Òwe on Laziness, Waste and Improvidence
Seventy Yorùbá proverbs on the idler, the shirker and the squanderer, each with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation it is spoken in.
Ọ̀lẹ is the lazy person, and the Yorùbá proverb corpus treats him not as a mildly disappointing character but as a person under sentence. This file collects seventy proverbs in which idleness, shirking and squandering are the subject: what laziness does to the body, how the idler explains himself, what the household and the town do with him, and what separates the man who wastes his money from the man who merely spends it. The consistent position across the set is that destitution is manufactured rather than suffered, and that the idler's account of his own misfortune is the thing the proverbs most reliably refuse.
The proverbs are given in Owomoyela's texts and translations unless another source is named. Owomoyela's parenthetical usage notes are the basis of the Used when lines, and where the wording of a note is his it is quoted. Anything marked as the compiler's is this corpus's own and carries lower confidence.
A note on sources and diacritics
The Yorùbá texts below are reproduced exactly as Owomoyela prints them in the digitised Good Person collection, in standard orthography with full tone marking and subdots . That collection presents its Yorùbá in a character-by-character image encoding rather than as plain text, and the readings here were recovered from that encoding directly, so forms like ḿpọ̀lẹ and lọ̀lẹ́ appear as printed rather than in a normalised citation form. Owomoyela preserves the elisions of ordinary speech and hyphenates compressed nominal phrases, as in A-fasẹ́-gbèjò and Ọ̀-jẹ-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù-kú-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù, and that convention is kept.
No proverb in this file has had diacritics supplied by the compiler. Where Owomoyela's own English uses quotation marks inside a translation to mark a word he has supplied rather than translated, as at entries 22, 43 and 51, the marks are his.
Owomoyela declines to attach a named informant to any proverb, on the grounds that proverbs are communal property . The proverbs are therefore attested but not dated or localised, except where an internal marker such as cowrie currency or Quranic schooling allows a rough placement.
Laziness as an affliction
1. Ọ̀lẹ, baba àrùn.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ laziness, baba àrùn father of-disease.
Idiomatic: "Laziness, father of all diseases."
Meaning: Laziness is the source from which the other afflictions descend.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Laziness is worse than any disease" Said to someone excusing inactivity on grounds of feeling unwell.
Notes: Three words, no verb. The baba X formula, "father of X," is the standard Yorùbá device for naming something the origin or chief of its class, and it recurs at entries 43 and 44 of this file with different subjects. Placing ọ̀lẹ in the position of ancestor to disease rather than in the position of a disease is the move that gives the proverb its force: laziness is not one ailment among others but what generates them.
2. Ọ̀lẹ èèyàn ò rí ayé wá.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ èèyàn a-lazy person ò rí ayé wá has-not found a-world to-come-to.
Idiomatic: "A lazy person has found no world to come to."
Meaning: There is no world in which the idler's life goes well.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lot of a lazy person in this world is misery"
Notes: Rí ayé wá is literally to find a world and come, the ordinary Yorùbá way of speaking about being born into circumstances. The proverb says the idler has not managed the arrival at all, which is a harder claim than saying his life is hard: it denies him the standing of someone who has properly turned up.
3. Ìyà tó ńjẹ ọ̀lẹ ò kéré; a-lápá-má-ṣiṣẹ́.
Literal: Ìyà tó ńjẹ ọ̀lẹ the-suffering that is-eating the-lazy-one ò kéré is-not small; a-lápá-má-ṣiṣẹ́ one-who-has-arms-and-does-not-work.
Idiomatic: "The malaise that afflicts the lazy person is not trifling; one-who-has-arms-that-will-not-work."
Meaning: Idleness is a serious condition, and its name is having limbs one does not use.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Laziness is a great affliction"
Notes: Jẹ, to eat, is the ordinary verb for suffering undergoing a person, so the suffering consumes the idler rather than merely visiting him. The second half is an epithet built on the a- ... má- pattern that turns a whole predicate into a name, and it functions here as a diagnosis stated as a title. Compare the oríkì-form epithets at entries 33, 34 and 57.
4. Ọ̀lẹ́ kákò, ó di òjòjò.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ kákò the-lazy-one curls-up, ó di òjòjò it becomes an-ailment.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person curls up, and his condition becomes a serious ailment."
Meaning: What begins as reluctance hardens into incapacity.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The simplest tasks become impossible undertakings for the lazy person"
Notes: Kákò is the physical posture of curling or hunching, and òjòjò is a lingering sickness rather than an acute one. The proverb describes a mechanism rather than passing a verdict: the posture comes first and the illness is manufactured out of it. Read with entry 5, which extends the same observation to how long the illness lasts.
5. Òjòjò ọ̀lẹ ò tán bọ̀rọ̀; ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì ó dáná orí.
Literal: Òjòjò ọ̀lẹ the-lazy-one's ailment ò tán bọ̀rọ̀ does-not end easily; ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì when the-lazy-one is-cornered ó dáná orí he makes-a-fire for-the-head.
Idiomatic: "A lazy person's illness is not soon over; the lazy person finds no way out and prepares a fire to warm his head."
Meaning: The idler's sickness lasts exactly as long as it is useful, and when cornered he produces a token effort.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A lazy person will use every excuse to avoid any obligation, and when he cannot avoid it, his fulfillment of it is always pitiable"
Notes: Bà á tì is to be brought up short, to run out of room. Warming the head at a fire is a gesture of nursing oneself, so the idler's response to being cornered is to perform convalescence rather than work. The proverb is two accusations joined: the illness is fake, and so is the recovery.
6. Ọ̀lẹ́ fẹ́ àrùn kù, ó bú pùrù sẹ́kún.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ fẹ́ àrùn kù the-lazy-one wanted a-disease and-it-was-lacking, ó bú pùrù sẹ́kún he burst suddenly into-weeping.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person cannot find a disease to contract, he bursts into tears."
Meaning: Denied even an excuse, the idler produces grief instead.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A lazy person will rather catch a disease than submit to work"
Notes: Bú pùrù is an ideophonic phrase for a sudden bursting, used of tears and of laughter alike, and the abruptness is the comedy. The proverb assumes the hearer already knows the idler shops for illnesses, which is why the failure to find one is funny rather than sad.
7. Ọ̀lẹ́ kún àárẹ̀ lọ́wọ́.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ kún àárẹ̀ lọ́wọ́ laziness fills weariness in-the-hand.
Idiomatic: "Laziness lends weariness a hand."
Meaning: Tiredness and idleness reinforce one another.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Laziness is often a contributor to weariness"
Notes: Kún ... lọ́wọ́, to fill someone's hand, is the ordinary idiom for assisting. The proverb is unusually mild for this set and concedes that weariness is real, claiming only that laziness makes it worse, which is a different and more careful claim than the one entry 3 makes.
8. Ọ̀lẹ́ ní ọjọ́ tí ikú bá pa òun, inú òhun á dùn. Ikú ní òun ó jẹ̀ẹ́ kí ojú ẹ̀ rí màbo.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ ní the-lazy-one says ọjọ́ tí ikú bá pa òun the-day that Death kills him, inú òhun á dùn his inside will be-sweet. Ikú ní Death says òun ó jẹ̀ẹ́ kí ojú ẹ̀ rí màbo he will make his eyes see hardship.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person says on the day he dies, he will be happy. Death says he will visit him (the lazy person) with suffering that is out of this world."
Meaning: The idler treats death as an escape and is told it is not one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is no way for the lazy person to avoid suffering"
Notes: The proverb is a two-turn dialogue, a form Yorùbá uses often, and the second speaker is Death personified answering back. Inú dùn, the inside is sweet, is the standard idiom for gladness. Owomoyela's parenthetical "(the lazy person)" is his own clarification of the pronoun. The rhetorical structure closes every exit: the one refuge the idler names is taken from him by its own occupant.
9. Ẹ̀tẹ́ bá ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Ẹ̀tẹ́ disgrace bá ọ̀lẹ meets the-lazy-one.
