Numbers and Counting in Proverb
Thirteen Yorùbá proverbs built on méjì (two) and other numerals, showing a productive formula, "two X cannot Y in the same place," used repeatedly to argue that rival powers or claims cannot share one space.
Méjì, two, is by a wide margin the most productive number in Owomoyela's proverb collection, and it generates a recognisable formula repeated with different images across dozens of entries: two of a kind cannot occupy, drink from, or otherwise share a single confined space, and the incompatibility argues for a point about rivalry, exclusivity, or irreconcilable difference in human affairs. This file collects thirteen proverbs built on that formula and on a few other numerical constructions, chosen for cases where the number itself, not merely an incidental detail, carries the argument.
The "two cannot share one space" formula
1. A kì í lẹku méjì ká má pòfo.
Literal: A kì í lẹ ku méjì one does-not chase two rats ká má pòfo and not come-away-empty-handed.
Idiomatic: "One does not chase two rats and avoid coming up empty."
Meaning: Pursuing two goals at once results in achieving neither.
Used when: Used to caution against divided effort.
Notes: This is the clearest statement of the formula's underlying logic even though its image, two separate pursuits rather than two occupants of one space, is a variant; entry 5 below states the identical claim as a directly cross-referenced companion.
Source: Owomoyela 616.
2. A kì í ṣòwò méjì kí ẹran má jẹ kán.
Literal: A kì í ṣòwò méjì one does-not engage-in two-trades kí ẹran má jẹ kán without a-goat eating one-of-them.
Idiomatic: "One does not engage in two trades without having one consumed by goats."
Meaning: One cannot effectively manage two enterprises at once; divided attention costs one of them.
Used when: Owomoyela cross-references two related entries (620 and 623) making the same point about divided effort .
Notes: The image of a goat eating unattended merchandise gives the abstract claim about divided attention a concrete, almost comic penalty, consistent with how this proverb tradition prefers a vivid single incident over an abstract statement.
Source: Owomoyela 645; compare 620, 623.
3. Ìyàwù kan ṣoṣo ò lè gba olókùnrùn méjì.
Literal: Ìyàwù kan ṣoṣo a-single room ò lè gba olókùnrùn méjì cannot accommodate two invalids.
Idiomatic: "One single room will not do for two invalids."
Meaning: Adequate provision must be made for whatever situation one intends to undertake; cramming incompatible needs into insufficient space fails.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Make adequate provisions for whatever one contemplates doing"
Notes: This is the formula in its most literal form: two of a kind (here, two invalids requiring care and space) genuinely cannot share one confined space without conflict, which is the template the more figurative entries below extend to abstract rivalries.
Source: Owomoyela 1634.
4. Òkè méjì kì í bínú ẹni; bí a bá gun kan, à sì máa rọ̀ kan.
Literal: Òkè méjì two hills kì í bínú ẹni do-not trouble one; bí a bá gun kan if one climbs one, à sì máa rọ̀ kan one also descends one.
Idiomatic: "One cannot be bedeviled by two hills; if one ascends a hill, one descends a hill."
Meaning: Every hill one must climb has a descent on the other side; difficulties resolve in turn rather than compounding without end.
Used when: Used as reassurance that hardship, like a hill, has a far side.
Notes: Unlike most entries in this file, the "two" here is not two rivals sharing one space but a reassurance that difficulties are sequential rather than simultaneous, a distinct use of the numeral within the same broad category of two-based proverbs.
Source: Owomoyela 2277.
5. Afínjú méjì kì í wo òjìji wọn nínú agada.
Literal: Afínjú méjì two fashionable-people kì í wo òjìji wọn do-not look-at their-reflections nínú agada in [the same] cutlass-blade/mirror.
Idiomatic: "Two fops will not share the same mirror."
Meaning: Vanity leaves no room for rivalry; two people equally invested in their own image cannot cooperate over a shared point of vanity.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Arrogance leaves no room for rivalry"
Notes: This entry gives the formula its sharpest social application in the set: the incompatibility is not about scarce physical resources but about a psychological unwillingness to share attention or status, which the shared-mirror image renders vivid.
Source: Owomoyela 3297.
6. A-bojú-gòdògbà kì í ríran lọ́nà méjì.
Literal: A-bojú-gòdògbà one-with-huge-eyes kì í ríran lọ́nà méjì does-not see in-two directions.
Idiomatic: "A person with huge eyes does not see in two directions at once."
Meaning: The size of a capacity offers no special advantage over its ordinary limits; even large eyes are limited to one direction of sight at a time.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "The size of the eyes offers no special advantage"
Notes: This entry uses "two" to state a hard physical limit (direction of sight) rather than a social rivalry, applied by extension to any claim that greater capacity removes an ordinary constraint.
Source: Owomoyela 3631.
7. Ṣó-ń-ṣó méjì kì í forí kan orí.
Literal: Ṣó-ń-ṣó méjì two pinnacles/sharp-points kì í forí kan orí do-not touch heads.
Idiomatic: "Two pinnacles can never touch heads."
Meaning: Two irreconcilable positions or forces can never be brought into agreement.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Two irreconcilables can never be brought together"
Notes: The image of two sharp points, geometrically unable to meet flush the way flat surfaces could, gives physical form to the abstract claim of irreconcilability, a mechanism shared with entries 8 and 9 below.
Source: Owomoyela 3968.
