₦airaland Forum

ifyalways:
eji okpa aga di warri?

Okwu nke a gbara m gharii

Onyinye = Gift

ifyalways:
kashiff na Mortiple this is getting serious

Don't worry. They are on field work where there is no amasaiba 

The Igbo hold that:

Onye na-amaghi ihe emere nwete enyi nwaanyi na-asi gwa ya okwu ka o laa
One who does not know the efforts and resources invested to getting a girlfriend quips in to tell bad words to the girl to send her away.

Ike adighi nwaanyi imuputa nwa, o si na ofo nna ya ji ya aka
A woman too lazy to go through labour and delivery, claims that her ancestors would not grace and mandate the arrival of the newborn.

Ogwuna gwuru mmiri ukwu, gwukwa mmirri nta, ma lagbuo n'ite ofe
The catfish swam the ocean and swam the sea, but drowned in a soup pot.

ifyalways:
Nna anyi ukwu,for your sake,ikperem di na ala.ndooooooo

Ngwa kulie. Gbadokwa anya!

_{Ogbunike bu ikwu nne m} 

Ewooo!

ifyalways:
Ogbunike,the land of bush babies,madam koi-koi and willy willy
fiakwa

, Hmmm. You'd better tread softly. 

Ezinwannem = My good sibling

anambra kwenu! eyaaa! 

ifyalways:
Unu a ga alukwa anyi alu eeeeeeeeeeh? bikonu bia lupunu anyi na ulo nna anyis,ihe nkea o gini

Ewuhhh! Ihe abughikwanu ogu nne na-agbara nwa ya.

Kashif, Youngies, Mortiple, and other (m) over to you guys. Unu anula o

some interesting ones

E kwukalia ofu okwu, onye nti ike anu ya.
An issue that is incessantly discussed, is soon heard by the deaf.

Ihe Chukwu mere Igbo di ofu; ihe Ndiigbo mere onwe ha di itenani
God foisted one problem on the Igbo; the Igbo foisted another nine onto themselves.

Onye na-epioba n'ime ofia, na-ezolu nwa enwe, amaghi na nwa enwe no n'ime ofia, bu uzo fu ya.
He who sneaks under the brushes towards the monkey in the bush, is often unaware that the monkey has espied him.

ifyalways biko jiri ya nwayo, o gini na-ayadi gi sef
Ife afu abughi ife a na-akwanye mmadu akwanye, i nula?

otele otele,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,otele
a na m anu ka o na-ada!

ifyalways:
happi uka nna
biko unu nyere m aka chota ilu igbo yitere ilu bekke a ma o bu ilu igbo e nwere ike i ji were tapia ya :
"a rolling stone,gathers no moss"

Nwata na-ata akara na-ata ego ya.

Ogbu oge (OO) na egbu oge ya.

Mbe na Ogbugba Amamihe (The Tortoise and The Calabash of Wisdom)

In times past, when the world was still blind, the tortoise started boasting that out of all the living things on earth, he was the wisest. To prevent others from becoming wise as he was, he thought of what he would do and decided to tie up all his wisdom in a parcel and put it in a calabash and cover it up. This he would then tie up with a rope to be hanging on his neck to wherever he had to go. These were all in a bid to prevent everyone else from gaining access to wisdom.

As he was crawling with the calabash dangling on his chest, he came to a spot on the road where a large tree trunk had fallen across the road. As hard as he tried to cross over the tree trunk with the calabash on his chest, he couldn’t. The calabash just prevented him from crossing over. For some time, he thought of how he could cross over without breaking the calabash, albeit without success. He became worried because he knew that if he broke the calabash, others would gain access to wisdom.

When he couldn’t come up with a plan to cross over, he just started crawling up and down by the side of the trunk. As he was doing this, one yam farmer came across to where he was and shouted upon him, “Tortoise, son of Aniga, I thought you always claim to be the wisest of all God’s creature; why is it that you are doing a foolish thing like this? “Transfer the calabash to your back so you can cross over the tree trunk with your front.” The tortoise did as he was told and was able to cross the trunk with ease.