Idiomatic: "Disgrace comes upon the shiftless."
Meaning: Public shame is the idler's predictable end.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Disgrace attends shiftlessness"
Notes: Three words and no hedging. Ẹ̀tẹ́ is disgrace in the specific sense of a loss of standing visible to others, distinct from private guilt, and it is the pivot term of the Yorùbá proverbs on immoderation generally. The verb bá, to meet or come upon, presents the disgrace as travelling toward the person rather than being inflicted by anyone.
10. Òkú ọ̀lẹ ò ní pósí.
Literal: Òkú ọ̀lẹ a-lazy-one's corpse ò ní pósí does-not have a-coffin.
Idiomatic: "A lazy person's corpse does not merit a coffin."
Meaning: The funeral a person receives is settled by the life they led.
Used when: Owomoyela records two readings: "One does not receive in death a treatment one's life has not earned one; or, One reaps what one sows"
Notes: Pósí is a loanword for the imported wooden coffin, which places this proverb after the introduction of that burial furniture and marks it as relatively late. A Yorùbá funeral is provided by the survivors in proportion to what the dead person did for them, so the proverb is a statement about accumulated obligation rather than about ritual rules. Owomoyela's "merit" supplies a judgement the Yorùbá states as a plain fact: the corpse does not have one.
11. Ọ̀lẹ́ jogún ìbànújẹ́, ó ní òún jogún ìran òun.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ jogún ìbànújẹ́ the-lazy-one inherited sorrow, ó ní he says òún jogún ìran òun he inherited the-lot of-his lineage.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person inherits unhappiness, he says he has inherited the fate of his lineage."
Meaning: The idler reclassifies a consequence as an inheritance.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person has himself to blame, not his destiny"
Notes: The proverb turns on using jogún, to inherit, twice with different objects, so the sentence performs the substitution it is exposing. Ìran is the lineage and by extension the lot that runs in it. Yorùbá thought does allow inherited misfortune as a real category, which is precisely why the misattribution is available to the idler and why the proverb has to be said. Compare entry 12, where the same evasion is aimed at other people rather than at ancestry.
12. Ìwà ọ̀lẹ ḿba ọ̀lẹ lẹ́rù; ọ̀lẹ́ pàdánù, ó ní aráyé ò fẹ́ràn òun.
Literal: Ìwà ọ̀lẹ the-lazy-one's character ḿba ọ̀lẹ lẹ́rù fills the-lazy-one with-fear; ọ̀lẹ́ pàdánù the-lazy-one loses-out, ó ní he says aráyé ò fẹ́ràn òun the-people-of-the-world do-not love him.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person's character fills him or her with fear; the lazy person loses all and complains that the world hates him or her."
Meaning: The idler's losses come from his own character, and he attributes them to hostility.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Each person is more the architect of his or her own fortune than the victim of others' machinations"
Notes: Aráyé, the people of the world, is the standard Yorùbá term for the unspecified human agency blamed for misfortune, and it frequently carries an implication of witchcraft. The proverb's target is that habit of attribution rather than the idleness itself. This proverb also appears in owe-iwa-character as an ìwà text; it is kept here because the subject of the sentence is the idler.
13. Ọ̀lẹ́ jogún ìbáwí.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ jogún ìbáwí the-lazy-one inherits reproach.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person inherits recriminations."
Meaning: Blame accrues to the idler by default.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person is an tempting scapegoat" Owomoyela's phrasing is reproduced as printed.
Notes: Ìbáwí is verbal reproach delivered to a person's face. Read against entry 11, which uses jogún for what the idler claims, this proverb uses the same verb for what he actually gets, and the pairing looks deliberate.
14. Ọ̀lẹ ò yẹẹ́ ní lọ́mọ.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ a-lazy-one ò yẹẹ́ ní lọ́mọ is-not fitting to-have as-a-child.
Idiomatic: "A lazy person is not something one wants as a child."
Meaning: No household wants an idle child.
Used when: Owomoyela glosses it as a rhetorical question: "Who wants a lazy child?"
Notes: The proverb is aimed at a young person in the hearing of their parents, and its efficiency is that it says nothing about the child directly, only about what parents want. Yorùbá proverbs of correction very often work by this indirection, which is treated further in owe-iwa-character.
The idler's day
15. Àkùkọ-ọ́ kọ, ọ̀lẹ-ẹ́ pòṣé.
Literal: Àkùkọ-ọ́ kọ the-cock crowed, ọ̀lẹ-ẹ́ pòṣé the-lazy-one hissed.
Idiomatic: "The cock crows, and the lazy person hisses."
Meaning: The signal to begin the day is received as an irritation.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The coming of the morning is an annoyance to the lazy person"
Notes: Two clauses, four words, and the whole characterisation is in the second verb. Pòṣé is the Yorùbá hiss of contempt or annoyance made by sucking air past the teeth, a gesture with a definite social meaning and no English equivalent, so "hisses" understates it: the idler is not merely reluctant but insolent toward the morning. The cock crowing is the ordinary Yorùbá marker of the start of the working day.
16. Bí ilẹ̀-ẹ́ bá mọ́, ojú orun lọ̀lẹ ńwà.
Literal: Bí ilẹ̀-ẹ́ bá mọ́ when the-ground becomes-light, ojú orun in-the-eye of-sleep lọ̀lẹ ńwà is-where the-lazy-one is.
Idiomatic: "When day breaks the lazy person will still be asleep."
Meaning: Daybreak finds the idler where night left him.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Lazy people will not rouse themselves to do an honest day's work"
Notes: Ilẹ̀ mọ́, the ground becomes light, is the ordinary Yorùbá expression for dawn and locates daybreak in the earth rather than the sky. Ojú orun, the eye or face of sleep, treats sleep as a place a person can be inside. Farm work begins before the heat, so being asleep at first light is not a small lateness but the loss of the usable part of the day, which entry 17 states outright.
17. Kùtù-kùtù kì í jíni lẹ́ẹ̀mejì; kùtù-kùtù ní ńjẹ́ òwúrọ̀; biri ní ńjẹ́ alẹ́.
Literal: Kùtù-kùtù early-dawn kì í jíni lẹ́ẹ̀mejì does-not wake-one twice; kùtù-kùtù ní ńjẹ́ òwúrọ̀ early-dawn is-what is-called morning; biri ní ńjẹ́ alẹ́ deep-dark is-what is-called night.
Idiomatic: "Early dawn does not wake one twice; early dawn is the morning; deep darkness is night."
Meaning: The usable hour comes once and is not repeated.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The morning comes only once; whoever wastes it will discover too late that night has fallen"
Notes: Kùtù-kùtù and biri are both reduplicated or ideophonic time words carrying a texture English adverbs lack, the first brisk and the second heavy. The second and third clauses look like tautologies and are doing real work: they refuse to let the hearer redefine the terms, insisting that morning means this particular hour and not whenever one gets up. The proverb belongs equally to the corpus on time.
18. Ọwọ́ tó dilẹ̀ là ńfi lérán.
Literal: Ọwọ́ tó dilẹ̀ the-hand that is-idle là ńfi lérán is-what we use to-prop-the-chin.
Idiomatic: "It is on an idle hand that one rests one's chin."
Meaning: The unoccupied hand finds an occupation, and it is not a useful one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is when one has nothing to do that one's engages in mischief" Owomoyela's phrasing is reproduced as printed.
Notes: Dilẹ̀ is to be tied down or at rest, hence unemployed. Propping the chin on the hand is the recognised posture of someone with nothing to do and, in Yorùbá reading of the gesture, of someone brooding. The proverb notes a physical fact and lets the hearer draw the moral, which Owomoyela's note then draws.
19. Ọwọ́ àìdilẹ̀ ní ńyọ koríko lójú àna ẹ̀.
Literal: Ọwọ́ àìdilẹ̀ the-hand of-not-being-occupied ní ńyọ koríko is-what removes grass lójú àna ẹ̀ from-the-eye of-his in-law.
