Oral Literature in Africa (67 page)

This literary use of proverbs in ordinary speech is sometimes taken further and shades into more elaborate forms like the Akan drum proverbs, Fulani epigrams, or Zulu bird songs. Unlike many other prose forms, proverbs are not normally used specifically for entertainment but are more involved in everyday situations. However, we do hear occasionally of contests in proverb telling. Among the Fante proverbs are recited as entertainment both at casual gatherings in the evening and at ceremonies and celebrations with a panel of judges to decide between the contestants, while Lestrade writes of the South African Bantu that proverbs are sometimes used in a regular game similar to that of riddle
asking—interpretations of proverbs are exchanged and the players ‘buy’ a new proverb and its interpretation in exchange for one they know (Christensen 1958: 239; Lestrade 1937: 293–4). In all these contexts the proverb is a vehicle particularly suited to give depth and elegance through its allusive, figurative, and poetic mode of expression.

Proverbs, finally, are often said to represent a people’s philosophy. In proverbs the whole range of human experience can be commented on and analysed, generalizations and principles expressed in a graphic and concise form, and the wider implications of specific situations brought to mind. This aspect has always appealed particularly to collectors. Some editors have taken it rather far and suggested that proverbs make up ‘tribal law’ (e.g. Barra 1960: foreword) or illustrate every belief and prescribed piece of behaviour in a direct and literal way. This is to miss the flexibility and situational aspect that is so striking a characteristic of African proverbs. As has been pointed out by several authorities, the same proverb may be used in a whole range of situations with different applications and meanings. Furthermore, as has frequently been noticed, the occurrence of ‘contradictory’ proverbs is widespread; thus the Southern Bantu stress both the unruliness
and
indispensability of a man’s tongue: ‘The mouth has no lid to cover it’, yet ‘The tongue is a man’s tail-switch to drive away the flies’; (McLaren 1917: 341) and many other such examples could be cited. If interpreted as literal injunctions or evaluations, clearly there is contradiction. Instead they might be regarded as a way of summing up what is recognized as only one facet of the truth, to be used as and when it applies or appeals; then it is possible to appreciate more fully the flexible and subtle way in which, through a whole series of overtones and depths of meaning, proverbs represent ‘the soul of a people’.

In relation to the question of the occasions and functions of proverbs something should be said about the people who cite or listen to proverbs. There is not much evidence on this, but clearly the details vary from society to society. Sometimes the proverbs are potentially known to everyone and free for all to use on suitable occasions. The actual use, of course, depends on the occasion: thus where proverbs are most common in law cases and men are the chief litigants, proverbs are seldom used by women; and proverbs giving advice are most naturally used by elder people. In other societies there seem to be certain proverbs that are reserved for use only by older people and would not be cited in the presence of youths or uncircumcised adults. Sometimes proverbs as tools in argument are reserved for the elderly alone; thus of the Fon Herskovits tells us that ‘one
limiting principle governs their use. The young may not presume to press a point with their seniors by using proverbs (Herskovits 1958: 57). Among the Nyanja proverbs are sometimes used with a definitely esoteric intention (Gray 1944: 102), and we may guess that in societies with a fairly high degree of specialization, particularly with regard to religious and artistic affairs, there is likely to be a group who are particularly conversant with the allusions and possibilities inherent in proverbs. The situation described of the Mongo is very likely typical of many societies: that whereas some proverbs are used by the whole population and known very widely, others are rare or reserved for certain specialists (Hulstaert 1958: 5). But this whole subject is obscure and the evidence scanty.