When all these things had transpired, the tortoise became very much ashamed because someone has shown how to cross over the tree trunk that blocked the road, he then shouted with a loud voice, “Truly, it’s now that I realize that there is no one whose wisdom is complete under the sun.” Therefore, it’s not good for one to be thinking that any suggestion he gave during any meeting must be followed as the best. No, because no one is the wisest. God created all things and gave them different gifts. Sometimes, a supposedly foolish person may have understanding more than a supposedly wise individual.

THE END.

Morale: No one knows it all. There is wisdom in the multitude of advisors

redsun:
@ Echelon,for mentioning a rifle in the story,does it mean the folklore is mordern,not very ancient?after the european invasion came the rifle.

I don't know ooo. . Ask me this question: So the tortoise speaks too, is he a human being? A: No, he is not. This is just a folktale  . Don't loose the morale.

ifyalways:
@Echelon,don't tell me the Mbe has died?

The tortoise is recuperating from his broken shells after your last story 

++ 

It's more like: Adi ama ama Onicha gwara Obosi!

I learnt the two towns had land disputes in the past and even subtly now. The expression emanated from these land tussles. It's a kind of forewarning statement. English equivalent is: To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

So if you tell someone: Biko webara m ite m n'ulo adi ama ama Onicha gwara Obosi, you are asking the person to send your pot inside the house to avoid anything happening to it (like to prevent it from being stolen).

_{hope this is helpful}

Kashif:
O putara na onwebeghi onye biara ebe a ke mgbe unya? Kilo happen?

Nkita dina n'uche, o di ka o na-arahu ura
When the dog lies down meditating, it appears as if he is sleeping

every dada

ifyalways:
lol .ahuru jim baddddddddd
@Topic,ana esi na usi ahuru amata uto nsi
Echelon ,the translation is for you

Eeeh? for me?

Literally: The taste of feaces is discerned from the scent of the preceeding fart

ifyalways:
@Echelon,he would be puinshed when he goes peeping at the mothers ekete uboma

Not so. He would be punished the day he knocks down the basin of palm ash

iceblue:
oya, echelon were osiso ga akuko mbediogu

Nwayo nwayo ka e ji aracha ofe di oku
A hot soup is licked little by little _{hope u understand}

ifyalways:
@Topic,o bughi ubochi nwatakiri kwafuru mmanu ka ana apia ya utari
a child is not punished the day he spills the oil

So which day is he punished?

ifyalways:
@all unu anola?

meaning

Mbe na Ejula (The Tortoise and the Snail) - Part 2

When the tortoise realized that he now has a corpse on his hands, he became terrified and developed goose pimples on his body. Therefore, he ran to a soothsayer to ask what will happen next. The soothsayer told him a proverb: “When a great soothsayer performs sacrifices, it appears as if he fed the spirits by hand”. On hearing this, he took to his heels and went and gathered dead leaves and covered the corpse. When he had done this, he went back to his friend – the snail – and said to him, “Get your rifle, let go –a- hunting for monkeys have destroyed the cereals on my farm”. On hearing this, the snail greatly rejoiced, walked briskly into the house and took up his rifle, hung his hunting bag on his neck and picked up his hunting dog and off they went.

On their way, the tortoise told the snail, “Follow me, wherever I point at, shoot there! The snail rejoiced because he has “longa throat” for meat.
When they got to where the queen was lying, the tortoise said, “Snail, look at a monkey here, shoot and kill it.”
The snail immediately shot at where he was directed and started rejoicing that he has shot a monkey; that they now have meat. The tortoise then removed the leaves he used to cover the corpse and shouted with a loud voice, “Come and see ooo, you’ve killed a human being!” The snail shouted, “ Ewoo!” The tortoise told him, “If I told you to shoot, are you blind? Don’t you look before shooting? If I tell you to get to the bush and eat feaces, are you going to eat?” The tortoise took to his heels without looking back, leaving his friend behind.

The snail was greatly terrified because the law of the land is “a head for a head”, it is said that no head is greater than the other. He then approached the soothsayer to get advice on what he might do. The soothsayer told him to borrow a long apparel, anklets and a white cap; after putting on these, he should meet the tortoise and tell him the king gave him those for killing his wife which he had been thinking of how to kill secretly because of her envy.
When the snail has got all these, he went to his friend’s house, who on seeing him, ran away without recognizing that it was the snail.