Idiomatic: "Idle hands are the ones obliged to remove grass specks from their in-law's eyes."
Meaning: Having no work of your own makes you available for everyone else's errands.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People who are unemployed can expect to be asked to perform all sorts of belittling tasks"
Notes: Àìdilẹ̀ is the negated nominal of the verb in entry 18, so the two proverbs are built from the same root with opposite polarity. Picking a speck from an in-law's eye is intimate, fiddly and low-status service, and affinal obligation in a Yorùbá household is real and demanding, which is what makes the example sting rather than amuse.
20. Ọ̀lẹ́ wáṣẹ́ rírọ̀ ṣe.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ wáṣẹ́ rírọ̀ ṣe the-lazy-one seeks-work that-is-soft to-do.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person seeks out an easy task to do."
Meaning: The idler works, but only at whatever costs least.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Trust the lazy person to find the easiest tasks"
Notes: Rírọ̀ is soft or pliant, used of cooked food and slack rope, so the work is characterised by texture rather than by size. The proverb concedes that the idler is not idle in the strict sense, which is a real observation and the premise for entries 21 to 24.
21. Iṣẹ́ ọ̀gẹrọ̀ lọ̀lẹ́ mọ̀-ọ́ ṣe; kò jẹ́ wá iṣẹ́ agbára.
Literal: Iṣẹ́ ọ̀gẹrọ̀ light work lọ̀lẹ́ mọ̀-ọ́ ṣe is-what the-lazy-one knows to-do; kò jẹ́ wá iṣẹ́ agbára he will-not seek work of-strength.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person knows how to do only things that call for little effort; he/she never seeks out work that demands strength."
Meaning: The idler's competence is real but confined to what is undemanding.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of those who always seek the easiest way out of a dilemma"
Notes: Iṣẹ́ agbára, work of strength, is a standing category in a farming economy and covers clearing, hoeing and carrying. The proverb's precision is in mọ̀-ọ́ ṣe, knows how to do: the complaint is not incapacity but selection.
22. Ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì, ó kó sílé Ifá.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì when the-lazy-one is-cornered, ó kó sílé Ifá he moved into-the-house-of Ifá.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person fails at everything, whereupon he becomes an Ifá acolyte."
Meaning: Failing at ordinary work, the idler takes up a calling that looks like sitting down.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person finds easy tasks to do"
Notes: This is a joke at the expense of the divination profession made from inside a society that took Ifá entirely seriously, and it should not be read as scepticism about Ifá itself. The point is about what the work looks like from outside: the babaláwo sits, handles palm nuts and speaks, and to a farmer that is not labour. Entry 23 makes exactly the same joke about Quranic schooling, and Owomoyela prints the two together with a cross-reference .
23. Ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì, ó kó sílé-e kéú.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ bà á tì when the-lazy-one is-cornered, ó kó sílé-e kéú he moved into-the-house-of Quranic-study.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person fails at everything, whereupon he goes to a Quaranic school." Owomoyela's spelling is reproduced as printed.
Meaning: The idler retreats into a life that requires no physical work.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person always seeks out the easiest employment"
Notes: Kéú is from Arabic via Hausa usage for Quranic recitation study, and its presence dates this proverb to after the establishment of Islam among the Yorùbá, giving one of the few internal chronological markers in the set. The pairing with entry 22 is the interesting part: the proverb tradition aims the identical accusation at the indigenous and the imported religious profession without distinction, which suggests the target is sedentary work rather than any particular faith.
24. “Oní ló ḿmọ,” ìjà ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: "Oní ló ḿmọ" "today is-what it-ends," ìjà ọ̀lẹ the-fight of-the-lazy-one.
Idiomatic: "'It will all end some time today': a lazy person's motto in a fight."
Meaning: The idler endures a task by counting on the day being finite.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The idler or shirker forced to perform some task is always eager for the day's end"
Notes: The quoted clause is treated as a name, a construction Yorùbá uses freely. Ìjà, a fight, is used here for any contest of endurance, so the idler's strategy in a struggle is to outlast rather than to win. The proverb is oddly sympathetic in form, since waiting out a bad day is a recognisable human tactic, and the mockery is only in attributing it to the idler as a settled policy.
25. Ọ̀lẹ́ fi ọ̀ràn gbogbo ṣe “hòo.”
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ the-lazy-one fi ọ̀ràn gbogbo ṣe "hòo" makes of every matter "hòo."
Idiomatic: "The lazy person replies 'yes' to all propositions."
Meaning: Agreement costs nothing and commits the idler to nothing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "You will get no argument from a lazy person"
Notes: Hòo is the assenting grunt rather than the word bẹ́ẹ̀ni, yes, and the difference is the proverb: the idler is not agreeing, he is emitting the minimum sound that ends the conversation. Owomoyela translates it into a word and necessarily loses the noise. The proverb is a shrewd observation that unresisting agreement is a form of non-cooperation.
Excuses, and the shirker exposed
26. Ó gbọ́ tiyán sògìrì mọ́dìí; o gbọ́ toko sọ àdá nù.
Literal: Ó gbọ́ tiyán he heard the-matter-of-pounded-yam sògìrì mọ́dìí he-tied melon-seed-condiment to-his-waist; o gbọ́ toko he heard the-matter-of-the-farm sọ àdá nù he-threw the-cutlass away.
Idiomatic: "On hearing about pounded yam he girded himself with cooked melon seeds for stew seasoning; on hearing about farm work he threw his cutlass away."
Meaning: The same man is instantly equipped for eating and instantly disarmed for work.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person will eagerly heed the summons to eat, but not to work"
Notes: The two clauses are built as a matched pair with opposite verbs of attachment and discarding, mọ́, to tie on, against sọ ... nù, to throw away. Ògìrì is fermented melon-seed condiment, the thing one brings to contribute to a meal, so girding it at the waist is arriving prepared to eat and to be seen contributing. The cutlass is the single indispensable farm tool. The proverb's economy is that it never states a judgement, only two reflexes.
27. Kí á gbé ọkọ́ so sájà ká pète ìmẹ́lẹ́; ojúgun-ún yó tán ó fikùn sẹ́hìn.
Literal: Kí á gbé ọkọ́ so sájà to hang the-hoe up in-the-loft ká pète ìmẹ́lẹ́ and plot idleness; ojúgun-ún yó tán the-shin having-eaten-its-fill ó fikùn sẹ́hìn it-put the-belly behind.
Idiomatic: "Hiding the hoe in the loft and contriving to shirk work; the shin ate its fill and developed a stomach at its back."
Meaning: Putting the tool out of reach is a deliberate plan, and the body that did no work still expects to be fed.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of people who shirk work but eagerly partake of the rewards"
Notes: Pète, to plot or scheme, is the load-bearing word: idleness here is contrived rather than merely fallen into. The second clause is an anatomical absurdity, since the shin has no belly, and the image of a stomach appearing at the back of the leg is a grotesque for someone whose appetite has attached itself where no work was done. Owomoyela renders the sense and the picture survives only partly.
28. Ọ̀bún ríkú ọkọ tìrànmọ́; ó ní ọjọ́ tí ọkọ òún ti kú òun ò fi omi kan ara.
Literal: Ọ̀bún the-filthy-woman ríkú ọkọ tìrànmọ́ found her-husband's death to-cling-to; ó ní she says ọjọ́ tí ọkọ òún ti kú since the-day her husband died òun ò fi omi kan ara she has-not put water to-body.
Idiomatic: "The filthy person takes advantage of her husband's death for blame; she says since her husband died she has not violated her person with water."
Meaning: A genuine grief is annexed as cover for a habit that predates it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Shiftless people will latch on any excuse to shirk duties"
Notes: Tìrànmọ́ is to cling to something as a support, and the whole proverb is in that verb: the death is a handhold. Yorùbá widowhood does involve a prescribed period in which washing and grooming are suspended, so the excuse is not invented but real and merely extended indefinitely, which is a sharper observation than plain lying would be. Owomoyela's "violated her person with water" preserves the woman's own indignant register.
