Igbo proverbs

IGBO PROVERB FOR TODAY

***Ururu sịrị k**a isi ya ga-ekpu anwụrụ ọsọ gbuo ya na dinta ***

(Ururu, the land squirrel, said that it is better for him to die running than to allow himself to be suffocated by the smoke of the hunter)

Meaning:

i. There are some risks that are not worth trying and to escape is the only option even if some people may not understand.

ii. To be remain who you are and what you are, there are certain things that you must not do, eat and where you must never go to no matter what it may take you to maintain the principle.

At times, it is better to escape with your life even when people think that you are being a coward and may even be laughing at you. Later, they some of them may come to agree with you that you took the right decision.

iv. There are some enemies that are so vicious and wicked that the only thing they are after is how to destroy and whatever that is dear to your heart. They are not to be given the opportunit actualize it.

ONCE UPON A TIME

***WEEKEND FOLKTALE***


THE KITE AND THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER

Once upon a time, there lived a kite who was a good farmer and very hardworking. He will go to the farm in the morning and come back quite late every day. He was so such successful that he had multiple barns and many farms. He refused to marry because he did not see any need for that since his mother was quite caring and good to him in service. She was a good cook and would prepare any type food he would want to eat and in good time. The kite also loved the mother so dearly and ruled out having a wife on the ground that she may interfere with the love he had for his mother. The only fault the kite has is that he is a voracious eater and quick-tempered. Once he has made up his mind on any issue, it quite difficult to convince him otherwise. His favourite dish was vegetable and his mother knows how best to prepare that.

One day, the kite returned home with a big basket of vegetable (mainly green, fluted pumpkin and mgborodi). This is because he had a very good garden that produced rich harvest. He handed the vegetable basket over to his mother who proceeded to prepare it in a most delicious manner using ukpaka and fresh palm oil. The kite settled down to take the meal as soon as he was invited to do so. He quickly finished the dish and requested for more. But his mother told him that the meal has finished. He flew into a rage and refused to believe the mother and threatened to kill her if she does provide another dish of the vegetable. For him, the vegetable he saw in the pot was too much and could not mean just this little thing in the plate.
The mother became helpless and was full of explanation trying to let him understand how vegetable can sink when cooked. The kite in red-hot anger refused to listen. He picked the mother and threw her into a burning fire in the kitchen. He then took the basket and zoomed off to the farm to collect another basket-full of vegetable which he settled down prepare by himself. He was whistling and mocking the mother as he was doing this whom he thought had short-changed him. After cutting the vegetable, he washed it and filled the big pot to the brim to the extent that the cover was merely hanging.
With a mixture of pride and relief, he sat down to wait for the vegetable to get done. He was monitoring the pot minute by minute. To his greatest surprise, as soon the heat came up into the pot, the vegetable started sinking and the cover lapped. He could not believe what he was seeing. By the time the meal got done, the whole quantity was at the bottom of the pot.

The kite shouted and started crying and wailing on realizing that the mother was actually telling him the truth. The mother was explaining to him that vegetable shrinks when cooked but he refused to listen. He abandoned the food, ran out of the kitchen to the burning fire hoping to save the mother but she had been reduced to ashes.

Ever since that day, the kite has been weeping and flying over any burning fire in the field searching and singing for his mother and asking her to come out alive and receive his apology. But the mother is dead and will never come back life again.

MORAL LESSONS

1. There are some damages that can never be reversed and we must be very careful about our decisions.

2. The kite was a workaholic and delayed marriage which backfired. He could not have burnt his wife if he had married because of the power of conjugal love. This was what was lacking in his relationship with his mother.

3. A little bad habit when not control can destroy great wisdom. The kite knew that he was quick-tempered but may have taken it for granted all this while. He could have worked on it.

4. When we over-pamper our children and allow them to get away with whatever they wanted to do when they were young, the parents may become victims of their wild behaviour when they get lose.

5. There are people who tend to act before they even think. Whatever that comes to their mind first is what they do without weighing the wider implications.

6. No mother can never replace the role of a wife in a man’s life. The two have their roles to play. Their roles are exclusive but complementary.

7. We cannot bemoan our mistakes for ever. We cannot cry forever for what we have lost. The mother-kite is dead and can never come back to life. The kite has to be advised to stop crying and also stop searching. The damage has been done and there will be no reverse.

8. Many people have died because of truth and are still suffering because of it. The mother kite is the latest victim and may not be the last. Always stand by the truth.

From the Village Elder, Okenye
Rev Fr Dr F.O.F Onwudufor

30 Wild Animals in our Ancient Forests:

i. Add the missing ones
ii. Supply English Names that are missing
iii. Correct the ones you disagree with

Let's Learn together!

1. Ọdụm - Lion
2. Agụ - Leopard
3. Nnanwurede - Serval cat
4. Agụ Okpu - Bear
5. Edi - African Civet
6. Hyena - Nkịta Ọhịa
7. Cheeta - Odumodu
7. Atụ - Buffalo
8. Ene - Gazzel/Antelope
9. Mgbada - Deer
10. Ọzọ̀ - Gorilla
11. Adaka - Chimpanzee
12. Aghụ - Alligator
13. Agụ Iyi - Crocodile
14. Enyi - Elephant
15. Enwè - Monkey
16. Ngwere Aghụ - Monitor Lizard
17. Nchi - Grass cutter
18. Ururu -
19. Osá - Squirrel
20. Uzè - Flying squirrel
21. Eziohia - Hog
22. Ụfụ -
20. Ikiri -
21. Abụ́ -
22. Imolo -
23. Isiabaohia - Impala
24. Imolo -
25. Ebi Ogwu - porcupine
26. Horse -
27. Ịkpụkpa na-eri ozu
28. Atani -
29. Ewi -
30. Ọkeọhịa -