mpodno.
beach,

making landing

nhma j)e

men would

Akg.

it is

the difficulty.

edge (mouth) of the

Lit. the

is

All

is

sea.

The "West Coast

of

of course notorious for the surf which thunders along its

Africa

537. Nnipa

sea.

on No. 268.

see note

often a difficult

and dangerous proceeding.

Ahurokyiri ako, na onya na wonnya.

like to

go to Europe,

it is

(2431)

the opportunity they lack.

Note the construction in the subordinate noun

after the verb

pe

see note on

Onya na wonnya.

No.

2,

clause,

wope.

Lit. getting {onya, a verbal noun),

they do

not get.

538. \Ohur(m,i a
V

y The white

ote

ahantenten mu, se

man who

owu

a,

lives in the castle,

na gdafam'. (668)
when he dies he lies

in the

ground.
OhHroni.

European

deriv.

a decidedly unflattering etymon

hii/ru,

till

dirty, filthy.

This seems

one remembers that in Africa

ASHANTI PROVERBS

144

dirt is white, clay, dust, or earth coloured,

christened
Ote.

the dirty one

'

'.

Deriv. perhaps gbo, stone, gdan, house, and tenten,

The old Coast castles are so

Abantenten.

called.

'

i.

e.

a house built of stone.

man who lives in the castle is the Grovernor.

common word used for 'the Government

white

Tlie

Aban, {gbo 'dan)

the castle

'

is

',

the

ti

man who

the white

is

',

'.

539. Oburoni ton asekan na ne

It

man was

See note on No. 366.

long, high,

lit.

hence the white

afuw.

(669)

knives, yet his head

sells

is

overgrown

with hairs.

A native, when he wants his hair cut, uses

a sharp knife or razor;

the white man, as the purveyor of these, might, so the native thinks,

have been expected to make more use himself of his unlimited

supply.

Afuw.

See note on No. 709.

540. Brgfo adaworoma na yen nhind furafura ntamd, (644)

It is thanks to the white man that we all wear cloths.
Brgfo.

Plu. of Oburoni, q. v.

The word

Adaworoma,

No. 538.

nti is probably understood after adawo-

roma.

the left shoulder,

(if

The Ashanti dress is a cloth

and the end thrown over
When coming
a left-handed man, the right).

into the presence

of,

or addressing, a chief or superior, the shoulder

Furafura.

Reduplication of fura.

wound round the body up

is

to the breasts

bared as a mark of respect, the right hand placed on the hip, the

right foot advanced, the sandal slipped off and the foot set on

but not in

541. Brgfo de nyansa na eforo po.

By

virtue of

(645)

wisdom the white men mount the

542, Obrgfotefo na gma oburoni ye aye.

It is the native

whom

it,

it.

sea.

(646)

who knows English who

whom to blame).
one who hears English

directs the white

man

to praise (and

Obrgfotefo.

Lit.

'

',

here, the native inter-

This saying pretty shrewdly sums up the position, in the

native mind, of the official or other European who has to rely on an
preter.

interpreter in his dealings with them.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
643. Obi nim

se

ohia hehia no

a,

ankd gkg Brofo

ma

'yewo no.

If any one had knowledge previous to his birth that he

have to
white

suffer

men

from poverty, then he would have gone to the

all

Europeans must be prosperous and

Anka.

See note on No. 733.

'Tewo.

See note on No. 641,

Wvdi BUroni ade

a,

Wo na

fe

AhiMirim'

rich.

'yedi.

woko aprem ano.

When you eat the white man's

545.

(264)

was going to

that he might have been born of them.

In the native mind

544.

145

(876)

pay, you fight at the cannon's mouth,

na wo agya

te

Ahurokyiri, na wope ade a,

wofikye nya.

When

(2065)
your mother lives in Africa and your father in Europe, and

when
Te.

there

is

a thing you want, you do not have to wait for

it.

See note on No. 366.

Abibirim'.

Africa,

lit.

among the blacks,

deriv. biri, black.

Aburokyiri.

See note on No. 268.

the black man's country,

CHAPTER XI
HuNGBK, Sickness, Medicine, Fbab, Hateed, and Fkieitdship.
546. Okmn de aherewa

When

an old

a,

na ose, Toto
'

woman

is

a,

gda,

'.

(1

685)

'

the children that they

547. Okgm de hgho

ma mmofra na wonni

hiribi

hungry, then she says, Eoast something for

na

may
odidi

eat

'.

me

a, obisabisa

nkurofo yerenom.

(1686)

When

a stranger

is

hungry he

but when he has eaten his

sleeps,

he goes about accosting the town's

See note on No. 526.

Hgho.

For note on

Nkurofo.

548. Okgm de hoho

When
Okgm

own

is felt

gdefi ne kicrom'.
is

No. 78, kontromfi.

(1687)
it (hunger) with him from

hungry, he brought

na gkgm de hene. (1688)

slave and hunger is felt by a king.

by a

Okgm de wo a, ede wo nko. (1690)

When you feel hungry, it is only you who
feel

551.

suffix fo, see

village.

de akoa,

Hunger
550.

a,

a stranger

his

549.

fill

folks' wives.

hungry

feel

hungry (one does not

for another).

Okgm de wo a, womfd wo nsa abieh nnidi. (1691)

When you are hungry, you do not use both your hands

for eating

with.

Womfd

nnidi.

For note on double negative see No.

33,

nsisi ; nnidi, neg. of di.

552.

Okgm
Of

ne ka,

(the two)

Ka.

na efanim

(1692)
is

preferable.

See note on No. 54.

563. Oyare a ehekum wo bg

When

ka.

hunger and debt, debt

the illness that

get the doctor

Duruygfo.

wo
is

who

a, wonkae duruygfo.
(3540)
going to kill you comes upon you, you for-

could have cured you.

Duru-ye-fo

some one who makes medicine.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
554.

Oyare, wgko no ahohora.

Illness is driven off

by

147

(3543)

insults (fear of insults)

among

Physical defects or abnormalities

the Ashantis such as

lameness, having lost a finger, arm, or foot, &c., &c., preclude a

from ever becoming a

to

be

An

chief.

The saying perhaps means that a patient

killed.

man

infant born with six fingers used

is

more

willing to submit to the treatment prescribed

would be subjected

fears the slights he

to

by the doctor as he
were he to be permanently

disabled.

555.

Oyare nsae a, wonnye ayaresade. (3545)

The physician's fee is not paid till the sickness

Wonnye.

Neg. of gye, to receive,

Sa

Ayaresade.

curing an

556. Oyare

over.

oyare, to cure an illness,

lit.

something given for

illness.

(3546)

see akyeafo.

Sickness destroys even he

557.

is

they do not receive.

lit.

Woyare anomdew

a,

who

is

na woyare

most worthy.

ntoto.

If you suffer from a complaint that

cacies,

is

(3548)
always crying out for deli-

then you (also) have a complaint that

is

always calling

for buying.

Anomdew.

Lit. 'a sweet

mouth',

558. Oduruyefo nnom adwru mrna

The physician does not drink

Aduru.

Mma.
559.

oyarefo.

(1045)

the medicine for the patient.

See note on No. 13.

See note on Nos. 727 and 14.

Wopa gpayare

a,

When you make

Wopa.

'sweet tooth'.

cf.

oyare

pa gye wo mu.

pretence of being

ill,

(2579)
a real illness lays hold on you.

See note on No. 254, oboa.

560. Obi nyare ayamka nkye akyeburo mfa nsa neho yare. (394)
No one who has belly-ache tries to cure himself with parched corn.
Nyare, nkye, mfa, nsa.

good example of the idiom noted

under No. 33, ndsi.

561.

na wuse, eye bone.

All plants are medicinal, but you do not know and say

Nnua nhma

ye aduru,

na wunnim

(useless) bad.

Aduru.

See note on No. 13.

a,

(1021)
this

one

is

ASHANTI PROVERBS

148
562.

'

'

Met,

me aduru

mjyrempren,' nye aduru.

Give me medicine at

(1972)
you cannot expect that

once,'

to

be good

medicine.

The meaning

is

that the native herbalist

go and search for the suitable plant or

563. Suro nea ohm wo.

Fear him who

is

must be given time

to

root.

(3124)

near you.

ose, ohegye, na nsuro nea ose,

Merema wo'. (3125)
Fear him who says he will take from you, but do not fear him who
says, I am going to give you '.

664. Suro nea

'

'

565. Misuro hum nti na maye me koh tia. (3126)

Because I fear to be killed I have made my neck short.

The common method of executing people in Ashanti was

for the

executioner {ohrafo) to seize the victim, force his head forward and

then slowly carve through the spinal column at the base of the
neck.
A small skewer-like knife {gsepg) was generally first run
through the cheeks and tongue in order to prevent the swearing of

the

566.

'

great

'

oath or the

'

king's

'

oath.

(See note on No. 496, woka.)

Yensuru dgm, anim, na menne asem anim.

We

do not fear the front of battle,

much

(3127)

less the front

where words

are weapons.

Dgm.
Menne.
567.

See note on No. 306.

Neg. of

Wusuro nnimmo

a,

de.

wode wo sehah gua gnanka.

(3128)

If you are afraid to incur unpopularity, you have your knife

taken (borrowed) to flay a python.

Nnimmo. Deriv. Bg din.

Gua gnanka. After the knife being

so

used

it

would be con-

sidered useless.

The proverb means, a weak man who panders

larity is soon

imposed on.

to a

This saying, in the

contains, gives one perliaps as

cheap popu-

words it
good an insight into the Ashanti

character as might be otherwise gained in as

might be taken as the motto of those whose

eiglit

many

years,

lot it is to rule

and
and

guide the destinies of this people, or at least as giving a sound basis

on which to work. No natives among whom the present writer
has ever oast his

lot,

have sharper or keener wits, or are more ready

ASHANTI PKOVEEBS

149

to take full

advantage of weakness whether engendered by a real

and genuine desire to win their hearts by an exaggerated consideration and mistaken kindness, or merely in the hopes of gaining
a temporary and cheap popularity ; for the recipient of any such

mistaken leniency will be the

first to

laugh at and take advantage

Here, real firmness, tempered by

donor behind his back.

of the

commands

absolute fairness and infinite patience,

and lasting respect long

real

grumbling thrown at one

him
'

to flay a

a strong

'

'

who

and

will not have his knife taken

from

python ', has subsided.

man and

in the long lun

the temporary abuse

after

The true Ashanti

at heart respects the

man who

is

at heart

deals with

him

as such.

who was not

Bacon's saying that no king was ever loved

is

568.

among

very true

this really fine

and manly

feared,

nation.

Wusuro odqnko Mil a, wofwe no mprensa. (3130)

you fear (to remove) a slave's excrement, you look on

When

many

See note on No. 460, nnonhgfo.

Odqnko.

Mprensa.
569.

on No. 767.

Lit. three times, see note

Wusuro guamsem

When you
(for

it

times.

a,

wo ahaguade

ye ketewa.

(3131)

fear to take part in public disputes, your share of fees

attending such

'

palavers

') is

small.

= Gua-mu-asem.
Ahaguade ^ Bq-agua-ade.
Guamsem
570.

Wusuro ahenware a, wowo nng/owa ha. (3132)

marry a chief, you will give birth to a nameless

If you fear to

571.

Wotah wo ygnko ha

When you

a,

wo

ha

wu

avmsin.

hate your friend's child, your

child.

(3179)

own

child dies a sudden

death.

Aum-sin

Avmsin,

sin,

a part or fragment of a thing, hence

here, short, sudden.

572.