29. Wọ́n ní, “Àparò aṣọ ẹẹ́ ṣe pọ́n báyìí?” Ó ní ìgbà wo laṣọ òun ò níí pọ́n? Kóun tó kọ igba láàárọ̀, kóun tó họ ilẹ̀ kùrẹ̀-kùrẹ̀ lábùsùndájí. Ìgbà wo lòun ó ràáàyè fọṣọ?
Literal: Wọ́n ní they said, "Àparò aṣọ ẹẹ́ ṣe pọ́n báyìí?" "Partridge, why is your cloth this red-brown?" Ó ní ìgbà wo laṣọ òun ò níí pọ́n? He says at-what time would his cloth not be-soiled? Kóun tó kọ igba láàárọ̀ before he makes two-hundred heaps in-the-morning, kóun tó họ ilẹ̀ kùrẹ̀-kùrẹ̀ lábùsùndájí before he scratches the-ground scratch-scratch at-early-waking. Ìgbà wo lòun ó ràáàyè fọṣọ? At-what time would he find leisure to-wash-cloth?
Idiomatic: "People asked the partridge, 'Why is your clothing so dirty?' He responded, 'Why would my clothing not be dirty? Given the time it takes me to make a hundred heaps in the morning, and the time I need to scratch the ground at dawn, what time is left for me to wash my clothes?'"
Meaning: The excuse is delivered fluently, at length, and describes work nobody asked the bird to do.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The shiftless can always find excuses to explain their predicament"
Notes: Igba is two hundred and Owomoyela renders it "a hundred"; the Yorùbá number is a round large quantity rather than a count, and the discrepancy is his smoothing rather than an error of substance. Kùrẹ̀-kùrẹ̀ is an ideophone for repetitive scratching, which is what partridges actually do, so the bird's self-description is accurate and still an excuse. The proverb is the longest in this file and its length is the joke: the speech justifying the state of the cloth would have sufficed to wash it.
30. Ohun tó ṣe ìwọ̀fà tí kò fi wá sóko olówó, bójú bá kan ojú yó sọ fún olówó-o rẹ̀.
Literal: Ohun tó ṣe ìwọ̀fà whatever affected the-pawn tí kò fi wá sóko olówó that-he did-not come to-the-creditor's farm, bójú bá kan ojú when eye meets eye yó sọ fún olówó-o rẹ̀ he will tell his creditor.
Idiomatic: "Whatever caused the pawned worker to stay away from the creditor's farm, when the two come face to face he will have some explaining to do."
Meaning: Absence defers the reckoning without cancelling it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever shirks his/her duty will eventually have to explain why"
Notes: The ìwọ̀fà is a pawn, a person whose labour services a debt until it is repaid, an institution documented across nineteenth-century Yorùbá society and assumed without comment by several proverbs in this file, including entry 55. Bójú bá kan ojú, when eye meets eye, is the standard idiom for an unavoidable direct encounter. The proverb is neutral in tone and reads as a statement of procedure rather than a rebuke.
31. Ẹní bá yẹ ọ̀nà Ìjẹ̀bú tì ni yó yẹ̀ ẹ́ tán.
Literal: Ẹní bá yẹ ọ̀nà Ìjẹ̀bú tì whoever weeds the-Ìjẹ̀bú road and-leaves-it-undone ni yó yẹ̀ ẹ́ tán is-who will weed it completely.
Idiomatic: "The same person who weeds the road to Ìjẹ̀bú without carrying off the weeds will eventually remove them."
Meaning: A job left half done returns to the person who half did it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The shirker will sooner or later be forced to do his or her duty; if one has to do a thing, one should do it efficiently, not half-heartedly"
Notes: Clearing the bush from a road was communal labour assigned to a town's able-bodied men, so the setting is a real obligation with named supervisors, not a metaphor. The proverb repeats the verb yẹ̀ with and without tán, completely, and the whole argument sits in that one particle.
32. Ẹnu iṣẹ́ ẹni ni a ti ḿmọ ẹni lọ́lẹ.
Literal: Ẹnu iṣẹ́ ẹni at-the-mouth of-one's work ni a ti ḿmọ ẹni lọ́lẹ is-where we know one as-an-idler.
Idiomatic: "It is at one's occupation that one proves oneself an idler."
Meaning: Idleness is diagnosed at the work itself, not from a person's talk about it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One reveals one's mettle at one's place of employment"
Notes: Ẹnu, mouth, is used spatially here for the point or opening of an activity, a common extension. The proverb states an evidential rule: the category ọ̀lẹ is assigned on observation at the workplace, which is consistent with the Yorùbá location of character judgement in what people can see, treated at length in owe-iwa-character.
33. Ẹ̀gbọ́n ṣíwájú ó so aṣọ kọ́; àbúrò-ó kẹ́hìn ó wẹ̀wù; bí a ò mọ̀lẹ, ọ̀lẹ ò mọ araa rẹ̀?
Literal: Ẹ̀gbọ́n ṣíwájú the-senior walks-in-front ó so aṣọ kọ́ he has-hung cloth-up; àbúrò-ó kẹ́hìn the-junior walks-behind ó wẹ̀wù he wears a-garment; bí a ò mọ̀lẹ if we do-not know-the-idler, ọ̀lẹ ò mọ araa rẹ̀? does-the-idler not know himself?
Idiomatic: "The elder walks in front, a loincloth draped over his shoulder; the younger walks behind, wearing a garment; if people cannot tell which one is shiftless, does he not know himself?"
Meaning: Relative prosperity has inverted the birth order, and the man who fell behind is aware of it whether or not anyone says so.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The shiftless person cannot hide his shiftlessness either from himself or from others"
Notes: The clothing detail carries the argument: the senior has only an unsewn cloth thrown over a shoulder while the junior wears a made garment. Ẹ̀gbọ́n and àbúrò are strictly relative terms of seniority applied to siblings and cousins alike. The closing rhetorical question is the sharpest thing in this file, because it removes the consolation of not being found out. This proverb also appears in owe-family-lineage-compound, where it is read for what it says about seniority; here the subject is the idleness that produced the inversion.
34. A-fasẹ́-gbèjò ńtan ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ.
Literal: A-fasẹ́-gbèjò one-who-uses-a-sieve-to-catch-rain ńtan ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ is-deceiving himself.
Idiomatic: "He-who-would-collect-rain-water-in-a-sieve deceives himself."
Meaning: Effort arranged so that it cannot retain its result is self-deception, not work.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The shiftless person hurts himself more than others"
Notes: The epithet is an oríkì-style formation compressing a whole clause into a name, the same device as at entries 3 and 57. Tan ... jẹ, to deceive, is literally to spread out and eat, so the man is both the deceiver and the meal. Owomoyela prints a second version of this proverb in Part 5 with the epithet run together as Afasẹ́gbèjò and an identical usage note ; the variation is orthographic rather than substantive.
35. Àpàkòmọ̀rà, tí ńgẹṣin lórí àpáta.
Literal: Àpàkòmọ̀rà wasteful-one-who-does-not-know-the-cost-of-things, tí ńgẹṣin lórí àpáta who rides-a-horse on rock.
Idiomatic: "A-shiftless-person-who-knows-not-what-things-cost rides a horse on rocks."
Meaning: The person who did not pay uses the thing in the way that destroys it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who has no part in paying for a thing is seldom careful in using it"
Notes: Àpà is the wasteful person, the term that also anchors entries 56, 58 and 59, and kò mọ̀ rà, does not know buying, names the specific defect. Riding a horse over bare rock ruins its hooves, so the image is technically exact rather than merely reckless. Compare entry 36, which makes the same point with a corpse instead of a rider.
36. Òkú ò moye à ńràgọ̀.
Literal: Òkú the-corpse ò moye does-not know-the-amount à ńràgọ̀ that-we spend-buying-the-shroud.
Idiomatic: "The corpse does not know the cost of the shroud."