When the snail beckoned on him, he recognized his voice and came out of his hiding place. When he saw him, he inquired from where he got all he was putting on. The snail told him that the king gave him those for the king considered what the snail did as a favour.
On hearing this, the tortoise shouted and began narrating to his friend how things went and how he killed the queen. He said, “Please let’s go to the king so he could collect all these things from you because I’m the one that killed his wife but he took all these and gave you. How can I finish washing hand and crack kernels for chicken? This is impossible!” But his friend did not pay attention to him at all. The tortoise ran to the king and started complaining, “It is I that killed your wife but you went ahead and gave all these things to the snail without knowing from where water entered the pumpkin flute, please collect all those things from him and give me for he who works must eat!”
The king shouted the tortoise down and called his servants and gave an order that the tortoise be dealt with; but he gave his daughter in marriage to the snail.

THE END.

Moral: When you’re scheming against people, watch out lest the plan backfire

How about a Skoda Octavia? 

Ka aha eri anaghi eri onwe ha.

This one is difficult to translate to English 

I will give a similar proverb to explain it:

Agwo anaghi eri agwo ibe ya
Snakes do not eat their kind

Story of Mbe continues

Mbe na Ejula (The Tortoise and the Snail) - Part 1

Once upon a time, in a certain land, the ruling king gave a directive to his servant and said: “Use the wooden gong and announce to all my subjects that there is a task I’ll show them, that anyone that first finishes his own, I’ll give him my daughter in marriage.”

The king’s servant then did as his master instructed. It came to be that when it the day dawned, the tortoise awoke and picked up his matchet and went to his friend - the snail and suggested that they go and know why the king is calling them.

The snail offered kola nuts to the tortoise, and he ate; when both of them have finished eating the kola, the tortoise said, “My ancestors eat kola, let him that embarks on a journey come back.” The snail answered Iseeee! – Let it be so! When he had said this, they set out for the king’s palace.

Along the way, they started arguing about who’ll get to marry the princess. When they got to the palace, they greeted the king by his title names.

When they finished greeting the king, they told him why they’ve come. The king then directed his servant to show the two of them the task; that anyone that finishes first will be given the princess in marriage. So the servant divided the task into two for the two of them and they started working.

As they were working, one of the king’s wives came around and pleaded with tortoise to follow her and pick up a palm nut that fell into a hole for her, but the tortoise vehemently refused. She approached the snail and pleaded with him on the same issue. The snail obliged her and picked up the nut for her, saying in his mind, “It’s the day one buries someone that he buries himself”, “If a wild animal is feely itchy, it scrubs it’s back on the tree trunk but if a human is feeling itchy, he looks for another to scrub him” All these he thought as he hoped the good he has done will do him good.

After he had picked up the nut, the queen told the snail to hit her on the back, that he’ll see labourers that will do the work for him. The snail did as instructed, and lo, in a twinkle of an eye, ten strong men jumped out of her body. They all took matchets and finished up snail’s task in a short while and all ran away!

After all these, it all amazed the snail; he went and narrated to the tortoise all that happened. The tortoise shouted at once in disbelief… even before the snail has finished his narration, the tortoise took to his heels after the queen and when he got close to her, he said: “Please queen, did you ask me to come and pick up palm nut for you?” But the queen did not reply; the tortoise went ahead and hit her so hard on the back that she fell on the ground and died.

When the tortoise realized that he now has a corpse on his hands,

… to be continued

presido1:
(To be honest this translation makes no meaning)

I understand how you feel but what you can do is to explain the proverb.

That proverb means that people will commit crimes with abandon when they have a higher authority backing them

@youngies

Onye zakoo, ya kpoo
He that sweeps, let him dispose the refuse

Does that imply you can't translate it into English?

too heavy
translate it all the same

@Ify
As you said the tortoise is the "actor" in most folklores; he features in a lot of stories, though sometimes, he acts foolishly.

Yes! I have heard about that story. Very much like Mbe - always looking for ways to defraud people 

Can't wait for the part 2!!!

davidif:
Why is it that we always blame the tortoise in every African folktale, abeg my people make una leave Mr. Tortoise alone, the man don too suffer self, from loosing his hair to hot porridge and breaking his shell while falling off a birds back from the sky i think the man has suffered enough, why don't we go after mr. pig since they are so dirty or mr. vulture since they are so, well let's just leave it that, you already know the millon things in my mind when a vulture comes to mind.

Tell us a story of mr. pig or mr. vulture then