Wgtan nipa

When

a,

man

573. Obi tan wo

When some

wgma

is

qi/enneema nhma.

disliked he is

blamed

(3180)

for all kinds of things.

na qparuw wo mparunwoma. (431)

one hates you, he makes malignant remarks about you.

a,

Mparunwoma.

Faruw, and nwoma,

bitter, gall

express an opinion on a peison or matter'.

paruw

is,

'

to

ASHANTI, PROVERBS

150
574. Ohi tan wo

enworanwora wo.

a,

(432)

When some one hates you, he scratches you.

Among the Ashantis it is considered

disgrace to liave any

fi

marks

on the face or body, such being considered a mark

(tattoo)

of slave origin.

When
it

has

a child

is

born,

of whose brothers or sisters have died,

all

probably being that the

scarred over, the idea

face

its

malignant spirit which has caused the death of this child's brothers

and

sisters will consider it of

no account. Such a child is even named

See also No. 138.

odgnkg, slave.

675. Obi tan wo a, na oho wo ahoa ade. (429)

When some one hates you, he reminds you of the promises you

made (and have not

Aloa

Bo

ade.

or promised to a

576.

fulfilled).

proverb No. 54), a thank-offering made

ade, (cf.

swmah

or ohosom (see No.

Wo atamfo ahiesa kg agyina, na hena na ahehu wo hem f (3169)

When three people who hate you go aside to deliberate on the
verdict to be given on you,

Kg
577.

1 7).

agyina.

Lit. to

Wo tamfo di wo asem
When one who hates

who

going to find you innocent

is

go and stand (apart).

ase

kan

a,

woka nkyene

you gets the

first

has with you (before the elders),

a,

edan mako.

(3170)'

chance to state a case he

when you

talk salt

it

turns

to pepper.

Woka
is

nkyene.

Lit. to talk salt,

among

greatly valued here as

the

little

all

i.e.

speak well and truly.

savages.

African what sweets are to the European child.

the salt used on the

West Coast comes from the

Salt

pinch of salt

is

to

Much

of

salt lagoons

on the

coast.

578. Wo tamfo sua wo asaw

When

one

who

a,

dislikes

gkyeakyea ne

waist sideways.

Sua,

578.

To

learn, also to copy.

Qtan nni aduru.

There

is

2>a.

(3173)

you imitates you dancing, he bends

(3174)
no medicine to cure hatred.

Nni.
Neg. of wg.
Aduru. See note on No.

13.

his

ASHANTI PROVERBS
580. Wotan

When

hi a, na wofa ne yere.
(3175)
you hate some one, then you seduce his wife.

Wofa
581.

161

Lit. take his wife.

yere.

Tie

Wotan wo

(Even)

you hate

if

a,

mma

womfd no

dgm.

(31 76)

you do not hand her over

)'our mother,

to the

enemy.

mma. See note ou No.

Womfd
Bom. See note on No. 306.
.

582.

Wo

33, mfa, nsisi.

ygnko di wo

amim na wunni no

bi a,

na

ete se

wusuro

no.

(3673)

When

your friend helps himself to the larger share (when eating

with you) and you (next time you are eating with him) do
not do likewise, then

Wunni.

Neg. of

mu wo

583. Oyonho

Among

it is

amim

di,

oygnko.

as if

you fear him.

being understood.

(3674)

friends there are

some who are

(greater) friends (than

others).

584.

'

'

Ygnleo,

yonko' na ema asem

Friend, friend (I will

585. Ade

wo ani

to

When

so a,

tell

(3675)

terew.

you a

secret),' that is

wo ygnko na

oyi

something gets in your eye,

ma

it is

wo.

how news

spreads.

(814)

your friend wLo removes

it

for you.

586.

Na.

Here emphatic,

Ma.

See note on No. 14.

No.

1.

Wokg wo ygnko nkyen agoru na ne napam no

When you
him
Na.

go to your

off, it is

Agoru.

587.

see

friend's house to play,

really

you she means

(to

a,

na gde wo.

(1583)

and his mother drives

send home).

Subjunctive.

See note on No.

1.

Wo ani here wo ygnko ade a, woye bi, na wunwia. (2291)

When you covet something belonging to your friend, you work
it,

Ani.

but you do

not steal (it).

Eye reddens,

see note on No. 34,

kgn

dg.

See note on No. 85, me dea.

Woye bi. Lit. yoa make, i. e. earn one by work.

Ade.

for

CHAPTER
Folly and "Wisdom;

588. Okwasea na

'

ose,

It is the fool

who

Tbuth and Falsehood; Povektt

AND ElCHES.

Wgde me yonkp, na wonne me'. (1907)

says, They mean my friend, but not me
'

Deriv. okwa, in vain, foolish

Okwasea.

and

ae,

See No.

'.

to say.

Here an emphatic particle, translated by the definite

Na.

article.

1.

Neg. of de.

Wgnni.

589. Okwasea na wohu no

When

XII

the fool

be a,

wgkyere no

use.

(1908)

told a proverb, the meaning of

is

it

has to be

explained to him.

Wobu

See note on No. 258.

be.

Translated by passive.

Wgkyere.

590. Okwasea, na ne guan tew miien

It

is

See note on No. 17.

Guan.
591.

(1906)

abiefi.

the fool's sheep that breaks loose twice.

a, ose ne nsema ye merew.

(1904)
squandering his gold dust, he says his scales are out

Okwasea redi ne sika

When

a fool

is

of order.

See following note on nsema.

Sika.

gold, gold dust,

now

stands for

money

Sika, original meaning,

(gold, silver or copper).

Nsema. Scales. Light balances are used by the Ashantis for

weighing gold dust. The weights, commonly known as Ashanti
'

weights

',

are cast from metal

by

the cire perdue process

Each weight

and often

show a high degree of

aesthetic art.

represent some object

man, woman, animal, hunting-belt, pumpkin,

&c., &c.

The process of

the object desired

is

over with beeswax, and

whole model
being

left,

wax runs

is

casting

is

as follows

worked in clay
all

when dry

is

rough model of

this is coated all

the finishing touches

then covered over with clay

leading to the wax.

The clay

is

out leaving a space between the

added.

The

a duct, or passage

now

first

designed to

heated,

when the

and second

layers.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Into this the molten metal

is

the metal model

(For a

is

found.

Hausa Folk-Lore.)
The names and equivalent

run.

When

153

the clay

values in English

is

broken away,

vide the Author's

full description,

money

the Ashanti weights (for gold dust) are as follows

of

some of

154

ASHANTI PROVERBS

which would seem

to point to these

weights, and

it

having originally been used

as

would be most interesting to take, say two seeds

from the tawa tree and compare the metal weight of that name,
when the value of gold dust in ancient times might be roughly

There seem to be three bases of currency, the mpisewa,

gauged.

the taku, and the ackie, corresponding (approximately) to our \d., Qd.,
4.

The designs used

6d.

would seem often

for weights

to be

symbolical (see proverbs Nos. 136 and 174).

Merew.

Soft, yielding, here

of scales, easily

weighed down,

hence out of or3er.

692. Okwasea ani

By the time

te a,

na agoru agu.

(1910)

the fool has learned to play the game, the players have

dispersed.
Te.

593.

Te, tew,

lit.

to be clear.

Okwasea nnim
If the fool

hirihi a, onim nefufu tow,

(1911)
knows nothing else, he (at least) knows

all

about

his

plantain dumpling.

See note on No. 14.

Fufu.

594. Nea wuresisi kwasea

Where you

no,

na onyansafo

le

ho fwe wo.

(2238)

are taking advantage of a fool, there a wise

man

is,

looking on at you.

For note on

Onyansafo.

No. 78, kontromfl.

suffix fo, see

595. Okwasea na wgtew ne ntgrowa ton no. (1909)

It is the fool whose own tomatoes (?) are plucked and sold to him.
Na.

Translated by the definite article.

Translated by passive.

Wgtew.

596.

Nyansa nye sika na wgakyekyere asie. (2554)

Wisdom is not gold dust that it should be tied up and put away.
Wgakyekyere

asie.

Lit. that they

have ... in order

to.

597. Onyansafo de pesewa gye gkwasea nsam' ^pereguan. (2555)

The clever man takes one penny worth of gold dust and receives
from the hand of the fool gold dust of the value of 8.
Pesewa
No. 591.

pereguan.

See note on

'

Ashanti weights

'

under

ASHANTI PROVERBS
,598.

Anyansafo banu goru

a, ntoto ha.

When two men of equal wisdom

Bmm. See note on No. 781.
599. Anyansafo hanu
ho.

si ho,

na gbako redan butuw

(2559)

When two

men

wise

are dividing

a piece over and puts

again turns

Mensa.
insect pest

of the

(2558)

play together, discoid arises.

mensa, ghako dan

Ttye

155

it

up a yam between them, one turns

down

(for the othei), but the other

over and exposes the other side.

it

A variety of yam which is very liable to attack from an

which bores into the yam and spoils it the turning
;

yam mentioned

in the saying

up the

to cover

is

diseased

portion.

600. Obi nkyekyere nyansa-kotohu, mfa nkoto adakam mmegyina adihg,

nse no se, Xyere me asem'.
(223).
'

No

one

up a wisdom-bag, and takes

ties

and puts

it

and comes and stands in the courtyard and

me

matter to

away

it

says,

'

in a

box

Explain the

'.

In the original this

Nyansa-kotoku.

is

written with a hyphen,

making the word a compound noun, lit. a wisdom-bag ; without

wisdom in
the hyphen, and with mu added, it would mean,
'

a bag

'

'

'.

Mfa, nkgto, mmegyina,

negative following the

Note that

nse.

first

all

these verbs are in the

See note on No. 33,

verb nkyekyere.

nsisi.

601. Nokware

mu

nni abra.

In truth there

Nokware.

no

is

Deriv. ano

602. Nokware nye ahe

is

not so

lit.

603.

to

and hware

(jingso)

much

cut a

lie

'

(from truth

Wutiba nkontompo

When you

tell

a,

lie,

mu

na wgatwa

of truth that

it

Lit. that they should

Wgatwa.
'

= mouth,

(1).

Neg. of wo.

Nni.

There

(2475)

deceit.

?),

i.

e.

nkontompo.

should be cut

have cut

it.

to tell a

lie.

off

Twa

(2477)
by falsehood.
nkontompo,

wusuro Kumase. (3403)

you fear Coomassie.

The king of the Ashantis used to be I'esident in Coomassie, hence

important cases would be taken to be tried there.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

156
Kumase.
kill

to kill,

and

ase,

Lit.

under.

'

under the

from a tree in the centre of the town under which

tiee',

human

Kum,

Deriv.

and executions took

sacrifices

604. Otorofo de mfe apem tu hwan

a,

place.

onohwafo de dakoro tiw no

to no.

(3338)

Whereas the

liar takes

who speaks

Ot&rofo.

a thousand years to go a journey, the one

the truth follows and overtakes

liar

pery, hence metaphorically

605.

'

smooth-tongued',

Manya

'

OlSrofo gye agua' ;

'

Smooth-tongued one take a seat

in a day,

ose,

'

oho'
'

'

oily-tongued'.

(3339)

he says,

I have got a stone

'

'.

See note above, 604.

Ot6rofo.

As ahonnua,

Agua.

stool.

606. Ot6rofo na ose, Me dansefo wg Ahiirohyiri

The smooth-tongued one says, My witness
'

'

(3341)

'.

is

in Europe'.

See note on No. 268.

Ahurokyiri,

607.

him

the root would seem to be toro, tSrotoro, slip-

Wode nkontomjpo ka aaem

a, wobere.
(754)
you speak falsehoods in stating a case, you become weary.