Meaning: The one who does not settle the bill has no view about its size.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The person who does not have to pay the bills does not care how expensive the things he wastes are"
Notes: Burial cloth is a substantial expense borne by the survivors, and Yorùbá funerals are a principal occasion of lineage expenditure, so the example is drawn from the most expensive thing a family routinely buys for someone who cannot appreciate it. The proverb is blunter than entry 35 and states the principle without the picture.
The idler and other people
37. A kì í rán ọ̀lẹ wo ojú ọjọ́ àárọ̀.
Literal: A kì í rán ọ̀lẹ one does-not send an-idler wo ojú ọjọ́ àárọ̀ to-look-at the-face of-the-morning weather.
Idiomatic: "One does not send a shirker to go see what the morning looks like outside."
Meaning: Do not appoint as your reporter the person whose interests the report will serve.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Never rely on the advice of people who have a vested interest in the matter being considered"
Notes: Ojú ọjọ́, the face of the day, is the ordinary word for weather. The joke is precise: the idler sent to check whether it is fit to go to the farm will come back and say it is raining. The proverb is about conflicted testimony generally and belongs with the proverbs on evidence and witnesses, but it names the idler as the standing example.
38. Àì-roko, àì-rodò tí ńṣápẹ́ fún eégún jó.
Literal: Àì-roko not-going-to-the-farm, àì-rodò not-going-to-the-river tí ńṣápẹ́ fún eégún jó who claps for the-masquerade to-dance.
Idiomatic: "Not-going-to-the-farm, not-going-to-the-river that claps for masqueraders to dance."
Meaning: The person free to attend the festival in the middle of the working day is free because he does nothing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is an idler who makes music for masqueraders to dance"
Notes: The two negated nominals formed with àì- are used as a name for the person, so he is called Not-Farming-Not-Fetching-Water rather than described as idle. Farm and river are the two standard daily errands, the man's and the woman's, so the compound covers all ordinary work. Clapping for the eégún is participation without expense or effort, which is the exact social position the proverb pins him in.
39. Mábàjẹ́ ò jẹ́ fi aṣọ-ọ ẹ̀ fún ọ̀lẹ bora.
Literal: Mábàjẹ́ Do-not-let-it-spoil ò jẹ́ fi aṣọ-ọ ẹ̀ fún ọ̀lẹ bora would-not give his cloth to an-idler to-cover-himself.
Idiomatic: "Mábàjẹ́ will never think of giving his covering cloth to a shiftless person to use."
Meaning: Anyone who cares about his property keeps it away from people who will not look after it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever values his or her property will not entrust it to worthless people"
Notes: Mábàjẹ́ is a personal name meaning "do not let it be spoiled," and using it as the subject makes the sentence a small allegory in which carefulness itself declines the loan. A body cloth is a significant possession and is slept in, so lending one is a real transfer of value. The proverb is about lending rather than about idleness, and it registers the idler as an established credit risk.
40. Ó dé orí akáhín àkàràá deegun.
Literal: Ó dé orí akáhín it-arrived at-the-head-of a-toothless-one àkàràá deegun bean-fritter became bone.
Idiomatic: "In the mouth of a toothless person bean fritters become like bones."
Meaning: In the wrong hands the easiest thing becomes impossible.
Used when: Owomoyela: "To the shiftless person the easiest task is onerous indeed"
Notes: Àkàrà is the fried bean fritter, soft enough to need no chewing, which is what makes it the correct example. The proverb is not about idleness on its face and Owomoyela's usage note is what attaches it to the idler; on the surface it states a general fact about mismatch between task and capacity. Read literally it is a proverb about disability rather than sloth, and the two readings are both live.
41. Kò sí ibi tí kò gba ọ̀gọ̀; ọ̀lẹ layé ò gbà.
Literal: Kò sí ibi tí kò gba ọ̀gọ̀ there-is-no place that does-not accept a-fool; ọ̀lẹ layé ò gbà it-is-the-idler that the-world does-not accept.
Idiomatic: "There is no place where a fool is not welcome; the world rejects only shiftless people."
Meaning: Stupidity is tolerated everywhere; idleness is the one disqualification.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People may be foolish, but they had better not be shiftless"
Notes: The proverb ranks two defects against each other and is unusually explicit about the criterion, which is contribution rather than capacity. Ayé, the world, here means the community of people rather than the cosmos. This is the clearest statement in the file of why the corpus is so hard on the idler: the fool cannot help himself and the idler will not.
42. Lójú òpè, bí-i kọ́lọgbọ́n dàbí ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Lójú òpè in-the-eye of-the-ignoramus, bí-i kọ́lọgbọ́n dàbí ọ̀lẹ it-is-as-though the-wise-one should-be like an-idler.
Idiomatic: "As far as the dunce is concerned, the wise person should rather be shiftless."
Meaning: The worthless man would prefer that able people were as useless as he is.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The worthless person always wishes others were equally worthless"
Notes: Òpè is the ignorant or unskilled person, distinct from ọ̀gọ̀, the fool of entry 41. The proverb reports a wish rather than a fact and is used to explain hostility, which makes it the counterpart of entries 43 and 44: those state the enmity, this one supplies its motive.
43. Òṣìṣẹ́ lọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Òṣìṣẹ́ the-worker lọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ is-the-enemy of-the-idler.
Idiomatic: "The industrious person is the enemy of the shiftless person."
Meaning: The working man is resented simply for working.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People with flaws hate those who might show them up"
Notes: Three words. The direction of the enmity is worth attending to: the proverb names the worker as the enemy, meaning the one the idler regards as such, not the one who feels hostility. Entry 44 states the same relation in a doubled form that makes the asymmetry explicit.
44. Abiyamọ ọ̀tá àgàn; ẹní ńṣiṣẹ́ ọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Abiyamọ a-nursing-mother ọ̀tá àgàn enemy of-the-barren-woman; ẹní ńṣiṣẹ́ one-who works ọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ enemy of-the-idler.
Idiomatic: "Nursing mother, enemy of the barren woman; working person, enemy of the idler."
Meaning: People are hated for possessing what others lack, and neither the mother nor the worker has done anything to earn the hatred.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The mother incurs the envy of barren woman; the hard worker incurs the hatred of the idler"
Notes: The parallel is doing analytic work rather than decorating: pairing childlessness with idleness places the two in one class of lack, though the first is a misfortune and the second a choice, and the proverb declines to distinguish them. Àgàn is the woman who has borne no child, a condition of acute social difficulty in a lineage system, and the frankness of the comparison is characteristic of the corpus.
45. Tinú ọ̀lẹ lọ̀lẹ ńjẹ; aṣiwèrè èèyàn ni ò mọ èrú tí yó gbà.
Literal: Tinú ọ̀lẹ that-which-is-inside the-idler lọ̀lẹ ńjẹ is-what the-idler eats; aṣiwèrè èèyàn a-foolish person ni ò mọ èrú tí yó gbà is-who does-not know the-trick that will work.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person eats the products of his native wisdom; only a fool does not know what devious way will be fruitful."
Meaning: The idler lives on his wits, and the least he can do is have some.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one lacks industry, one had better be resourceful"
Notes: This is the most cynical proverb in the file and the only one that offers the idler practical advice. Èrú is a trick or stratagem with a definite flavour of deceit. The corpus does not have a single position on idleness, and this entry, read against entry 41, shows the range: one text says the world will not have him, the other tells him how to get by inside it.
46. Eṣinṣín ńpọntí; ekòló ńṣú ọ̀lẹ̀lẹ̀; kantí-kantí ní ká wá ǹkan dí agbè lẹ́nu kí ǹkankan má kòó sí i.
Literal: Eṣinṣín ńpọntí the-fly is-brewing-beer; ekòló ńṣú ọ̀lẹ̀lẹ̀ the-earthworm is-steaming bean-pudding; kantí-kantí ní the-sugar-fly says ká wá ǹkan dí agbè lẹ́nu let-us find something to-stop the-gourd at-the-mouth kí ǹkankan má kòó sí i so-that nothing may-fall into it.