There is also the question of individual authorship and originality. Since one of the characteristics of a proverb is that it should be accepted by the community as a whole, the scope for individual initiative is clearly limited. However, the fact that there is a certain amount of variation in form and the great range of varied situations to which proverbs can be applied with greater or lesser aptness and insight give some opening for individual contributions. There is a certain amount of evidence about the way new proverbs are coined by individuals and later taken up by the community. As Nyembezi points out about the Zulu, there are no special people with the job of evolving proverbs, but new ones nevertheless arise through individuals; and we are told elsewhere that many Zulu proverbs were first uttered by famous men or by bards or jesters before the king or at a beer-drink and were then taken up and popularized by others (Nyembezi 1954: xi; Ripp 1930). It is common for proverbs to be attributed to well-known historical personages; this is often conventional but in some cases may be justified. Similarly new proverbs are mentioned as being taken by individuals from various outside sources, or arising from individual inventiveness and poetic imagination within the framework of the conventional forms and functions in any given society (cf. Herzog 1936: 7; Hulstaert 1958: 5–6).

We can, then, sum up the various ways in which proverbs are used in African societies by saying that they really occur on
all
occasions when language is used for communication either as art or as a tool—i.e. on every sort of occasion imaginable. In particular societies there may be certain rules or tendencies about the sorts of occasions on which they are most frequent or suitable, or the classes of people who should use them. Some peoples may use proverbs in a particularly sophisticated way as the basis
for more elaborate forms of literature, while others stress the useful aspect of proverb-citing or their more literary and artistic purpose. But they are above all used as a form of formalized conflict and its resolution, as an oblique and allusive way of communication, as a form of expression with a certain educational relevance, as an artistic activity in its own right, or as all these at once.

V

So far the discussion has been rather general and comparative. However, some of the points made may emerge more clearly with a discussion of the nature and use of proverbs in three specific societies, ones which differ in language, social organization, and geographical location.

First, the Jabo. These are a Kru-speaking people living in small independent settlements in south-eastern Liberia. Their proverbs were collected and studied in the 1930s by Herzog and his native assistant. They were published in the original and in translation with a full commentary on their various meanings and situations and an illuminating introduction (Herzog 1936).

Though it is difficult to estimate the number of Jabo proverbs it seems to be considerable; Herzog gives 416 (in addition to related ‘sayings’) and considers that more could have been collected and that new proverbs were constantly being made. Jabo proverbs shade into other forms: the ‘sayings’ (which are sometimes merely idiomatic expressions); the ‘singers’ words’ (or ‘lying words’), that is formalized statements, easily transformed into proverbs, which singers introduce into their songs of praise; and the ‘titles’ or honorary addresses for characterization and praise. Proverbs are more or less distinct from these forms in their style, being more poetic and symbolic than the ‘sayings’, but considerably less poetic than the other two forms.

The proverb proper is termed
dalekpa,
a word also used for a parable or short animal tale rounded out with a proverb which serves as the moral. The term is also said to be connected with an archaic form meaning ‘old matters’, and this implies the idea of taking an old situation and applying it to the present, coping with it by regarding it in the light of something that has occurred before. It is also connected with the idea of generalization in idioms like ‘He quotes stingy proverbs’ (i.e. ‘He supports his stinginess with generalities’), used of someone who by way of excuse evades a request with stock phrases.

Although the citing of proverbs is not a specialized activity like riddling
or story-telling, and occurs freely and informally in every sort of context, there are nevertheless certain stock situations where proverbs are especially frequent. They play an important part in Jabo legal proceedings; indeed at a certain stage the discussion mainly takes place through the quoting of proverbs. In this way the case can be raised from the particular to the general and can be classified according to the generalizations inherent in proverbs. The more proverbs a man can use, the more effective he is considered to be, and ‘since almost any act has legalistic aspects, there is hardly a discussion of any consequence (whether or not actually in court) in which proverbs are not employed’ (Herzog 1936: 2). Proverbs are also very commonly used to smooth social friction and help individuals to adjust themselves to their positions; there are a very great number of proverbs implying ‘under the circumstances what did you expect?’ that are used in these contexts (e.g. ‘The butterfly that flies among the thorns will tear its wings’ or ‘If you marry a beautiful woman, you marry trouble’, a comment, among other things, on the dangers attending prosperity). These are often particularly effective in smoothing dissatisfaction because uttered by an older person in a society where seniority is taken seriously. Besides their general use in legal and social life, both formally and informally, proverbs also provide the means by which generalizations can be made explicit, and at times provide an intricate and artistic intellectual exercise for the adept.