When
The
asem

antithesis of this saying is often added,

a,

awU; when you speak

i.

e.

wode nokware ka

the truth the matter dies,

i.

e. is

quickly settled.

608.

Wode nkontompo 2>e ade mfe apem

nsam' dakoro.

"When you seek

a,

onokwafo de nokware gye wo

(755)

for a

thing for one thousand years by the aid of

falsehood, the truthful

man, using truth, takes

it

from your

grasp in a day.

609. Atokoro

One

nokwapem.

see

falsehood spoils a thousand truths.

Atokoro

= Atoro-koro.

Nokwapem = Nokware-apem.
610, Uhta bateni

"When the

EMa.
me sika,

Ma j)ani.

(1330)

hirer is in want, the hireling is in want.

An
there

impersonal verb,
is

'

it

lacks, there is

need of to

need of money to me, I lack money.

'.

EMa

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Deriv. bata, trade, and

Batani.

bata

Pdni.

pa

Deriv.

Ehia onipa

When

the personal

suffix.

Di

to trade.

ni the personal
611.

ni,

157

That

oda wuram'.

a,

man

payment,

(1331)

in want, he sleeps in the forest.

is

he

is,

to hire, also to give one's services for

suffix.

compelled to go far

is

afield,

hunting or

fishing, in

order to find food.

Wuram'.
'612.

Ehia

See note on No. 92.

na woreibe sumdna-dwe. (1333)

want, then you eat the palm nuts off the refuse heap.

100 a,

When

in

Present continued action expressed by

Worewe.

re, lit.

you are

eating.

613.

Ehta wo

That
614.

nwu.

a,

When you
is,

(1334)

are in want, do not die.

do not give up hope.

'

Alna me na fwe

'

am

ma

me,' nti

na

in want, so look after me,'

obi yee ahoa.

(1335)

thus some became slaves,

it is

(lit.

one became a slave).

Past tense, formed by lengthening of

Yee.

Ahoa.
615.

Ohia, wodi no fie,

When you

public

-<816.

Ohia

eat,

na wonni, &c.

^
617.

a, woijbe

aberekyi were.

are in want, you

up and

chew a

you eat

it

at

home,

di.

(1339)
goat's skin.

In times of scarcity the skins of goats and sheep

boiled.

edan fdii. (1340)

out the maize from the
pick
and
want

Ohia hta wo na wuti

When you

(1337)

Lit. poverty,

Wonni, neg. of

&c.

Aberekyi were.
are cut

so.

man, you remain at home and do not mix in

affairs.

Ma wo

When you

na wonni no gua

are a poor

Wodi no
but do not

final vowel.

See note on No. 443.

are in

even turns into a

abete a,

pot, that

leaf.

Boasted maize, which only the poor eat. Ti, lit. to

pinch between the finger and thumb, hence pick out with the
Abete.

fingers.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

158

Fdn.

Many

leaves of

and eaten in time of great

scarcity.

hence vegetable, like spinach.

leaf,

boiled

are

plants

various

The natives derive Fantee from

618.

Ohm

this word.

wo na wotg nsu-ombinim

hia

When you

ehye wo.

a,

are suffering from poverty and

water,

it

(1341)

happen

to fall into cold

scalds you.

619. Ohia nhije da.

(1342)

Poverty does not

fix

on a day (to come upon one),

(i. e.

its arrival

will be unexpected).

620. Ohta na ema gdehye ye akoa.

It

Here emphatic,

Na.

Ohia na ema gtwea kg angpa-be

become a

slave.

(1345)

sog.

poverty that causes the dog

is

to

na.

1,

See note on No. 443.

Akoa.

It

man

^ee No.

See note on No. 430.

Odehye.

621.

(1344)

poverty that causes the free

is

(i.e.

the dog's master) to have to

turn out for the early morning palm-nut cutting.

Otivea.

bitch, also used generally for both

male and female,

:=gkraman-=- dog.
Angpa-he.

Ang2)a-abe,

lit.

morning palm nut.

There are two

recognized times for the cutting of palm nuts, very early in the

morning, called angpa-he and again late in the afternoon, called

Hence these two expressions are

anume-he {anumere-ahe).

often

used to mean generally the hours of about 5-6 A. m. and 4-5

622.

Ohm

ne gyirai.

Poverty

That
623.

Ohm

is

p.

m.

(1346)

stupidity.

a poor

is,

man

nni Abiirokyiri

reckoned a

is

a,

anka

fool.

Oburoni

Cf.

No. 627 below.

ammehata ne

ntama

Abibirim'.

(1347)
If there had been no poverty in Europe, then the white
not have come and spread his cloths in Africa.
Abiirokyiri.

Ahka.

See note on No. 268.

See note on No. 733.

ObUroni.

Ammehata.
Abibirim!.

See note on No. 538.

Note the

auxiliary, bera.

See note on No. 545.

man would

ASHANTI PROVERBS
624.

Ohm

se'wo, enngfako.

te

Poverty

Wo

'

OMa

nti

want that causes the

na aseredowa

burobia

Nti

= Eno

sisi abiirobia so.

'

(1351)
aseredowa bird to alight on the
'

ti.

(1353)

power exhibited by poverty

llie display of

poor

little

plant.

'

,626. Ohta tumi nye tumi-pa.

not peculiar to one place alone.

Neg. of do.

It is

'

(1348)

it is

= Ewo.

Enno.
625.

honey,

is like

159

man having nothing

is

not real power.

and becoming desperate,

to lose

sometimes commits acts which gome one having anything at stake

would hesitate
627.

to do.

Ohia ye addmmo.
Poverty

is

(1354)

madness.

No. 622 above.

Cf.

AddmTnq.

Derive, bo dam.

628. Ohia-da na wohu nipa.

On

(1357)
is then you perceive who

the day of poverty

it

is

a man.

(a friend)

Emphatic

iVa.

particle, see

No.

1.

629. Ohmni abdwaJcoro rJcyebere, nso wahko

The poor man's only slave

go (and work) we do not

Nkye

bere.

yennidi.

a,

girl soon gets wear,

but

(1359)
if

she does not

eat.

Lit. does not delay tiring.

'

Soon

'

is

thus expressed

in the Ashanti idiom.

"

630. Ohiani bo mfuw.

(1360)

The poor man does not get in a

Bo mfuw.
631.

See note on kon do, No. 34.

Ohtani bu be

a,

When

man makes

Bu

a poor
be.

enhye.

a poor

as

if

(1361)
a proverb,

it

does not spread abroad.

See note on No. 258.

632. Ohiani di pgwade

When

rage.

man

a,

eye se odi dwane.

(1362)

eats something of the value of a halfpenny, it is

he partakes of a sheep.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

160

Pgwa

Powade.

on No. 591, nsema.

ode, see note

Bwane Oguan.
633. Ohianifura kyerm a, eye se efura dunsin. (1365)
When a poor man wears a silken robe, it is as if it decked a tree
stump.

= Dua

Dunsin

For derivation according to natives, see

sin.

No. 57, odjwm.

634. OhHani hye siha

When

a,

man

a poor

wobu no aw&wa.

(1366)
decked out in gold, people say

is

See note on No. 591, sika, here

Siha.

'

it is brass.

golden ornaments'.

635. Ohiani ne gdefo nnoru. (1367)

The poor man and the rich man do not play together.
Plu. adefo,

Odefo.

For note on

Neg. of goro.

Nnoru.
636.

the possessor of things.

lit.

No. 78, kontromfi.

suffix fo, see

qwo tehrema a ode tutu ha. (1368)

else, he at least has a tongue with
which to defer the payment of his debts.

OJnani nni biribi

man

If the poor

a,

has nothing

This verb (de)

Ode.

is

used to express the English

'

by means

of, with.

Tutu

See note on No. 54.

ha.

637. Ohiami nni yqnho.

(1369)

The poor man has no

638. Ohiani nom tawa-pa

When

a poor

friend.
a, eye se tasehfi.

man smokes good

(1370)

tobacco, it

is

as if he

were smoking

the remains of some old tobacco in a pipe.

Tasehfi

Tawa-oseh-fi.

639. Ohiani pam ahorogow

When

the poor

a,

na eye no

man mends

se

odidi sanyam'.

his broken

wooden bowl,

(1372)
it

serves

him

just as well as if he ate off a pewter dish.

Ahorogow. Gow, old, useless,

ft expresses the same idea.

640. Ohiani

A poor

mpaw dahere.
man does not

Dabere.

cf.

ntamagow, an old cloth.

(1373)
chose his sleeping-place.

Suffix 6er'e= place where.

Suffix

' '

ASHANTI PROVERBS
(341.

Ohtani aseni,'yedi no ntiantiam'.

The complaint a poor man brings

'Ye

'Yedi.

asommmne

bataj^se.

When

a, 'yese

he

leaves, it is said

is

plural,

3rd person

the wart-hog's tooth.

se.

oyane nnwahama.

man wears a

the poor

(1378)

necklace of the soft silky

'

gorow

wearing a sheep's halter.

A plant with particularly soft silk-like leaves, also called

Gorgw.

Gordww

afase.

is

See note on No. 94,

643. Ohtani yane gorgw

dialect,

passive.

(1375)

The poor man's elephant tusk

Asommefi.

investigated briefly.

Here translated by

Ashanti wo, wo.

642. Ohiani

(1374)
is

Akem

probably the

is

161

also

means weak, perhaps from same

See note above, No. 641,

'Yese.

root.

'yedi.

Nnwdhama-=-Ogua'h hama.
644. Obi mfa

ohm ntow

Not even poverty

a swamp.

adotebe.

will

Adotebe=Dgfe-(^e.

(146)

make a man

fell

a palm-tree that stands in

Abe, the palm wine {palma vinifera) tree.

may be drawn off, the tree is not cut

down as a rule, but the roots dug under. "When so felled the wine
lasts much longer without drying up than when thg tree is cut
down in the ordinary manner.

On

the wine

felling, that

645. Obi mfa oMa nsi apenvpem.

(147)
No one can extort from another by using his poverty as a threat.

Mfa

Note the two negatives,

nsi.

646. Obi bo wo dua

se,

'Ma ohwu

'

a,

enye

yaw

see note
se ose,

'

is

Let poverty lay hold on him

Bo dmi.
same time

To knock a

Onwu, nM,.

Wunni ntrama

When you
sweet.

piece of

to invoke a curse

person against

647.

nsisi.

'Ma ohm nka no !

Let this man die

were he to say
would
not harming you as much as he

If any one invokes a fetish against you, saying,

he

on No. 33,

whom

'.

wood

and

'

call

into the

on the

ground and at the

fetish to

harm the

evil is intended.

Imperative.
a,

na wuse, nsa nye

have not a cowry

shell,

de.
(919)
then you say that wine

is

not

ASHANTI PROVERBS

162
Wunni.

Neg. oi wo.

Ntrama.

At Ejura
50

Cowries,

to be seen in the

still

in 1913, 160 cowries

mmah

qhan)=\

(plu. of

went

otiri,

to \d.

markets of the
;

The small

(head).

interior.

40 cowries=l qhah
'

subsidiary

;
'

coinage introduced in 1912 to the Gold Coast Colony, and previously to that into Nigeria (tenths

and halfpennies)

will soon

banish the cowry altogether from these regions.

648. Osikani

Tie panyin.

The rich man

(2960)

the elder

is

(i.e.

man

of importance

whose words

carry weight in council).

Ne.

See note on No.

Panyin.

649.

Wonni

1.

See note on No.

sika a, anJca wgfre

If one could not

make

1.

no nliwea hwa.

(917)

use of gold dust, then

would merely

it

be called sand.

Wonni.