Idiomatic: "The fly is procuring wine while the worm is cooking bean-meal, and the sugar-fly asks them to find something to cork the gourd so nothing would enter into it."
Meaning: The one doing nothing supplies the supervision.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The idler seeks to find more work for those already fully and usefully employed"
Notes: Two insects and a worm are given real occupations and the third insect is given an opinion, which is the whole architecture of the joke. Kantí-kantí is the small fly that gathers on sweet things, so the character best known for settling uninvited on other people's food is the one issuing instructions about hygiene. The proverb is a compact satire on unearned oversight and translates almost without loss.
Hunger as the idler's wage
47. Òrìṣà tí ńgbọ̀lẹ ò sí; apá ẹni ní ńgbeni.
Literal: Òrìṣà tí ńgbọ̀lẹ ò sí there-is-no òrìṣà that supports an-idler; apá ẹni ní ńgbeni one's-own arms are-what support one.
Idiomatic: "There is no god that comes to the aid of shiftless people; only one's arms aid one."
Meaning: Divine support does not substitute for labour.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One's well-being is in the strength of one's arms" Said to someone whose plan for their circumstances is prayer or sacrifice.
Notes: This is a significant text for anyone arguing about Yorùbá religion and work, because it is stated from inside the tradition rather than against it: the òrìṣà are not denied, their jurisdiction is bounded. Gbe is to support or carry, used of what a deity does for a devotee, and the proverb uses the same verb for the arms, so the arms are put in the deity's grammatical position. Compare entry 22, where the idler's move into Ifá practice is mocked for the same underlying reason.
48. Ṣe kóo ní; àbá ò di tẹni; èèyàn ò ṣoògùn ọrọ̀.
Literal: Ṣe kóo ní work so-that-you may-have; àbá ò di tẹni an-intention does-not become one's-own; èèyàn ò ṣoògùn ọrọ̀ a-person does-not make medicine for-wealth.
Idiomatic: "Work in order that you might have; intentions do not become possessions; no one makes money by magic."
Meaning: Wealth comes from work, not from intending or from preparation.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Labor, not idle thought, produces wealth"
Notes: Oògùn is medicine in the wide Yorùbá sense that includes prepared charms, and denying that there is an oògùn for wealth is a substantive claim in a culture that has oògùn for a great many outcomes. Àbá is an intention or proposal, and the middle clause is the hinge: it separates the wish from the property. The proverb belongs to the same family as iṣẹ́ ni oògùn ìṣẹ́, work is the medicine of poverty, which is treated in yoruba-owe-proverbs.
49. Owó ò níran; àfi ẹni tí kò bá ṣiṣẹ́.
Literal: Owó ò níran money has-no lineage; àfi ẹni tí kò bá ṣiṣẹ́ except the-person who does-not work.
Idiomatic: "Money has no lineage; except for the person who will not work."
Meaning: Wealth is open to anyone, and the single excluded category is the idle.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Money does not restrict itself to certain families; only the shiftless are shunned by money"
Notes: Ìran is the lineage, the descent group that in Yorùbá society governs rights to land, title and much else, so denying that money has one is a strong statement about wealth as the exception to ascription. The proverb then reintroduces one hereditary-looking barrier and makes it behavioural. It sits interestingly beside entry 11, where the idler tries to claim precisely a lineage explanation for his condition.
50. Ìròjú baba ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Ìròjú forcing-oneself-through, baba ọ̀lẹ father of-the-idler.
Idiomatic: "Shirking work 'is the' father of laziness." The quotation marks are Owomoyela's, marking words he has supplied.
Meaning: The habit of doing the minimum is the parent of full idleness.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The person who will not work is worse than a lazy person"
Notes: Ìròjú ordinarily means enduring or making shift, often approvingly, and its appearance here as the ancestor of laziness is not the obvious reading of the word. Owomoyela translates it "shirking work," which resolves an ambiguity the Yorùbá leaves open, and his usage note points a different way again, distinguishing the person who will not work from the lazy person. The relation between the note and the translation is not straightforward. Confidence on the gloss: medium.
51. A-lágbára-má-mèrò, baba ọ̀lẹ́.
Literal: A-lágbára-má-mèrò one-who-has-strength-and-does-not-have-thought, baba ọ̀lẹ́ father of-the-idler.
Idiomatic: "He-who-has-strength-but-lacks-discretion, father of laziness."
Meaning: Force without judgement is worse than doing nothing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A powerful but thoughtless person is worse than the laziest person"
Notes: The epithet is the same a- ... má- nominal pattern as at entry 3. The proverb is the one place in this file where idleness is used as a measuring stick for something judged worse, which tells you where laziness sits on the scale: near the bottom, but with room beneath it. Èrò is thought or deliberation, the faculty that makes strength useful.
52. Igbe kí-ni-ngó-jẹ-sùn ní ḿpọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Igbe the-cry kí-ni-ngó-jẹ-sùn what-shall-I-eat-and-sleep ní ḿpọ̀lẹ is-what kills-the-idler.
Idiomatic: "The cry 'What shall I eat for supper?' is what kills the lazy person."
Meaning: The idler dies of the question rather than of the hunger.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person will rather put his/her efforts into lamenting his/her fate than into gainful employment"
Notes: The whole question is compressed into a hyphenated nominal and used as the subject of the sentence, so the lament is grammatically the killer. Jẹ ... sùn, to eat and sleep, is the ordinary way of naming the evening meal. The proverb identifies the fatal element precisely: not the empty pot but the energy spent narrating it.
53. Ọjọ́ a bá kọ́ ọ̀lẹ là ńkọ́ inú rírọ́.
Literal: Ọjọ́ a bá kọ́ ọ̀lẹ the-day one learns idleness là ńkọ́ inú rírọ́ is-when one learns a-shrivelled inside.
Idiomatic: "The day one learns laziness is the day one should learn how to endure a painfully empty stomach."
Meaning: Idleness and hunger are taken up together, whether or not the learner knows it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person should not expect to be fed by others"
Notes: Inú rírọ́ is the inside gone shrunken or wizened, a physical description rather than the abstract "hunger," and Owomoyela's "painfully empty stomach" is a fair rendering of a phrase English has no single word for. The verb kọ́, to learn, governs both clauses, which frames both idleness and starvation as skills acquired in one lesson.
54. Ìṣẹ́ ò gbẹ́kún, ebí jàre ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Ìṣẹ́ destitution ò gbẹ́kún does-not accept weeping, ebí jàre ọ̀lẹ hunger is-justified-against the-idler.
Idiomatic: "Destitution does not yield to tears; hunger has a claim on the shiftless."
Meaning: Poverty is not moved by grief, and hunger is in the right when it comes for the idle.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One does not end one's destitution by simple lamentation; whoever does not work is a fair victim to hunger"
Notes: Jàre is a legal verb: to be in the right in a dispute, to win a case. Saying that hunger jàre the idler puts the two in court and gives hunger the verdict, which is a far stronger construction than saying hunger is deserved. This is the pivot proverb between this file and owe-hunger-food-plenty, and it is the clearest instance of the corpus treating starvation as a judgement rather than a misfortune.
55. Bí ebí bá ńpa ọ̀lẹ, à jẹ́ kó kú.
Literal: Bí ebí bá ńpa ọ̀lẹ if hunger is-killing an-idler, à jẹ́ kó kú let-us allow that-he die.
Idiomatic: "If a lazy person is suffering from hunger, he/she should be left to die."
Meaning: The idler's hunger creates no obligation in anyone else.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Shiftless people deserve no sympathy"
Notes: This is the hardest proverb in the file and it is recorded without softening. Ebi pa, hunger kills, is the ordinary Yorùbá construction for being hungry, so the sentence exploits a dead metaphor by letting the killing be literal. Set against the extensive Yorùbá proverb literature on obligatory hospitality and on feeding the stranger, which is collected in owe-hunger-food-plenty, this entry marks the boundary of that obligation. A corpus that prints the hospitality proverbs and omits this one would misrepresent the tradition.