8. Àgbò méjì kì í mu omi nínú kòtò kan.
Literal: Àgbò méjì two rams kì í mu omi do-not drink-water nínú kòtò kan from-one water-pot.
Idiomatic: "Two rams cannot drink [at the same time] from the same water pot."
Meaning: Two masters, or two heads of authority, cannot coexist within the same household or domain.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Two masters cannot coexist in the same household" , with a direct cross-reference to entry 9 below as its companion.
Notes: Rams, associated with aggressive contest for dominance, are the chosen animal for this specific claim about competing authority, distinct from the more general "two of a kind" images used elsewhere in the file (invalids, fops, hills).
Source: Owomoyela 4122; compare 4123.
9. Àgbò méjì kì í pàdé lórí afárá.
Literal: Àgbò méjì two rams kì í pàdé do-not meet lórí afárá on-a-bridge.
Idiomatic: "Two rams will not meet on a narrow bridge."
Meaning: Two contrary and uncompromising forces will never come to an accommodation.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Two contrary and uncompromising forces will never come to an accommodation" , cross-referenced directly to entry 8.
Notes: This is the direct companion proverb to entry 8, sharing the same animal and the same underlying claim, applied to a narrow bridge (a site of forced, unavoidable confrontation) rather than a shared water source (a site of scarce resource); Owomoyela records both as variants of one argument rather than as unrelated sayings.
Source: Owomoyela 4123; compare 4122.
10. Kò sí ẹyẹ méjì tí ń jẹ́ àkùkọ.
Literal: Kò sí ẹyẹ méjì there-are-not two birds tí ń jẹ́ àkùkọ that are-called rooster.
Idiomatic: "There are not two birds known as the cock."
Meaning: The likes of certain persons are rare; there is no true equivalent or rival to a person of singular standing.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "The likes of some persons are rare"
Notes: This entry inverts the usual formula: rather than arguing two rivals cannot share a space, it denies that a true second instance of the subject (a "rooster," standing for a preeminent figure) exists at all, a stronger and more flattering claim than mere incompatibility.
Source: Owomoyela 4264.
Other numerical constructions
11. Bí ìlú bá dá sí méjì, tọba run là ń ṣe.
Literal: Bí ìlú bá dá sí méjì if the-town splits into-two, tọba ọ̀run là ń ṣe one-does the-will of-the-heavenly-king.
Idiomatic: "If the town is split in two, one does the will of the heavenly king."
Meaning: When a group divides, one should side with the party God would favour.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "If there is a division in one's group, one takes the side God would favor"
Notes: Here "two" describes an actual social division (a town splitting into factions) rather than an image of incompatible occupants of one space, showing the numeral used descriptively for a real structural situation, a genuinely different use from the "two cannot share" formula documented above.
Source: Owomoyela 855.
12. Ọmọ ẹni kì í di méjì kí ìnú kan ni.
Literal: Ọmọ ẹni one's child kì í di méjì does-not become two kí ìnú kan ni and cause-displeasure.
Idiomatic: "One's mind does not become sour because one has had a second child."
Meaning: People always rejoice at having children; a second child is welcomed exactly as the first was.
Used when: Used to affirm that additional children are received with the same joy, not diminishing returns.
Notes: This entry uses "two" positively, as an increase to be celebrated, in direct contrast to the rest of this file's proverbs, which almost universally treat "two" as a source of conflict or incompatibility; it is included specifically to show that the numeral's connotation is not fixed but depends entirely on what is being counted.
Source: Owomoyela 2878.
13. Ká wí ogún, ká wí ọgbọ̀n, "Ngò fẹ́, ngò gbà" laṣiwèrè fi ń parí ọ̀rọ̀.
Literal: Ká wí ogún whether-one-says [it] twenty-times, ká wí ọgbọ̀n or-says [it] thirty-times, "Ngò fẹ́, ngò gbà" "I-do-not-want-it, I-will-not-accept" laṣiwèrè fi ń parí ọ̀rọ̀ is-how the-fool ends the-discussion.
Idiomatic: "Whether one speaks twenty times or speaks thirty times, 'I do not like it, and I will not accept it' is how the imbecile ends the discussion."
Meaning: The incorrigible person will never listen to reason, however many times the case is put to them.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "The incorrigible person will never listen to reason"
Notes: Ogún (twenty) and ọgbọ̀n (thirty) function here not as exact counts but as a paired formula for "however many times," an idiomatic use of specific round numbers to mean "repeatedly, without limit," distinct from every other numerical use catalogued in this file.
Source: Owomoyela 399.
Reading this set
Nine of this file's thirteen entries (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) draw on a single productive formula: two of a kind cannot share one confined space, drink from one vessel, meet on one narrow crossing, or otherwise coexist without conflict, and the incompatibility is offered as evidence for a claim about human rivalry, divided effort, or irreconcilable difference. This formula is one of the most reliably recurring rhetorical patterns in Owomoyela's collection and deserves recognition as a named pattern in its own right, alongside the "X is the medicine for Y" construction this corpus documents at 02-language/05-owe-proverbs.md. The remaining entries (4, 11, 12, 13) show that Yorùbá proverb numerals are not confined to that one formula: two can mean sequential rather than simultaneous (entry 4), can describe an actual social split (entry 11), can carry a positive rather than conflictual sense (entry 12), or can stand idiomatically for "many times" rather than an exact count (entry 13).