Neg. of

Anka.

See note on No. 733.

650. Sika nni adagyew

When

di.

See note on No. 591.

Sika.

a,

womfa

mj)e hosea.

(2935)

one has just suificient money for one's

not let

Nni.

own

needs, one does

out at interest.

it

Neg. of wg.

Adagyew.

Lit.

Wgmfa mpe.

when money has no opportunity

'

For double negative

hosea, also ho hosea, to lend, or to

651. Sika nni,

'

Ka wo

nsa pe

With gold dust (money)

and find

'.

'.

on No. 33, nsid.

see note

Pe

borrow.

(2936)

it is

not (a case

of),

'

Put forth your hand

'.

652. Sika nkg adidi nsan

Money

mma

handed

(i. e. it

Nkg, nsan, mma.

(2938)

earns interest).

For the negatives

653. Sika kyen nkrante nnam.

Money

kwa.

does not go out to earn its livelihood and come back empty-

is

Kyen.

see note

on No. 33,

nsisi.

(2939)

sharper than a sword.

Note the comparative degree formed by using the verb

sen or kyen, to surpass.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

163

664. Sika "pereguan da kWrom'

If there

a, ewg amansafi,
(2942)
a fereguwh worth of gold dust in a town,

is

it

is

for

the whole people.

Pereguan.

See note on No. 591, nsema.

This saying points to a system of communism having existed

now be considered as more or less

There are many survivals of a communistic

even with regard to what would

private property.

state still in evidence

seen in their system of land tenure, and

it is

in that the private debts of one person are recoverable from the

entire family of that person.

This last

a relic of collective re-

is

sponsibility of the whole clan for the acts of a single

655.

Wo sika resa
When your

a,

na wo ani

gold dust

tew.

(2944)

becoming

is

member.

finished,

then you become

prudent.

Ani
656. Sika

Lit.

tew.

your eyes become open, wide.

Mo. (2945)
beyond everything, nothing

sene, biribi arisen

Wealth
657. Sika

(is)

te se

akoa,

woanhu no

Gold dust (money)

well, it runs

Woanhu.

Lit.

is

like

is

Na.
659.

Wo

slave, if

have not.

Wo

(2950)

Lit. pe-ineaygyaw-fo,

sika ye

sika ye

not easy.

some one to leave

wo yaw a, gkgm de wo. (2951)

money gives you pain, you

to.

Dgm.

See note on No. 306.

661. Sika-dvmma

Mara nye aniwu. (2953)

all to work for money.

no shame at

Aniwu.

will go hungry.

wo yaw na woko a, wunyi dgm. (2952).

money gives you pain and you go

will not win.

is

is

See note on No. 157, nye-nS,.

If (spending) your

It

it

Aorist tense.

If (spending) your

660.

(2946)
you do not look after

away.

a fine thing, but to find an heir

Opegyafo.

beyond that again.

sofuie a, oguan.

unto a

658. Sika ye fe na g])egyafo ye na.

Wealth

is

See note on No. 753.

l2

to war,

you

ASHANTl PROVERBS

164
662. Osikafo

When

nom nsa how a, wqfre no yare. (2964)

man is drunk, he is merely said to

a sick

663. Osikafo wg ho

When

man

Ntamagow.
664. Osikani

As

yi,

is

ofura ntamagow.

wealthy, he

(2955)

may wear an

old cloth.

See note on No. 639.

wgnnwansi no bone ara da.

de,

for a rich

be unwell.

man, he

Wonnwanst.

is

(2957)

never sneezed at unluckily.

Nwansi, a good example of onomatopoeia.

Ashanti when a subject sneezes before a chief his nose

diately rubbed with white clay,

is

In

imme-

and during that particular day the

sneezer will be held accountable for any bad or good luck the chief

may

have, and punished or rewarded accordingly.

665. Sika ben wo

When
666.

gold

Wunya

When

a, ehoa.

is

ode a, wotan

you are

called a

(2931)

close to you, it

rich,

wo

is

pale (no longer glitters).

wunnya ade a, wgfre wo bone. (2516)

when you are poor, you are

you are hated

bad man.

CHAPTER

Water, Eivees, Eain.

FiEB,

667. Ogya a ebedew ne ne wisie nko.

The

other

verb
fire

The

ne.

de),

and

Wisie

first

ne

the second ne

smoke

its

smoke (from

different

',

the conjunction,

is

is

'

and, with

'

(from the

of course the possessive pronoun.

Lit.

'

the

&c.

= Owisiw.
nnam

668. Ogya a eye

nky^ afaw

The firewood which

Nnam.

so.

good

is

(1246)

for fuel does not

home

(It is soon carried

plantation.

i.e.

up has a

fires).

Fire, also firewood, fuel.

Ogya.

Ne

(1245)

whicli is going to blaze

fire

XIII

Has various meanings

remain long in the

for fuel.)

and here 'quick',

'sharp, brave',

to catch alight.

See No. 709.

Afuw.

669. Ogya dedaw ano nye sg-nd.

Wood

already touched by

(1247)

fire

(and rendered dry)

is

not hard to set

alight.

Dedaw.

Da, dada, reduplication.

So- na.

See note on No. 157, nye-na.

670. Ogya hye wo

woperew

a,

to

wo

ha so ansa-na woayi

afi

no

so.

(1249)

When

a spark from the

you

child before

Woperew.
pireiB, to roll.

Afi.

To

(finally)

jerk

off,

take

it off

him

it off

on to your

(again).

to shake off; not to be confused with

See No. 672, below.

Translate by

use of the verbs,

671.

burns you, you shake

fire

'

from,

wg and ma,

off';

really a verb,/, to

come

out.

(1250)
a, enyi wo de, na woretafo.
burns you, you do not find it sweet, but you keep licking

Ogya hye wo

When

fire

Of.

as prepositions.

the place nevertheless.

Woreta/o.

Re, present continued action

tafo

taforo.

ASHANTI PROVEBBS

166
672. Ogya pirew

When

ehye nea oda ano.

a,

(1251)

a firebrand rolls out from the

nearest to

burns the one sleeping

fire, it

it.

Pirew. In the

Tshi Proverbs

'

'

this is written

perew

(see note

The present writer has always heard

above, No. 670, on woperew).

the saying as here given.

673. Ogya ne atuduru nna. (1252).

Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.

Atuduru=Otuo-aduru,
674.

Tenim

se

gun medicine.

wode gya bekg dkogu sumana

wode ha

a,

lit.

We know

tliat

when

ofie

ansa.

ash

is

so,

(2350)
taken and thrown out on the ash heap, yet

was brought from the bush

it

nanso wgdeji vjuram' ha

(as firewood), it

was

first

of all taken to the house.

Fi wuram.

No. 670,

see above.

675. Asu a yenni

From

Fi, translated

mu

no,

the river whose fish

a nugget.

Asu.

(Cf.

from

'

Wuram',

afi).

adwene

by

yemfd

'.

(but in Ashanti a verb,

see note on

mu pgw.

we do not

eat,

No. 92.

(3067)
not (even) take

we do

No. 676, below.)

See note on No. 26, nsu.

Neg. of

Yenni.

di.

Fgw. A lump, here of alluvial gold.

how strong a taboo can be considered.

This proverb shows

See note on

Tanng,

No. 55.

676. Asu a wonnuare no, wgnnom.

river

(3068)

water) you would not bathe in

(lit.

is

not drunk from.

Cf.

No. 675, above.

Wonnuare.
eTJ. Asu

el

see

No. 353, hohoro.

dinn na efa onipa. (3069)

water which stands there calm and silent that drowns

eta hg

It is the
(lit.

Na

Neg. of guare

takes) a

man.

Na, emphatic

particle
efa, used euphemistically, lest
perhaps the spirit in the river might be offended and be avenged on
efa.

the speaker.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
678. Asu a

ete se

bosoropo

body of water

na nkyene atwam

like the great sea,

must be a reason

yi,

167

na ewo

which

is so

(3070)

ase.

very

salt,

there

for that.

Lit. bottom, foundation.

Ase.

679. Asu biara bo po

Whatever the

mu

a,

na ne din

ayera.

(3071)

river that falls into the sea, its

name

is lost.

Aorist tense.

Ayera.

biribi din na ewow.

(3072)
Water adjures the name of some thing (utters a
(Water does not dry up without a
dries up.

680. Asu bo

Bg biribi din.

Lit. to

spell)

and then

cause.)

speak the name of some thing,

i.

e.

(1) gives

or has some reason for a certain action, or (2) adjures some one or

some thing to give

681.

Asu fa wo

a,

it

power

eho nliama nhina tan wo.

When a river is taking you

on

its

to perform a certain action.

(i. e.

bank (you clutch

(3073)

drowning you), then

at) hate

all

you (and will not

the creepers
let

you get

a hold).

See note above on No. 677, na efa.

Fa.

Lit. the 'about it creepers', i.e.

Eho nhama.
Note how nature

is

682. Asu nyiri nwam.

A river

human

given

attributes,

cf.

on the banks.

proverb No. 680.

(3079)

does not flood out the toucans (which roost on the tops

of high trees).

683. Nsu, a wgde redum gya, wgmpe no krohkron. (3080)

Clear water is not sought for to quench a fire.
Nsu.

See note on No. 26.

Translated by passive.

Wgm2)e.

684.

Nsu fa vjo

When

a,

water

Fa.

wonom
is

bi.

(3086)

drowning you, you nevertheless drink some of

See note on No. 677, a

it.

efa.

685. Nsu-hunu ye gme a, ankS, aka mfa darewa. (3087)

would not take
If plain water was satisfying enough, then the fish
the hook.

AnM.

Vide note on No. 733.

ASHANTI PROVEEBS

168

Akd.

kind of

Darewa.

piece of iron

little

fish.

Dade, iron, and the diminutive

686. Nsukyetoam' aebon.

When

687.

Nsu pqtq-pqtq !

tiatia

Muddy

pass through

An

Pqtqpqtq.

lit.

'

the

it stinks.

5om,of a disagreeable smellonly;

water

wa,

(3089)

water remains long in a calabash,

Ebon.

suffix

'.

mu na

Maw, of a pleasant smell.

kqsaw nsu-pd !
it

(3090)

and go and draw the pure.

onomatopoetic word, of walking and sinking in

mud.
688. Nsu asa aium'

nti na qsdnsd refa apata.

(3091)
Because the water has dried up in the river the fish eagle

ing the

Nsu,

is catch-

fish.

Note the

asum'.

difference in meaning.

See note on

No. 26, nsu.

689. JVsu ansa agimre

a, eso

Water which is not

690. Nsu-nsunhtna

Panyiii,

Nsu

yiri a,

When
692. Osu a

na

See note on

is

drinking.

in, is sufficient for

the old

is

Krqhqw

(3094)

man among

them.

1,

No

1.

na apata aye dhantan.

the water
etq

bathing

b6sono2>o ne panyiii.

waters the sea

See note on No.

Ne.

691.

dqso,

many

the

all

(3093)

See note on No. 353, holioro.

Aguare.

Of

nom.

sufficient for

(3097)

in flood, the fish is proud.

no, ebi atq Siade.

(3051)

Of the

rain that falls on the Crobo hills some has fallen on the Shai
mountains.

Osu.

See note on No. 26, nsu.

Krqhqw.

The

'

Crobo

part of the same range

693. Osu boro bo

a, etim'

Though

'

hills to

the west of the Volta

Siade

',

(?).

nea

etim'.

(3053)

rain beats on a stone it (the stone)

stands firm
stands.

Etim=Ti mu.

'

where

it

ASHANTI PROVERBS
'_694.