The characteristic of proverbs which Herzog brings out most forcefully is their flexibility. The same proverb may be used as advice, instruction, or warning, and may be cited in situations that may seem far removed from the original application, or even in contradictory senses. Thus the saying ‘We watch the bird’s neck while he is talking’ can be used in at least three situations with different meanings: as a retort when someone weak makes a threat, meaning that before taking a threat seriously we should look to see who makes it; as an expression of doubt about the truth of what another is saying; and, finally, as an indication that everyone agrees with a speaker (Herzog 1936: 70) Jabo proverbs thus have a wide range of applicability, and the ostensible meaning can in certain situations even shade into its opposite.

The form of Jabo proverbs is somewhat removed from that of everyday prose utterance. Many proverbs begin with ‘… says: …’, as in ‘North wind says: if you rise, they will know you are there’ (used either to point out something self-evident or to remind that a man must demand in order to get his due). The supposed speaker is often either some natural object,
(sea, plant, etc.), people (e.g. the Kru, white people), or, very often, specific animals or birds. Such proverbs can be quoted either with or without this attribution. There are also other introductory formulas used for emphasis which may or may not appear on a given occasion, such as ‘I say’ or ‘It is the truth what they say’. Very many proverbs have the patterns ‘If …, then …’, ‘Where …, there …’, or give rule of conduct with the impersonal pronoun ‘one’. The ideas of contrast and of limitation are also frequently brought out by the form. Contrast is emphasized in, for instance, ‘When the spirits are gone, dogs will serve the wine’, a complex proverb which implies among other things the contrast between mature age (‘spirits’) and careless impetuous youth (‘dogs’); and limitation is conveyed by alluding to the immutability of certain laws in ‘When it rains, the roof always drips the same way’. Poetic and archaic expressions occur, and the poetic tone is intensified by the symmetrically balanced structure and occasional rhythmic swing which is accentuated in actual utterance. In this way, proverbs are a kind of technical language, with specialized vocabulary, style, and linguistic and logical constructions.

These proverbs and related sayings, then, are described as playing a central role in Jabo society. They characterize and evaluate persons, events, and situations, interpret the particular into general and recognizable experience, and are ‘the most important verbal instrument for minimizing friction and effecting adjustment, legal, social, or intellectual … they form a vital and potent element of the culture they interpret’ (Herzog 1936: 15).

The Zulu of South Africa are exceedingly rich in proverbs. These have been extensively collected and commented on for many years. The best account is that by Nyembezi who has published over 700 proverbs, gleaned-both from earlier collections and from his own field-work.
¹⁴

In Zulu, as in many languages, it is not easy to draw a sharp line between idioms and proverbs proper, but there seems to be a general distinction in form and terminology between ‘sayings’ or plain prose usages (
izisho
)
,
and
izaga,
proverbs. Consonant with the general Zulu interest in rhythm, music, dance, and poetry, their proverbs are often marked by a certain metrical form which makes a contrast with plain prose. This is often brought out by balanced structure such that contrasted subjects are governed by one predicate (thus presenting two opposed ideas), by contrasted predicates governed by one subject, or by contrast in both subjects and predicates.
³
Word-order is important so that verb contrasts with verb, adverb with adverb, and so on, and cross-parallelism also occurs. In some proverbs the contrast lies in the ideas rather than the words themselves. Economy of expression is particularly marked in Zulu proverbs, often with elision of vowels or whole words and the subject suggested only by the concord. Certain patterns occur frequently and give the proverbs a distinct form even when, as in some cases, they lack rhythm. There are frequent expressions in terms of two, three, or four word-groups, and a specially popular form is that beginning with
akukho
(or its abbreviation
aku
), ‘there is no …’, as in ‘No polecat ever smelt its own stink’: people fail to recognize their own faults. The vocabulary used seems to be the everyday one, but the proverbs cease to be ordinary not just because of their special forms but because they are generally accepted as clever and attractive expressions of some truth.