56. Òjò-ó pọnmi fún ọ̀lẹ, kò ṣẹ́gi fún ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Òjò-ó pọnmi fún ọ̀lẹ the-rain draws-water for the-idler, kò ṣẹ́gi fún ọ̀lẹ it-does-not split-firewood for the-idler.
Idiomatic: "The rain provides water for the lazy person; but it does not fetch firewood for the lazy person."
Meaning: Chance provides a part and never the whole.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Parasites can have only so much done for them, never everything"
Notes: The two chores named are the complete daily fetching, water and fuel, and the proverb concedes exactly one of them. Rain does fill the pots, so the concession is real and observed, which is what keeps the proverb from being merely severe. The pair of verbs pọn and ṣẹ́ are the standard collocations for their objects and the symmetry is exact in Yorùbá.
57. Ọjọ́ eré lọ̀ràn ńdun ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Ọjọ́ eré the-day of-festivity lọ̀ràn ńdun ọ̀lẹ is-when the-matter pains the-idler.
Idiomatic: "It is on the day of relaxation that the lazy person experiences regret."
Meaning: The reckoning arrives at the festival, not during the working season.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People who did not save for a rainy day will regret when those who did save enjoy the benefits of their foresight"
Notes: Yorùbá festivals are the occasions on which a household displays what its year produced, in cloth, in food and in gifts, so the festival is an audit. Entry 58 is the expanded version of this proverb and supplies the picture.
58. Ní ọjọ́ eré nìyà ńdun ọ̀lẹ; kàkà kó wọlé kó jáde a fọwọ́ rọ igi, a pòṣé ṣàrà.
Literal: Ní ọjọ́ eré on the-day of-festivity nìyà ńdun ọ̀lẹ is-when suffering pains the-idler; kàkà kó wọlé kó jáde rather-than that-he go-in and come-out, a fọwọ́ rọ igi he leans his-arms on a-tree, a pòṣé ṣàrà he hisses repeatedly.
Idiomatic: "It is on the day of festivities that the lazy person is miserable; instead of going inside his room and emerging again 'in other words, fetching gifts for the revelers' he leans his arms against a tree and hisses incessantly." The quotation marks and the explanation inside them are Owomoyela's.
Meaning: At the moment when a man is expected to produce something, the idler has nothing to go indoors for.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Shiftless people eventually reap the disgrace of their laziness when they are unable to do what is socially expected of them"
Notes: Going in and coming out is the physical rhythm of a host at a festival, repeatedly fetching what he is giving away, and Owomoyela's bracketed explanation is needed because the Yorùbá names only the movement. The hiss, pòṣé, returns from entry 15, where it greeted the morning: the same gesture opens and closes the idler's year. Leaning on a tree is the posture of a man with empty hands.
59. Ọlọgbọ́n kì í kú sóko ọ̀lẹ; bí ọlọgbọ́n bá kú sóko ọ̀lẹ, ọ̀ràn náà-á nídìí.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n kì í kú sóko ọ̀lẹ a-wise-person does-not die on the-idler's farm; bí ọlọgbọ́n bá kú sóko ọ̀lẹ if a-wise-person dies on the-idler's farm, ọ̀ràn náà-á nídìí that matter has a-bottom.
Idiomatic: "The wise will not die on a farm for the lazy; if a wise person dies on a farm for the lazy, there must be some explanation."
Meaning: Nobody competent works himself to death on an idle man's land, and if it happens something else is going on.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The resourceful person will always find a way out of a predicament"
Notes: Ọ̀ràn ... nídìí, the matter has a bottom or a base, is the standard Yorùbá formula for saying there is more to a case than appears, and it belongs to the vocabulary of dispute settlement. The proverb assumes a specific arrangement, working another man's farm, which was common under pawnship and clientage; see entry 30 for the same institution.
Waste, spending and the value of things
60. Ọ̀-jẹ-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù-kú-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù lorúkọ tí àpà ńjẹ́.
Literal: Ọ̀-jẹ-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù-kú-wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù One-who-eats-anyhow-and-dies-anyhow lorúkọ tí àpà ńjẹ́ is-the-name that the-waster is-called.
Idiomatic: "One-who-eats-recklessly-and-dies-recklessly is the name one calls a wasteful person."
Meaning: The waster's manner of consuming and his manner of ending are the same and are named together.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Wasteful people will never learn the value of things"
Notes: Wọ̀mù-wọ̀mù is an ideophone for careless, indiscriminate action, and repeating it across both verbs is the whole device: the way he eats is the way he dies. The compound is an oríkì-style name of the kind praise poetry uses for a hero, applied here to a wastrel, which is the same ironic use of the praise register noted in owe-iwa-character.
61. Oókan-án sọni dahuń eéjì-í sọni dàpà.
Literal: Oókan-án sọni dahuń one-cowrie turns-one into-a-miser, eéjì-í sọni dàpà two turns-one into-a-waster.
Idiomatic: "One cowrie makes a miser of one; two cowries make a spendthrift of one."
Meaning: Both meanness and extravagance are produced by the amount in hand rather than by character.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When one has little one seems a miser; when one has plenty one becomes careless with money"
Notes: The cowrie reference dates the proverb to the cowrie currency period, which ran until the early colonial era. This is the most sociologically interesting proverb in the group because it declines the moral framing the rest of the file uses: àpà, the waster condemned at entries 35 and 60, is here a product of circumstance. Two cowries is a trivial sum, so the proverb is also saying the threshold is absurdly low.
62. Ara ẹ̀ lara ẹ̀: ṣòkòtò ọlọ́pàá.
Literal: Ara ẹ̀ lara ẹ̀ a-part of-it is-a-part of-it: ṣòkòtò ọlọ́pàá the-policeman's trousers.
Idiomatic: "A little bit of it is a little bit of it: the policeman's short pants."
Meaning: A shortened thing is still the thing and still does its work.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Leave nothing to waste, for one can always find some use for the smallest remnant"
Notes: Ọlọ́pàá is the colonial police constable and the short trousers are the colonial uniform, which dates the proverb firmly to the colonial period or after and makes it one of the youngest texts in this file. The joke is that shorts are trousers that ran out, and the proverb makes that an argument for thrift rather than a criticism of the uniform.
63. Náwó-náwó kì í ṣàpà.
Literal: Náwó-náwó spending-money-spending-money kì í ṣàpà is-not being-a-waster.
Idiomatic: "The big spender is not a prodigal."
Meaning: Spending freely is not the same offence as wasting.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is nothing wrong with spending one's money"
Notes: This proverb and entry 64 are the correction the file needs, and they come from Owomoyela's section on consideration and kindness rather than from the sections on prudence . The Yorùbá corpus distinguishes àpà, the waster, from the person who simply spends, and the distinction turns on whether value is destroyed or transferred. Reduplicating ná owó gives the sense of spending repeatedly and conspicuously, so even the emphatic case is exempted.
64. Ọ̀mùtí kì í ṣàpà; owó ẹ̀ ló ńná.
Literal: Ọ̀mùtí kì í ṣàpà a-drunkard is-not a-waster; owó ẹ̀ ló ńná it-is-his-own money that he-is-spending.
Idiomatic: "The drunkard is not a prodigal; it is his money that he is spending."
Meaning: What a man does with his own money is not waste in the sense the community may object to.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One can spend one's money as one wishes"
Notes: The proverb defends the least defensible spender available, which is how it establishes the principle at full strength. The implicit standard is ownership: àpà is a charge that can only be brought where the resources are not solely the spender's, which fits a society where much property is held with lineage claims attached. Read with entry 35, where the wastefulness consists precisely in using what someone else paid for, the two proverbs describe a consistent rule rather than a contradiction.