Osu we fwo

wuse,

a,

'

Wafwe me', na wunse

169
'

se,

me

Opetee

so'.

(3055)

When

the rain beats you, you say, 'It has beaten me', but you

do not say, 'It drizzled on

me

'.

See note on No. 66.

Se.

Perhaps the idea in this proverb

In the case of the

offence.
'

we can

695. Oso

Past tense

the rain

does not

696. Oso

Na.
697.

the rain

a,

edi kan.

wokum
is

mana

'

say.

(3056)

homfo.
(and)

killed;

'

when

the rain

is killed.

'

the

by

wind that comes

'it is

the

.
.

on the

'

asense

'

Note the two

finite

'

first.

See No.

1.

(3059)

fowl (and she says),

not laugh at me, I shall get dry

You need

Monnserew me, me ho bewo'.

fallen (and) beat

aboro.

(3057)

fall, it is

particle, trans,

Oso atg aboro asense,

Am

osu anto

going to

is

Emphatic

The rain has

'

mind they would

wafwe is Aorist.

the fetish priest

fall,

used so as to avoid giving

having any particular

',

the fetish priest

mframa na

ieto a,

When

falls,

is

See note on No. 22, okqmfo.

Kqmfo.
.

wokum hmafo;

to a,

When

rain, it not

afford to speak our

Opetee.

that seen in Nos. 681 and

is

677, where a euphemistic expression

'.

verbs unconnected by any pre-

positions.

Asense.

scanty and as

kind of native hen, the feathers on which look very

if

constantly ruffled.

698. Osu tgfwe wo na owiafi hye wo a, na ivuhu abrabg yaw. (3060)

When the rain falls and beats upon you and the sun comes forth
and scorches you, then you behold

(as it were) the troubles of

life.

See note on No.

Owia.
Abrabg.

1, asase.

Deriv. bg and bera

(?)

a state of being or coming (into

the world), hence events that befall one in

life.

699. Osutggupomu.

The

rain

falls,

(3061)
pouring into the

sea.

continued by an explanatory sentence

the sea
which runs, yenim se epo so, nanso nsu to gum. We know
notwithstanding.)
is large, but the rain falls into it

(The saying

is

often

ASHANTI PEOVERBS

170
700. Oso

to

When

na egu

ing you,

701.

Osu

to

When

hirihi so

the rain

falls

it

ansa-na eka wo

falls at

(3063)

else first before touch-

a, adeki/ee,

woanhufam ana ? (3065)

known of it, at dawn

night and you have not

have you not seen the ground

Adekyee.

enye yaw.

does not hurt.

anadwo na woanhu
the rain

a,

and drops on something

See note on 203, ade ansa.

CHAPTER XIV
General Precepts and Maxims.

mmd (m^I yiye) a, womfd won anan

702. Ohi abesebUrow

nkgfa mil

When some
is fool

(ase).

ase

akumsAmdn

(115)

one's October maize crop does not promise well,

enough

no one

go and walk through that plantation with

to

a bad charm fastened to his legs (and thus get the blame of
causing the crop to

any

in

which was obviously going

happen

to

Derivation, bese (to pluck?) and aburow, Indian

Abeseburow.
corn.

fail,

case).

Hence, crops planted from October onwards, which are

naturally very uncertain, as the rains proper are then over, such
crops being dependent on chance showers.
also

sometimes known as adom-murow,

Womfd
nsisi,

'

Such a second crop

com got by grace

is

'.

For the double negative

nkgfa.

lit.

see note

on mfa,

No. 33.

AkumsHmdfi.

Lit. a

charm

to kill,

i.e.

counteract another charm,

good or bad according as the charm which

it is

to neutralize is

bad

In this case the owner of the farm would have a good

charm to promote the growth of his crops, hence the counteracting
For note on siimdn see No. 17,
charm would be a bad one.
or good.

oboaom.

Nkgfa
703.

Lit. to go

mil.

Obi bg wo aiverekyehye

wannyd papa

and take (the way)

sumdn nd

anye wo,

bi

ode

in, i.e.

nkgmmb

diie

walk

there.

wo ano

d,

na

(117)

one fastens a charm of comfort (on your wrist) but

finishes up by securing it with a knot of mourning, he has not

When some

really benefited

Aw&rekyekyL

you at

Lit.

Mo

all.

bind up, tighten the skin

Sumdn. See note on gbosom, No. 17.

Nkdmm6. From bg.
For double negative,
anye.
Wannyd
.

No. 33.

',

i.e.

to solace,

See note on kgn dg, No. 34.

to comfort.

see note on mfa, nsisi,

ASHANTI PROVERBS

172

704. Ohi abusudi ye oM ahd/radi. (118)

What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.
Ahusude.

Deri v.

AMrade.

Lit.

mmusu

note on nkrahea, No.

705.

OU

husuyefog ne

knave

for

nipa-pa.
a good

is

Deriv. ohra ade.

See

9.

(119)

man

for another.

For

Deriv. mmusu-ye-fo.

Busuyefoo.

No.

hi

one

ade.

something for the soul.

suffix fo,

see note

on

78, hontromfi,

708. Ohi ade-dedaw kg obi nsam a, eye no fofor o. (121)

When an old thing belonging to one person gets into the hands of
'

another,

it

Ade-dedaw.

becomes a new thing for him.

Dedaw, reduplication oida,^dada.

707. Obi afom ahum a, wo nso mfom hnua! (126)

When some one has killed something by mistake, as
flay it

for you,

do not

by mistake

Note these two

Afom akwm.

finite verbs,

used without the conjunction (and), which

is

both Aorist tense,

necessary in English.

some one has made a mistake, some

The Ashanti idiom runs,
one has killed '. The same idiom is seen in nfom nnvu. It is this
form of speech, short principal clauses unconnected by any prepo'.

sition,

on

which accounts for the confusing double negative, see note

nsisi,

No. 33.

Nnua.

Neg. oi gua.

708. Obi fre wo Sewose

(127)

a,

mpe ntem nserew;

ebia

wo agya ye

ghonnatofo,

'

If some one remarks you are like your father, do not be in too

great a hurry to laugh

your father
Sewbsi.

(i.e.

may have been

be flattered); for

all

you know,

a ravisher of women.

Lit. se-wo-ose=]ike-your- father.

Mpe, nserew.
Obonnalofo.

Note the negatives,

For the

suffix fo, see

see note

on rmsi, No. 33.

hontromfi. No. 78.

709. Obi afuw so a, wgmfd mpampd na efow. (128)

Though some one may have a very large plantation, that
say people are to bring their bowls and loot.
Afuw.

A farm

deriv.

is

not to

Jnw, to shoot up from the ground.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Mpami)a.

Sing., aj)ampa, a flat,

173

wooden dish used

for carrying

plantains, yams, &c., from the farms to the house.

Note the use of the 3rd

Efow.

pars, neuter

pronoun

for the

3rd pers. plural.

?710.

OU

gyina dbi'mati, na ohu-guam\ (130)

one stands on another's shoulders, then he

When

sees over the

market.
'Mati.
711.

Deriv. ha, hasa, and

on kwan fikye na est hi de mu. (134)

One man's road does not go far without meeting
Nkye.

712.

ti.

wo ade

Obi kye

When some
Ade.

a,

(wa)

n'ase.

Lit.

Ashanti idiom for

idea of

woda

n'ase.

'

(135)

one gives you a present, (then) you thank him.

me

See note on No. 85,

Woda

i.e.

another's.

Lit. is not long.

thank you

',

at

lie

'

dea.
his

thanks

to give

'

am under an

you

which

',

down

',

i.

e.

feet.

This

and well expresses the

is

the

real root

now hardly recognized perhaps by us;

down before you; said
sense in the days when the world was

is

obligation to you, I lie

and understood in its literal

young and politeness for politeness' sake unknown.
713.

Obi mfa obi ade nhoahoa neho.

No

(137)
one boasts of what belongs to another.

Some

Obi.

Mfa
No. 33.

and with

one,

nhoahoa.

Hoahoa

is

(neho), to praise oneself,

714.

neg.,

lit.

some one

not, i.e. nobody.

Note the two negatives, see mfa, nsisi.

to praise, and with the reflexive pronoun
i.

e.

boast about.

Obi mfa ohomu fihow gya

No

so.
(138)
one takes a whole animal and dries

it

over a

fire.

Mfa, nhow. Note the double negative. See nsisi, No. 33.
whole), i.e. an animal that has just
Ohomu. Aboa-mu (mS
been killed but not yet flayed and cut for drying and roasting on

a rack over the

715.

fire.

Obi mfa ade nkoyi

No

mmusu

vjg

Mrotia, na onsah nkofa

bio.

(140)

one places his propitiatory offering at the entrance of the

village,

and turns back again to remove

it.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

174

Ade nkgyi mmusu. Lit. something (i. e. eggs, &c.) to take away
harm perhaps here an offering for an qhayifo, q. v. No. 56.
Wo. Really a verb. Here rendered by the preposition 'at'.
;

See note on No. 240.

Onsan nkofa.

All negatives after the

Note the

verb mfa.

first

auxiliary verb ko in nhofa.

718.

Obi mfa adidi mfa adepe. (141)

One cannot both feast and become

A noun.

Adidi.

From

rich.

reduplication of verb di, to eat,

much

eating, i.e. feasting.

Lit. a thing sought after, wealth.

Adepe.
717.

Obi rnfa dqkorisin hwdnkyen mTnisa nea otihaa

(142)

so.

One does not take half a loaf from the wayside and then inquire
who cut the other half.

Mfa

mmisa.

See note on

nsisi.

Mmisa, neg.

No. 33.

of

bisa.

Dghonsin.

Odohono-sin, odokono, cakes

made

of

maize,

sin,

a piece, a part of anything.

The writer

-has

heard this proverb quoted k propos of a case

where a man complained that some one had seduced a prostitute he

was living with.
718.

nua a ne 2>am pgw. (145)

would marry some
who had a lump at the base of her spine.

Obi

mfa fere hware

No

one, lest he should be called shy,

sister

Mfa, hware.
Fere.

For double negative, see note on

nsisi,

one's

No. 33.

See note on No. 155, mfere.

Obi ne nua.

Pam.

obi ne

Lit.

some one,

his sister.

Pa, the base of the spinal column.

719. Obi mfa ahina Imnu

mu

One does not show the

hkyere opanyin.
inside of an

(148)

empty pot

to an elder.

(Of.

No. 382.)
Opanyin.

See note on No.

1.

720. Obi mfa hhoma nto nsu mu hkg ahemfi. (149)

One does not put a hide in water and then go
palace (where one has been summoned).

A hemfi= Ohene-fi.

off to

the king's

ASHANTI PROVERBS
This proverb

spoken by a tanner, who, Bummoned to the

is

chiefs house, does not

721.

know how long he

Obi mfa Jiyirew ntiw nea watg wuram'

No

will

be detained.

(150)
one takes white clay and follows some one
the forest (in order to rub

White

Hyirew.

175

who

has run off to

on him).

it

used to rub on the body and face (in

clay,

various designs) on certain ceremonial occasions, and also

a person accused of a crime has been acquitted.

in which it

'

man who

used here. The

guilty

'

when

the sense

is

has run to the forest

and escaped to avoid punishment.

a quaint belief among these people that the Milky

been found
It is

is

This

'

has

',

Way

is

white with the myriads of clay-decked bodies of the dead.

722. Old mfa amanne a wahu ntutu haw.

No

one

tells

how bad

(155)

a state his affairs are really in,

when asking

for time to settle a debt.

Amawne a wahu.
Kaw.

n'ase.

mmuluw

burojiatd so

na ne mfefo ntwetwe mfa

(156)

one uses his

may

what news

See note on No. 54.

723. Ohi mfa n'afuru

No

Amanne, not to be
Amanne=gman-ade.

he has seen.

Lit. the trouble

confused with amannee

pull

own

belly to cover

up

his corn store, that his friends

some out from under him.

Heard in the sense of, a chief is not going to allow

be used by others in order to extort and rob
'

to

his prestige

'.

Mmuluw.

Neg. oilutww.

B&ropatd.

Ahwrow, corn (maize), and pdta, a rack

to store

crops on.

724. Obi mfa ne nan ahien nsusu asu. (158)

No one tests the depth of a river with both his
Asu.

feet.

See note on No. 26, nsu.

725. Obi mfa ne nsa lenhwm nkyere n'agya amamfo so. (159)
No one takes his left hand to point out his father's old village.

Nsa benkwm.

Among

the Ashantis

insulting to put out the left

hand

it is

considered particularly

to take anything from another.

It is also insulting to point out a thing with the left hand.

hand, never the right

(as is

the case

among

tlie

Hausas),

is

The

left

used to

ASHANTI PROVERBS

176

The

hold the stick they generally use to wipe the anus with.

hand

is

left

used to blow the nose.

also

Amamfo.

The

suffix

with per-

(nasal) is not to be confused

fo

sonal suffix fo, plur. of ni.

726.

Ohi nifa ne nsa nto hi anom' na gmpae vJatifl.

(160)
one puts his finger in another man's mouth and then beats him

No

over the head.

Nsa.

Hand

or finger, the latter

No. 355, nsa, for names of the

727.

Obi tnfa ne

No

se

mmobq adwe

also nsatea.

is

See note on

fingers.

mma rCe ygnko.

one cracks a palm nut with his

own

(161)

and gives

teeth

to his

it

companion.

Mmobo.

Mma.
(lis is

Neg. of

hoho, reduplication of ho.

Instead of translating this by a verb, which

be rendered by 'for

palm

might

it

to go

and ask

for

oil.

Toamwm.

Tea, a gourd out of which calabashes are made

having no opening, the same word as

curiously enough, our

own word

Greek mu, representing the

least

'

mwm,

mum

sound

',

and

it is

m,wm,

deaf or dumb.

Cf.

also the

Latin and

possible to

make with

lips.

729. Ohi mfi agyama

No

it

See No. 14, ma.

'.

728. Ohi m,fa toam,um mfa nkgsere hno. (168)

No one takes a calabash without an opening in

the

really is

it

seen by its agreement with the other negative verbs),

so

mma fam' mmfe

one descends from the

'

ohUok6ro^.

gyama shrub
'

(172)

to the ground

and then

says he wants a forked stick.

A tree

Agyama.

with

many

of its branches forked.

730. Ohi hjibefwee gdahere na ade nkyee da.

No

(182)
one ever kept looking for a sleeping-place (and continued the
search)

Nfwefwee

till

dawn.
nkyee.

Past tenses.

731. Ohi nhintaw nsg gya.

No

(185)
one hides himself and (then) lights a

732. Ohi nhinti preko mrnig ahina.

No

fire.

(186)
one breaks the water-pot the first time he stumbles.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Nhinti.

Mmo.

Hintiw,

From

cf.

Hansa. funtwa.

ho.

733. Obi nhu 'Ankama', nkita

se,

No

'

Mihui

ankana

a,

who has

'

N'ankana' nnya 'N'ankdna', na onse

,

(189)

'.

Had I known, I should

Had I known, I should not
possessed Had I known, I should not
(again) Had I known, I should not

one

seen

laid hold of

not

'

'

'

'

Eather a quaint and pretty proverb

that

is,

177

remorse, regret,

'

.',

.',

.', who has

who has (ever)
.

would ever say

.'

this.

'

Had

known

of all sad words, it might have been

.',

',

is

here personified in the native mind.

Anka, used

Ankana.

in the protasis

and apodosis of a condi-

tional sentence.

734. Obi nhu nimdee nkg

No

ai/i {ase) na gkgsgre a, waserew.

(191)
one has any sense (who) goes to attend a funeral custom, and on

rising

up

to take his departure, laughs.

Nimdee. Knowledge, here, sense of the fitness of things.

nim, to

know

Waserew.

has laughed.

Lit.

735. Obi nhu onipa dakoro nse no

One does not

Note,

se,

'

Woafgn'.

man for one day only (or

You have become thin

see a

say to him,
Se.

Deriv.

and ode, a thing.

'

se is

(192)
for the first time),

and

'.

here of the nature of a true preposition, as seen

by the absence of the negative.

Aorist tense.

Woafgn.

736. Obi nhu onipa awia na anadwo gnsg kanea nfwe n' anim. (193)
No one sees a man by day and at night lights a lamp to look at his
face.

Awia.

See note on No.

Kanea,

Portuguese

1, asase,

(?).

Note the distinction between hu,

See No. 390, hu.
N'anim. See note on No. 80, aniwa.

NJwe.
fObe, to

to perceive, see,

and

look at.

737. Obi nkg obi

aku/ra,

nkyere n'ase.

One man does not go

that village)
Aku/ra.

(204)

to the village of another

its origin (history).

A diminutive,

for gku/row-wa.

and

tell (the chief of

ASHANTI PROVERBS

178
738. Ohi

hM

kurom' nkgfre neho

obi

'

se,

Agyeman

(205)

'.

not go to another's village and call himself 'Agyeman'.

One does

Deriv. Agya, oman,

Agyeman.

lit.

739. Ohi nhq ahua nd ohka nkivWh. (207)

No one (who) goes hegging a meal

father of a nation.

the one to serve out the

is

soup.

Ahiid.

portion off a

verhal noun,

yam

a scraping

lit.

or plantain

hua, to scrape the burned

hence perhaps from this part being

given to a beggar, by metonymy,

to

'

beg for food

Ka, to touch, handle, perhaps to

Onka.

740. Ohi ankg nd

ohi

amma

a,

stir,

anka yebeye den aim

'.

'dish out'.
se

okwah m,u nye

(208)

had gone and no one had come, what should we have

if the road were safe (or not) 1

If no one

done to find out

See note on No. 733.

Anka.

Subj. mood.

Ahu.

'
Pulu hyew a, yehUa hi adi'. (213)
741.J Obi nkose se, Putu hhyew
No one says (when the yam store is on fire), Let the yam store
.'

'

burn

When

742

does

we

shall scrape roasted

yams

to eat.'

See note above, No. 739, ahud.

YehHa.
Adi.

it

Subjunctive.

mma ne manni. (214)

one picks good kola nuts and mixes them with spurious ones

Obi hkotew bisekyimi mfa mfra bisetoro nkgtgn

No

and goes and

sells

them to

his

hkotew, mfa mfra, nkgtgn mmd,.

own countrymen.

good example of the idiom

explained under note ou mfa, nsid, No. 33, q.

mma, No. 727.

See also note on

v.

Bise, the kola nut and tree {Cola acuminata), Hausa

The greater part of the kola consumed in the two Nigerias
(N. and S.) is grown in the dense Ashanti forest. Kyim
pa.

Bisekyim.

goro.

Bisetoro.

Lit. false kola

743. Obi nkwati kokUrobeti

No

nut; toro same root as in atoro, a

mmg pgw.

one dispenses with the

thumb

Kokurobeti.

The thumb,

fingers see note

on No. 355,

Mmg.

Neg.

of bg.

(221)
in tying a knot.

deriv. hokuro, big.

Thsa.

lie.

For names of the

ASHANTI PROVERBS
744.

Ohi vhyeire obi

No

Nkyene.
745.

'

se,

To nkyene

di

one shows another, saying,

Ohi

'.

(226)

Buy

'

salt

No

and eat

'.

See note on No. 577.

nnim a, ohi kyere. (265)

man does not know, another man

If one

mu

nnim adekyee

748. Ohi

179

asem.

explains.

(272)

one knows the story of to-morrow's dawn.

Adekyee

mu

Adekyee mu,

asem.

is

an adjectival phrase, quali-

fying asem.

747.

Obi mj)e obi yiye.

No

(317)

one wishes well for another.

One might be tempted perhaps to translate this, There

one) who do (lit. does) not wish well for others

are some

'

(lit. is

another), but this

On

the sense.
selfish,

would be a distortion of the

second thoughts, the saying

and wanting in

man had very little

feeling as it

own

affairs,

(lit.

for

words and of

not quite so callous,

might appear to

us.

Primitive

scope for sentimentality or even sentiment, and

the rough, wild, dangerous

his

is

literal

'

gave a man plenty to do to think of

life

welfare without troubling overmuch about his neighbour's

nor does

mean he wished

it -necessarily

his

neighbour

evil,

but simply expresses the natural wish that any luck going might

come

his

own way.

748. Ohi nto ntasu nto fam' mfa ne tekremM mfa. (360)
No one expectorates on the ground and then takes his tongue and
,

licks it

749.

(lit.

takes

it up).

Obi ntweh Firaw ansa-na wahoro ne

No

up

(390)

tarn.

one waits (to reach) the Volta river before washing his

Firaw.
ing

its

eastern boundary.

750. Ohi

se,

gbesoa

When

cloth.

The Volta, one of the largest rivers in the Colony, form-

wo

a,

wunse

some one says he

se,

'

Menantew

will carry you,

'.

(408)

you do not

say, 'I shall

walk'.

Menantew.

Future tense

msnantew with a narrow instead of

a broad sound to the vowel e would be Present tense.

751.

anim

to

When some
1

wo amirika

Obi se gkyeh

no

ho.

a,

hmruw fwe kwankyeh, na fa

akyiri ne

(413)

one says he can run faster than you, jump (and)

fall

to

ASHANTI PROVERBS

180

way open

the road-side and leave the

him behind and

for

before.

So typical this perhaps of the African mind, enervated (one must

remember) by a climate that even at times converts the European

Cf. also No. 752.

to

this sad philosophy.

752.

Ohi

sen,

wo

wo

mM, onsen

a,

When some

one excels you,

has some one

who

na ono nso wg obi a gsen no. (422)

him excel you; as for him, he again

let

excels him.

Imperative.

Onsen.

758. Birihiara nye yaw

There

se aniwu.
(464)
nothing that hurts like shame.

is

Aniwu.

Deriv. ani and wu.

Lit. death of eye,

i.

e.

shame.

754. Birihi wg soro

Whatever

is

A dimly

a, etiba se ebebafam'.
(472)
above must come down to the earth.

conscious recognition by some native

nature's great laws.

755.

'

Bg me na memmg

'

Hit me, but I must not

Memmg.
756.

nye agoru.

wo,'

Neg. of

Newton

of one of

Proverb No. 241.

(481)

hit you,' is not play.

bg.

a, na wuhu nea gkam da.

(485)
tap the pot, you see where the crack is.

Wobg ahina ho

When you
Da.
757.

Cf.

Lit. lies.

Wode tekrema

When you

awowa

si

wuntumi mpoh

a,

no.

(770)

place your tongue in pawn, you cannot redeem

it.

(A

word once spoken cannot be unsaid.)

Pgn means literally to

A common use

M2mh.

move, take back.

work
'

or parade,

to disperse

'

to break off

is

a small thing that

Ade.

759. Ade-pa

is

na

word

Cf. the Scotch,

off,

is to
'

hence to re-

'dismiss' from

to scale

kese.
(807)
taken to measure a big thing.

See note on No. 85,

Wgde.

of the

'.

758. Ade hetewa na wgde susuw

It

'.

pull off or strip

me

dea.

Translated by the passive.

etgn neho.