65. Fáàárí àṣejù, oko olówó ní ḿmú ọmọ lọ.
Literal: Fáàárí àṣejù excessive showing-off, oko olówó the-creditor's farm ní ḿmú ọmọ lọ is-where it-takes the-young-man.
Idiomatic: "Intemperate dandyism lands a youth in a creditor's farm as a pawn."
Meaning: Display bought on credit ends in bonded labour.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Squandered resources bring destitution"
Notes: Fáàárí is showy self-display, particularly in dress, and àṣejù is excess, the term that anchors the Yorùbá proverbs on immoderation generally. The mechanism named is exact and historical: debt incurred for finery, then pawnship on the creditor's farm to work it off. See entry 30 for the same institution from the pawn's side, and owe-family-lineage-compound on households pawning their members.
66. Ẹni tó fi irun dúdú ṣeré, yó fi funfun sin ẹniẹlẹ́ni.
Literal: Ẹni tó fi irun dúdú ṣeré whoever uses black hair to-play, yó fi funfun sin ẹniẹlẹ́ni will use white to-serve other-people.
Idiomatic: "Whoever plays around with his or her black hair will serve others with his or her white hair."
Meaning: A wasted youth is paid for by an old age spent working for other people.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one wastes one's youth, one spends one's old age struggling for a living"
Notes: Hair colour stands for the two ages of life without either being named, and the contrast of ṣeré, to play, with sin, to serve, sets the account. Sin is the verb for serving a master or a deity, so the old age described is dependent rather than merely laborious. In a society where old age is expected to bring deference and support from juniors, being in service at that stage is a specific and visible failure.
67. Kíjìpá laṣọ ọ̀lẹ; òfì laṣọ àgbà; àgbà tí ò ní tòfì a rọ́jú ra kíjìpá.
Literal: Kíjìpá laṣọ ọ̀lẹ coarse-cloth is-the-cloth of-the-idler; òfì laṣọ àgbà fine-woven-cloth is-the-cloth of-the-elder; àgbà tí ò ní tòfì an-elder who has-no fine-cloth a rọ́jú ra kíjìpá will make-shift to-buy coarse-cloth.
Idiomatic: "Durable hand-woven cloth is the material for shiftless people; loom-woven cloth is the material for the elders; whichever elder cannot afford loom-woven cloth should strive for durable hand-woven cloth."
Meaning: Cloth ranks people, and an elder who cannot reach the higher grade should still reach for the lower rather than go without.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one cannot have the perfect thing, one should strive to have at least something"
Notes: Kíjìpá is thick coarse hand-woven cloth and òfì the finer narrow-loom weave, a real material hierarchy with known prices, so the proverb is a piece of accurate social description before it is a moral. Its logic runs the opposite way from most of this file: it is addressed to the elder rather than the idler and its advice is to spend rather than to save.
68. Ẹni tí a bá ḿbá ṣiṣẹ́ kì í ṣọ̀lẹ; bórí bá túnni ṣe a kì í tẹ́ bọ̀rọ̀.
Literal: Ẹni tí a bá ḿbá ṣiṣẹ́ one whom we are-helping to-work kì í ṣọ̀lẹ does-not act-the-idler; bórí bá túnni ṣe if orí has-remade one, a kì í tẹ́ bọ̀rọ̀ one is-not disgraced easily.
Idiomatic: "The person being lent a hand does not malinger; if Providence favors one, one is not easily disgraced."
Meaning: Help arriving is the moment to work hardest, not to rest.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should make the most of unexpected good fortune, and not squander the opportunity it presents"
Notes: Orí is the inner head, the destiny chosen before birth, and Owomoyela renders it "Providence," which moves a technical Yorùbá term into a Christian register; the Yorùbá says orí. Tún ni ṣe, to remake one, is the standard phrase for one's orí improving one's circumstances. The proverb assumes communal work parties, in which neighbours work a member's farm in rotation, and the beneficiary's visible effort is what earns the next turn.
69. Ibi tí a ti mú ọ̀lẹ ò kúnná; ibi tí a ti mú alágbáraá tó oko-ó ro.
Literal: Ibi tí a ti mú ọ̀lẹ the-place where an-idler was-seized ò kúnná is-not scuffed; ibi tí a ti mú alágbáraá the-place where a-strong-man was-seized tó oko-ó ro is-enough for-a-farm to-be-tilled.
Idiomatic: "The place where a lazy person was apprehended bears no marks; the place where a powerful man was apprehended is broad enough to plant a farm."
Meaning: The ground records how hard a man fought, and the idler's capture leaves it undisturbed.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A worthy person, even if eventually vanquished, will leave signs of powerful resistance behind"
Notes: The measure is forensic: the size of the churned ground is read as evidence of the struggle. Seizure here is capture in war or slave-raiding, a live danger through the nineteenth-century Yorùbá wars, so the proverb is set in a real and recent situation rather than an imagined one. Both men end captured, which the proverb does not dispute; what it grades is the trace.
70. Ìyànjú là ńgbà; bí a ò gbìyànjú bí ọ̀lẹ là ńrí; ojoojúmọ́ ní ńrẹni.
Literal: Ìyànjú là ńgbà effort is-what we take; bí a ò gbìyànjú if we do-not make-effort bí ọ̀lẹ là ńrí we appear like an-idler; ojoojúmọ́ ní ńrẹni it-is-daily that one-is-wearied.
Idiomatic: "One simply makes an effort; if one does not make an effort one seems like a shiftless person; one copes with weariness daily."
Meaning: Tiredness is the permanent condition, and effort is made inside it rather than after it lifts.
Used when: Owomoyela: "In spite of weariness, one must still make a decent effort at one's calling"
Notes: The final clause is the reason to end the file here. It concedes what the other sixty-nine proverbs mostly refuse, that the work is genuinely exhausting and that the exhaustion recurs every day, and it still asks for the effort. Bí ọ̀lẹ là ńrí, one appears like an idler, is also carefully put: the concern is the appearance and the judgement, which is where this whole corpus locates the sanction.
Reading this set
Four things are visible across these seventy proverbs that no single proverb states.
Hunger is the sanction, and it is described as just. The corpus does not threaten the idler with poverty in the abstract. It threatens him with an empty stomach, and at entry 54 it says hunger jàre, wins its case against him, using the vocabulary of legal judgement. Entry 55 goes further and withdraws the obligation to feed him at all. Since Yorùbá proverbs elsewhere make feeding a stranger close to mandatory, as the companion file owe-hunger-food-plenty shows in detail, these texts are marking the one exception in an otherwise strong duty. That is the sharpest ethical claim in the file and it is stated without hedging.
The idler is characterised by his explanations, not by his inactivity. Roughly a third of the file is taken up with what the idler says: he inherited it from his lineage (11), the world hates him (12), his husband died (28), the farm work is why the cloth is filthy (29), death will be a relief (8). The proverbs are consistently more interested in the account than in the conduct, and the recurring accusation is not sloth but misattribution. Entry 12 states the general rule that a person is more the author of his fortune than the victim of others, and the rest of the file is worked examples.
The corpus does not have one position, and the exceptions are precise. Entry 45 advises the idler on how to survive by his wits. Entries 63 and 64 defend the free spender and even the drunkard against the charge of waste, on the explicit ground that the money is his own. Entry 61 says that miserliness and extravagance are produced by how much is in hand rather than by character. Entry 70 admits that the work is exhausting every day. These are not stray items: they mark the limits of a rule that the rest of the file states forcefully, and a summary that reported only the severity would be inaccurate. The distinguishing test that emerges from entries 35, 63 and 64 together is ownership, since waste is a charge available only where the resources destroyed were not solely the spender's.
The proverbs are datable in places, and unevenly. Cowrie currency at entry 61, Quranic schooling at entry 23, the imported coffin at entry 10, pawnship at entries 30 and 65, wartime capture at entry 69, and the colonial policeman's uniform at entry 62 span several centuries. Owomoyela attaches no dates and names no informants , so these internal markers are the only chronology available, and they show that what reads as a single traditional voice is in fact an accumulation with a long and still-open tail.