The good thing

(809)

sells itself.

',

meaning

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Na.

This particle marks the subject as being definite or em-

phatic and

760. Ade yera

When
761.

Wo

(li

is

a,

here rendered by the definite

na ewg nipa nsam'.

a thing

is lost,

then

a, obi

na oka

ade ye fe

it is

article.

(819)

some one

in

kyere wo,

else's

hand

(possession).

na enye woankasa na woka.

(822)

When

yoii possess

who

tells

you

something that

is beautiful, it is some one

and not you yourself who speak (about

(so)

Emphatic, translated by

iVa.

Oka kyere.

To

tell

'

it is

else
it).

'.

kasa kyere, to instruct, teach. Kyere in

con-,

junction with another verb almost takes the place of the English preposition ' to '. In

common with the genius of many African languages,

in Ashanti verbs take the place of prepositions.

762.

Wo

de anye yiye a, wohkofa obi de nye

When what you

have

belongs to some one

Wo
763.

Dua

eye

No.
Lit.

764.

BiM

'

A
eto

so,

na wonsen

the point of the stick that

ano.

is

(994)
about to pierce your

you do not sharpen the point.

particle introducing

when
a

off

(824)

No. 85.

dea,

a ebewg wo ani no, wobu

You break

de.

else.

me

See note on

de.

wo

not good, you do not go and take what

is

{no) a stick.

n&m na ano

.'

hyew.

It is the stick that the

an adverbial clause of time

(as yt).

&c.

(999)

meat

is

roasted on that gets the end

burned.

Na.
765.

766.

Emphatic

Dua biara nsow nnyd hfwireh da. (1004)

No tree ever bore fruit without first having

Dua

biako nye kwae.

One

tree does not

Kwae.
767.

particle.

flowers.

(1006)

make a

forest.

See note on No. 92, wuram'.

mfe aduas& hhyea, na womfa afe koro ntee no. (1011).

tree does not grow bent for thirty years that one should (expect

Dim mfa

to) straighten it in one.

Mfe aduasa.

Lit. thirty years,

but thirty

is also

used to mean

i^

ASHANTI PROVERBS

182

number greater that can be conveniently reckoned, and, curiouslyThe

enough, the number 3 is sometimes used in a similar sense.
progress.
gap perhaps represents an immense period of
a

768.

Dua kese bu a,
When a great

na

brgfere

esi

ananmu.

tree breaks (and

(1012)

papaw

the

falls),

tree takes its

place.

Deriv. Oburoni (European) and efere, (a native in-

Brgfere.

digenous gourd).

Ananmu.
769.

Dua

Lit. in the foot (marks), i.e. instead of.

bu

kese

mma

ne

a,

"When a great

burst forth from

lias

Dua

si

771.

in vain.

(They will soon die once the sap

dried up.)

akurd

"When a
'

it

ne ntini wgfie.

a,

(1016)

tree stands in a small village, its roots are in the houses.

Dua tan wo a, na ebu bg wo. (1020)

When a tree hates you, it breaks (and)
Here the idea
connexion with

demanded a

Wgmfd

ade

being the abode of a

nto

Aduonum.

Lit.

of almost all the

ho.

to arrive at,

10

2,

4x

10, four tens, the

numbers seems lost, as

is

numbers from 20 to 90
The origin

is

all

counted.

usually the case.

feet, i.e.

in all probability the

meaning

i.e.

(1083)
forty.

4,

anan,

2 feet := 4.

same root as du, to reach,

the fingers and

11,

2 hands

all

the toes have been

12, &c., are expressed

by

10+1,

&c.

Wofinewofi.
Your house

is

(1121)

your own house.

774. Afisem nye atamagow na wgasi ahatd gua

being endowed

= two tens, 30 = three tens, and so on.

probably the same word as anan,

du, plur. adu,

773.

aduonum

compared wiih

are not

being so formed, 20

'reached',

spirit),

something happened that

till

reason, here the falling of the tree.

anum

Four things

is

on you.

falls

of a (to us) inanimate object (possibly in

is

its

with a human attribute, perhaps not

772.

(1013)
(young shoots or seeds)

See note on No. 240.

Wo.

770.

bvhu wo ne ho hwa.

tree has fallen, its children

private matter

is

sd.

(1136)

not like the old cloth that has been spread to

dry in the market-place.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Afisem

= Ofie asem.

Ahatd.
775.

183

Subjunctive.

Wgbeforo dua

na womjl

a, wofi n'ase

"When one would climb a

tree,

soro.
(1145)
one begins from the bottom and not

from the top.

776.

Mframa mmae
It

is

Mmae.

najweree

a,

before the

Aorist

Afuw mu nni

ye hrana.

when used

particle a, translated by,

777.

mu

biribi a,

'

before

'

or

ewg kranana.

tipen.

Goto

Wogoro.

the accusative.

for carrying
a,

on No. 240.

size.

here transitive, governing the pronoun no, in

is

Lit.

'

play you play

it

.'
.

(1383)
because there

is

baked clay

water

pot, black

is

water

and shining when wet, used

chiefly.

nahora atalw.

(1381)

the water-pot breaks, the calabash in

beside

it

remains (unharmed)

it.

The woman going

for water carries inside the water-pot a small

calabash for a scoop to take the water to

this is left inside

Wo

see note

it.

780. Ahinabo

781.

and with the

'.

has at least silence.

the surface of a pot glistens, that

Ahina.

When

motionless.

(1174)

it, it

779. Ahina ho hyehye no, nM nsu na ewoTrC

on

is

(1214)

you play with one your own

When

not yet

'

Neg. of wo, to have, to possess

778. Agoru, wogoro no

Play,

152)

as here negatively

If a plantation has nothing else in

Nni.

(1

wind comes that the long grass

ho ye den

a,

the pot

fill

on returning,

to prevent the water splashing about.

and helps

wonye bdnu adivuma. (1390)

strong, you do not do two men's work.

Though you may be

BoMU.

The numerals from

to 9

when

denotes a person have the prefix ba added,

Cf. the prefix ba in

782.

noun which

g. bako, banu, basa, &c.

Hausa, Borhausha, Ba-ttvre and Ba-ntu.

Wo ho nye den a, na
When you are not
good '.

qualifying a
e.

vmse,

'

Kahiri nye'.

strong, then

you

(1391)

say,

'The head-rest

is

no

ASHANTI PROVERBS

184
783. Ahogfe ntua kaw.

(1397)
Personal beauty does not pay a debt.

Kaw.
784.

See note on No. 54.

Wohye afiri a, wunwu agyan. (1469)

.When you stand on (fall in ?) a trap (and are

killed),

you do not die

from an arrow (wound).

See note on No. 622, tafoni, and No. 29.

Agyan,
785.

Wokan nantwi

When

Biia.

786.

a,

you count
Tail,

wokah ne dua.
cattle,

lit.

you

(1522)

coiint their tails.

stick.

na okotow ho a, wummisa no agua. (1566)

to some one else's house, and the owner is squatting
there on the ground, you do not ask him for a stool.

Woko

ohifi,

When you go

See note on No. 367.

Okotow.

Wummisa.
787.

Neg. of

hisa.

Wokq kurow bi mu na wuse, Mammeto nnipa hi wo ha a, wose wo

Yeanhu onij;a a waha'. (1578)
se,
If you go to some one else's town and say, I have not met any one
'

'

'

'

here so far (of importance) ', they (the town's people will retort

and) say,

'

our town)

Mammeto.
Yeahhu.

788.

Wonkgo

obi

We

have not been aware that some one has come (to

'.

Lit. I

have not come and met.

Aorist tense.

afum' da

a, vnise,

'Me nko

ne kuafb.

(1587)

If you never went to any one else's farm, (you would) say,

am

Wonkqo.

789.

790.

791.

Past tense, formed by lengthening- of

Afum'.

See note on No. 709.

Kuafb.

For

suffix fo see note

Wonkum mmarima
men

a,

wgmfd mmea.
women

aie not slain, the

Okwah a wun&uro mu, na aboa

It

is

I alone

final

vowel.

on No. 78, kontromfi.

Yekum bi ansa-na yeapam hi. (1816)

Some are killed before others are put to

If the

'

a farmer'.

kyere

flight.

(1819)
are not carried

wo mu.

oif.

(1888)

the path you do not fear that the wild beast catches you on.

Na.

Emphatic

particle.

See No.

1.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
792.

Okwantenni nim asem-ka, na onnim asekyere.

The traveller (may) tell all he has seen (on
cannot explain
Asekyere.

783.

Okwah wq

aso.

path has

794. Nkyenefi
Salt

Ase,

795.

(1901)
his journey), but he

(all).

lit.

down, bottom, base

hence origin, meaning.

(1893)

ears.

nsum nawqhata,nawqde gunsum' ho araUo.

procured (by evaporation) from water, yet

put back there in the water again.
is

Nkyene.

Nkyene use neho

796. Akyene

When

it is

(1940)

taken and

See note on No. 577.

'

se,

Meye de

Salt does not address itself

'

185

anim da ho

say,

'

am agreeable (to the taste)'.

wonnyae nyan nkyen.

a,

the face of a

(1942)

'.

and

drum

is

(1937)

there (to beat), you do not leave that

to beat the side.

Nyan.

Tan, an onomatopoetic

'yang yang'

(of.

word,

well

illustrating

twang) given forth by the native drum.

are here not beaten with the

padded

stick

we

the

Drums

generally use, and

hence do not give out the booming sound usually associated with

The drumstick

them.

shape of the figure

is

generally one

the face of the

7,

bent somewhat in the

drum being

hit with the short

end.

797.

Wohyere onipa ahwnse na

When

wokwm no

do not hurt him (by doing

enye no yaw.

(1951)

Nam nni

so).

Deriv. Amwi and ase.

Akunae.

798.

a,

you have a just reason for seizing a man and killing him, you

Lit. 'a foundation for killing

'.

mmere ye nkwan. (2077)

no meat that mushrooms are taken to make

ho nti na wode

It is because there is

soup.

Neg. of wo.

Nni.

799. Nea wadi hem nsoaa oguan da.

He who

has

won

(2150)

his case never yet carried the sheep.

Nsoaa.

Past tense.

Oguan.

A fine, and so many sheep, is a usual judgement in native

courts.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

186

800. Nea wadifo na gkasa.

He who
Na.

guilty

is

is

(2151)

the one

who has much

Here rendered by the one

'

',

to say.

emphatic.

haw a, nea gda anadwo dan mu na onya

haw ana 2 (2186)
When he who goes out to dance all jiight does not get into trouble
(lit. debt), is he who sleeps in his bed-chamber likely to ?

801. Nea gkg anadwogoru nnya

Anadwoyoru.

Lit. play

by night.

802. Nea wghekum wo nne ne se wghehwm wo 'hyena no

nne na hghome preko. (2195)

ma

wonkv/m wo

They who were coming to kill you to-day, but say they will come to
kill you on the morrow (instead), rather let them kill you today and

rest the sooner.

Note the auxiliary verbs

Wgbehum, hghome.

Wonhum.
803. N^ea wgmjte

What

is

come and
'

go

'

').

Imperative mood.
no,

wonsah nhgfa.

not wanted

804. Nea gsew

('

is

(2226)

not turned back

gkwan mu, ne nea

hete

for.

okotiaa so no, hena

na gyee bone

(2236)

Who

is

wrong, he

in the

trod upon

Okotiaa, gyee.

805. Nne-mma

se,

who

spread a

mat on the path,

tete asoee,

wgnsge ho bio; na den nti na viontu

of to-day say they will not

any more halt

let

but two remain

noun formed from the verb

or ee means, a place where.

'Muka

at the ancient

wont to

alight)

then do they not pull up one of the three from time

immemorial hearth-stones and

Asoee.

tete

(2285)

halting-place (where their forefathers were

why

who

Past tenses.

'muka abiesa no biako na ehka abieh

The children

or he

it ?

abiesa.

The three

soe,

to alight.

The

suffix

Cf. anomee, a drinking-place, &c.

conical hearth- stones,

which the cooking-pots are placed,

also called,

made of

clay,

on

muhia, bukyia.

806. Wo ani

When

tra wo ntgn a, vioyera.

(2302)
your eyes are higher than your eyebrows

pride),

you get

lost.

(i.e.

puffed

up with

ASHANTI PROVERBS
Ant

wo

tra

nton.

'

conceited, exactly our

Eyes

own

liiglier tlian

idiom

'

187

eyebrows

supercilious

',

',

that

proud,

is,

and

{super, above,

cilium, eyelid).

To go beyond, reach beyond, not

Tra.

be confused with

to

tena,

tra, to sit.

Wunnim asaw a, na wuse, Akyene nye de'. (2337)

AVhen you do not know how to dance, then you say, The drum

807.

'

'

not sounding sweetly

Wo

808.

'.

mm sere so a,

Your

na enyt wo na woda
thigh may be plump, but

sister's

Nua.

Nsdtea.

not you

who

on

lie

it.

a, entumi.

For names of fingers

see note

(2793)
the ground,

cannot.

it

on No. 355, nsa.

See note on No. 240.

Wg.

wg

logka screw

A matter which
is

(2504)

it is

up something from

If one finger tries to pick

Asem a

so.

See note on No. 37, abusua.

809. Nsdtea h'laM hutuw fa ade wg fam'

810.

is

bdhi

na wgka su wg

hahi.

(2854)

in one place is a subject of mirth, in another place

the cause of tears.

WgM

serew

wgha

Lit. talk (and) laugh about

su.

talk

(and) cry about.

Asem a wobese na wdbesan no, fa sd ma enka wo tirim. (2856)

A word that when spoken you would wish back, let it remain

811.

(unspoken) in your head.

Sd.

'

Ma

This word

is

rather difficult to explain here, perhaps,

not

(2873)

is

Oka-n&.

See note on No. 157, nye-nd.

(2901)
813. Asm-kese bdba a, gfranhd nsi so.
hand, no flag
on
is
business
big
really
When some

is

flown.

= Asem-kese (?)

Ofranka.

Probably a corruption of the English word

applied to the emblem of the various companies.

814.

Wgso adaka
a box

a,

na wgso ne

is

carried,

Ne mu.

An

When

'.

difficult to state.

good case

Asen-kese

thus

Imperative.

enka.

812. Asem-pa nye gkd-nd.

'

mu ade.

what

is

(2976)
box

inside the

is

adjectival phrase qualifying ade.

carried.

'

flag

',


ASHANTI PROVERBS

188
815. -iso

nsenia

te se

The ears are

mu

woto

mu

to

weighted down

they are
Asd.

like a pair of scales

(lit.

(2986)

when more and moie

same form, nor does the singular pronoun

clue, as

are put in,

sleep).

either singular or plural, as both have the

may be

This

a, eda.

the Ashanti idiom commonly

eda give any real

e in

uses this third person neuter

pronoun for the third person plur.

Nsema. See note on Ashanti scales and weights, No. 591.
816. Osram de berebere na

gman mu.

etiba

The moon moves slowly, but

The moon,

Osram.

the town.

also gbosom.

817. Ata-panyin nni nhyene

The

(3043)

it crosses

mma

entere

ata-kmna anom'

elder twin does not eat salt that

it

may

(3148)

trickle into the

younger's mouth.

Nni.

Neg. of

= elder

twin

di.

The

Ata-panyin.

twin to be born

first

the second

In no case

(left) inside.

is

brought forth
first

is

is

called ata-panyin,

as obi vjor)i,

some one

i. e.

is

one of the twins killed (the ninth child

is

among the Nkoranzas was

known

killed).

The second of the twins

considered as having precedence over the

to be

first,

'

the

merely has been sent to prepare the way for the second

Twins when born are put

'.

and carried on a woman's

head through the town, women following and singing
in a basin

'

'

Lit.

Wa wo nta
Wa wo nta

',

abien '.

She has borne twins,

She has borne two twins.

Every Friday the parents of twins mash yams and eggs (oto), in
which the usual oil is not added, in order that the mash may be
white.
White clay is then rubbed on the wrists, and shoulders,
and heads of the twins. The parents of twins never partake of any
firstfruits without first making an offering to tiie special fetish of
twins, Abamu.

An Ashanti

An
818.

attempt

chief has always the right to claim twins as his wives.

is

always made to dress twins alike.

Wo ntama biri a, wohoro, na wonhyew. (3163)

When your cloth is dirty you wash it, but you do
Wohoro.

See note on No. 353.

not burn

it.

ASHANTI PROVERBS
819.

189

Wote nsu ho reguare na gbodamfo fa wo tarn a, fwefwe hi ansa-na

woatiw no; nd, wumfwra hi a, obi hesusuw se mo hdnu ye abgdamfo.

When you

(3202)
are

down bathing

at the

water and a

madman

runs

off

with your cloth, look for another before you follow him, for

you follow him naked, some one

you mad.
See note on No. 366,

Wote.

will suppose

te,

Present continued action, expressed by

Eeguare.

if

you are both of

re.

See also

see

note

note on No. 353, hohoro.

Bo dam,

Ohodamfo.

For

mad.

to be

suffix

fa

on

No. 78, kontromfi.

Aorist tense.

Woatiw.

See note on No. 781.

Barm.
820. Tete

wqmfd nye nkwah.

ahe,

(3236)

Old palm nuts are not used

Wqmfd
821.

nye.

Tete ara ne nne.

History repeats

to

make

soup.

For double negative

see note

on No. 33,

nsisi.

(3239)
itself.

Lit.

The very same ancient

(things) are

to-day.

Deriv. perhaps

Tete.

te,

to be, to live, hence

by reduplication,

to express emphasis, lasting, old.

822. Eti nye brofere na wgapae

The head

is

mu

ahu

mu

not the papaw fruit that

asem.

it

(3265)
should be broken to see the

thoughts inside.
Brofere.

See note on brofere, No. 768.

823. Owia wo soro na ehyehye sa yi, na nwrme se ebehenfam'. (3524)

The sun is up above and it can burn like this, but how much more
(could it scorch) if it came down near to earth.

See note on No.

Owia.

Menne.

Neg. of

1, asase.

de.

824. W'iase wotra no banu banu. (3525)

-^ In the world all things are two and two.
Wiase.

Bamu

See note on No. 1, asase.

See note on No. 781.

hcmu.

ASHANTI PROVERBS

190
825. Obi

No

-hkyi koko na ormi ne mma.

(239)
one makes a fowl taboo and then eats

Wkyi
Onni from
.

For double negative see note on No. 33,

onni.

chickens.

its

nsisi.

di.

826. Ohi nhyi pete nni ne nkesua.

No

(240)
one makes a vulture taboo and then eats

Peie.

827. Aduan

vmhhuu

hi

wukyi

Some

its

eggs.

Also kohosahyi.

Tien.

hi

da wo wo na ne wo agya muka

so no,

na nea

(1030)

food, the like of

which you have never seen on your mother's

kind you make taboo.

or your father's cooking hearth, that is the

Na

agya.

Muka.

N ea

no.

ahZodeh kyi ne kom.

What

given precedence in speech as

is

See note on 805.

Neh=^Ne
828.

Note the mother

See notes on No. 37, abuma.

in reality.

(2172)

strength makes taboo

is

hunger.

See note on No. 89 and No. 132.

Kyi.

829. Ohi nso doe, nko nea wobekum no. (339)

No one dreams of going to where they will
Lit.

no one dreams (and) goes to

.,

i.

e.

kill

him.

no one dreams he

ing to be killed at a certain spot and deliberately goes there

is
;

go-

but

the expression appears to be understood also in the loose sense in

which we use

it in

English

'

no one dreams of ', &c.

830. TetekaasmrC.

(3238)
Ancient things remain in the
Tete.

ears.

See note on No. 821.

FINIS

(Tradition survives).

By

HAUSA

the

same Author.

POLK-LOEE, CUSTOMS, PEOVEEBS,

&c.

and Transliterated, with English Translation and Notes.

Preface by K. E. Makett. With some 300 facsimiles.

Collected

With

i.

2 vols.

8vo.

WESTMINSTER GAZETTE

30s. net.

H. H. Johnston).' There can be no

question but that Mr. Eattray's book is a valuable contribution to the study
of African peoples, and except that the virriter of this review dislikes
sensational titles and gush gush that seems to be more called out by the
superficial study of Africa than by that of any other Continent he would
have headed his review with The Soul of an African People '. For it seems to
him that Mr. Eattray does more in this work to open to us the minds of
the folk who dwell in the Nigerian Soudan than Clapperton, Barth, Schon,
Eobinson, and Vircher and the greatest of these was Barth have yet
(Sir

'

achieved in their setting forth of Hausa Tradition and Literature.

This book will be a mine for the researches of the philologist and an
indispensable accompaniment to the study of the Hausa language.'
MORNING POST (A. C. HdDEON). 'We need not be anxious about
our Protectorate and Dominions in Africa or elsewhere when the Civil
Service can receive and retain the men who, in addition to the effective
exercise of their administrative duties, find time to give scholarly accounts
of the people over whom they are put in charge. Some, like C. W. Hobley,
formerly of British East Africa, are interested in customs ; others, like
A. C. Hollis, of B.E.A., and E. S. Eattray, of Ashanti, are more particularly concerned with linguistic folk-tales and the like ; while history
claims the attention of such scholars as H. E. Palmer, of Nigeria, and
H. A. MaoMiohael, of the Egyptian Soudan.
The author, the Clarendon
Press and the Government of the Gold Coast are to be congratulated on the
admirable way in which this valuable book has been produced.'
THE ATHENAEUM. ' The foundation of this valuable work is
a voluminous MS. prepared at the request of Mr. Eattray by Shaihu,
a malam, or learned scribe of th* Hausa people. The liberality of the
Government of the Gold Coast in granting a subvention for the present
publication has enabled what is virtually a facsimile of a selection from
Mr. Eattray's work has
the MS. in Arabic characters to be given.
a definite value of its own.'
THE COLONIAL JOURNAL. 'An important result of this laborious
work is to bring to light some features of the Hausa language which the
spoken word did not reveal. .
The text, in fact, places Hausa on
a literary basis for the English student, and this achievement by itself
fully justifies the grant made by the Gold Coast Government towards the
expense of the work. .
The notes appended by Mr. Eattray are mostly
grammatical, and will be of great service to those who are learning Hausa.
The work will, it may reasonably be expected, facilitate the understanding
of the language, and lead to a higher standard among its students.'
'Mr. Eattray's little book on Chinyanja folk(A. Wjebhek).
lore is so exceedingly valuable that this specimen of his West African
researches scarcely needs any other recommendation than a reference to
.

MAN

his authorship.'

AND WEST.

'Mr. Eattray's two volumes, which are attracEAST

tively got up, provide both in Hausa and English a large collection of
instructive legends, stories and descriptions of Hausa customs which form
a valuable addition to our knowledge of the subjects with which they
deal. The writer has not himself been in the Hausa country, but has
in the Gold Coast Colony, where he was in constant touch
Hausa version of the whole contents of the volumes,
written in modified Arabic characters, is provided.'

studied

Hausa

with Hausas.

PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS