Òwe on Ìṣẹ́gun: Victory, Defeat and Surrender
Thirty-four Yorùbá proverbs on what wins a contest, what losing costs, the difference between being beaten and being humiliated, and the outcomes that no amount of effort alters, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Ṣẹ́gun is to conquer, built on ṣẹ́, to break, and ogun, war, so the Yorùbá word for winning is literally the breaking of a war. The proverbs collected here are less interested in the moment of winning than in three things around it: what actually produces a victory, which the corpus says is cunning and backing rather than force; what defeat does to a person, where it distinguishes sharply between being beaten and being made ridiculous; and which contests are settled in advance regardless of what either party does.
Running through the file is a preference for the indirect. The fast runner overshoots his own house and the stroller takes the title. Cunning wins battles and knowledge defeats plots. A dog with people behind it kills a monkey, and a person with people behind him wins lawsuits. Where owe-war-warrior-battlefield is about what a fighting man owes, this file is about what actually decides an outcome, and the two answers do not match.
Thirty-four proverbs are given here in four groups: what wins, what losing costs, defeat that cannot be averted, and the reversals. The proverbs are given in Owomoyela's texts and translations . Owomoyela's parenthetical usage notes are the basis of the Used when lines; 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
Owomoyela prints full standard orthography with tone marks and subdots, and his texts are reproduced here as printed . He attaches no informant to any proverb, holding that proverbs are communal property .
What wins
1. Ọgbọ́n ní ń ṣẹ́gun; ìmọ̀ràn ní ń ṣẹ́ẹ̀tẹ̀.
Literal: Ọgbọ́n ní ń ṣẹ́gun it-is cunning that breaks-war; ìmọ̀ràn ní ń ṣẹ́ẹ̀tẹ̀ it-is counsel that breaks-conspiracy.
Idiomatic: "Cunning wins battles; knowledge defeats plots."
Meaning: Each kind of contest is settled by a mental faculty rather than by force.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Cunning and knowledge will help one prevail"
Notes: The verb ṣẹ́, to break or snap, governs both clauses and gives the proverb its symmetry: war is broken by ọgbọ́n and conspiracy by ìmọ̀ràn, and the parallel is the argument. This is the file's governing proverb and it should be set against the warrior ethic of owe-war-warrior-battlefield, which values courage where this values wit.
2. Ajá tó lẹ́ni lẹ́hìn á pọ̀bọ; èèyàn tó lẹ́ni lẹ́hìn á jàre ẹjọ́.
Literal: Ajá tó lẹ́ni lẹ́hìn a-dog that has-people behind-it á pọ̀bọ will-kill a-monkey; èèyàn tó lẹ́ni lẹ́hìn a-person who has-people behind-him á jàre ẹjọ́ will-win a-case.
Idiomatic: "A dog that has people behind it will kill a monkey; a person with people behind him will win lawsuits."
Meaning: Backing, not merit, is what carries a contest.
Used when: Owomoyela: "With people behind one, one can accomplish the impossible"
Notes: Ẹni lẹ́hìn, people behind one, is the Yorùbá phrase for supporters and is the substance of what the corpus elsewhere calls wealth in people. The proverb is candid that litigation is decided by who stands behind a party, which is a harder claim about the courts than anything in owe-justice-judgement-court. The dog needs the hunters to corner the monkey, so the first clause is literal.
3. Bí ẹni ńlá ò bá tán, ọ̀ràn ńlá ò lè pa ni.
Literal: Bí ẹni ńlá ò bá tán if great people are-not exhausted, ọ̀ràn ńlá ò lè pa ni a-great trouble cannot kill one.
Idiomatic: "If there is no scarcity of great people, a great problem cannot kill one."
Meaning: Trouble is survivable in proportion to the patrons available.
Used when: Owomoyela: "As long as one has powerful patrons, difficult problems will not defeat one"
Notes: This states as a general principle what entry 2 states through two cases, and the two together give the corpus's account of how outcomes are actually produced. Patronage in Yorùbá society is a working institution rather than a corruption of one, which is why the proverb carries no disapproval.
4. Asáré tete ni ń kọjá ilé; arìngbẹ̀rẹ̀ ni yó rí í oyè jẹ.
Literal: Asáré tete the-fast runner ni ń kọjá ilé is-who runs-past the-house; arìngbẹ̀rẹ̀ the-slow walker ni yó rí í oyè jẹ is-who will get to-hold the-title.
Idiomatic: "The fast runner will run past his home; the leisurely stroller is the one who will win the title."
Meaning: Speed overshoots the thing it was after and deliberation arrives at it.
Used when: Owomoyela's note begins "A fast start does not guarant..." and is truncated in the source consulted . In use it counsels against haste in pursuit of a position.
Notes: Jẹ oyè, to eat a title, is the ordinary Yorùbá expression for holding a chieftaincy, the same jẹ discussed at entry 7 of owe-king-chief-throne. The proverb belongs with owe-patience-suuru-restraint-temper and is one of the corpus's clearest statements that the contest is longer than it looks.
5. Ẹni tí ó bá ní ìtara ló ní àtètè bá.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó bá ní ìtara whoever has zeal ló ní àtètè bá owns the-early-arrival.
Idiomatic: "It is the industrious person who wins the spoils."
Meaning: The eager party gets there first and takes what is there.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Industry ensures success"
Notes: Set directly against entry 4 this is a contradiction: there the slow walker takes the title, here the eager man takes the spoils. The corpus supplies both and the difference is the object, a title conferred by others against goods claimed by arrival. A speaker selects according to which kind of contest is in front of them.
6. Ìbáà tín rín, okùn òtítọ́ kì í já; bí irọ́ tó ìrókò, wíwó ní ń wó.
Literal: Ìbáà tín rín however slender, okùn òtítọ́ kì í já the-rope of-truth does-not snap; bí irọ́ tó ìrókò though a-lie be-as-big-as an-ìrókò, wíwó ní ń wó falling is-what it-does.
Idiomatic: "Even if it is flimsy, the thread of truth never snaps; even though a lie might have the girth of an ìrókò tree, it inevitably crashes."
Meaning: Truth's advantage is not strength but that it does not give way.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Truth will inevitably triumph over lies"
Notes: The ìrókò is the largest hardwood in the Yorùbá forest, discussed at entry 20 of owe-head-face-ori, so the comparison grants the lie every advantage of scale and still gives it the fall. The contrast of a thread that holds against a trunk that collapses is a materials argument, which is what makes it more than an assertion.
7. Ojú oró ní ń lékè omi; òṣíbàtà ní ń lékè odò.
Literal: Ojú oró the-water-lettuce ní ń lékè omi is-what stays-on-top-of the-water; òṣíbàtà the-waterlily ní ń lékè odò is-what stays-on-top-of the-stream.
Idiomatic: "The water lettuce always winds up on the surface of the water; the waterlily always winds up on the surface of the stream."
Meaning: Some things cannot be held under.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Just as those plants remain on top of their habitats, so one will remain triumphant over one's adversaries"
Notes: Lékè, to be on top of, is also the ordinary word for prevailing over someone, so the botanical observation and the claim about victory are the same word in Yorùbá. This is a proverb of the incantatory kind, used as a wish or a self-assertion rather than as an argument, and it belongs with owe-prayer-blessing-curse.
8. Ojú rẹ́ gbin kò fọ́, a-jọ̀pọ̀-ìyà-má-rù.
Literal: Ojú rẹ́ gbin kò fọ́ the-eye saw filth and-did-not go-blind, a-jọ̀pọ̀-ìyà-má-rù one-who-endures-much-suffering-without-wasting.
Idiomatic: "The eye looks on a filthy sight and does not go blind, [like] one who sustains a succession of sufferings without wasting away."
Meaning: Capacity to absorb is itself a kind of winning.
Used when: Owomoyela: "With resilience one will overcome all problems"
Notes: The long compressed nominal a-jọ̀pọ̀-ìyà-má-rù is a naming formation of the oríkì kind, and it titles the enduring person rather than describing them. The proverb defines victory as survival rather than as conquest, which is the file's quietest and most durable position.
9. Àgbaǹgbá ṣe bẹ́ẹ̀, ó là wo lórí san-san.
Literal: Àgbaǹgbá ṣe bẹ́ẹ̀ the-àgbaǹgbá did-so, ó là wo lórí san-san it grew horns prominently on-the-head.
Idiomatic: "Despite all difficulties, the animal àgbaǹgbá sprouts prominent horns on its head."
Meaning: The thing came through and has the visible result to show for it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Perseverance overcomes all difficulties"
Notes: San-san is an ideophone for something standing out prominently. The horns are evidence, and the proverb's method is to point at a finished result rather than to argue about effort, which is why it is used at the end of a long undertaking rather than during one.
10. Eégún tí ń jẹ orí ẹṣin, orí àgbò ò lè kò ó láyà.
Literal: Eégún tí ń jẹ orí ẹṣin the-masquerader who eats horses' heads, orí àgbò ò lè kò ó láyà a-ram's head cannot daunt him.
Idiomatic: "The masquerader who is accustomed to eating horse heads will not be daunted by ram heads."
Meaning: Someone who has handled the larger thing is not stopped by the smaller.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who has faced down serious challenges will not be defeated by a slight inconvenience" Owomoyela cross-references 2272 .
Notes: The horse is the larger and more prestigious sacrifice, the ram the ordinary one, so the proverb ranks the two by what is actually offered in Yorùbá practice. Kò ... láyà, to meet at the chest, is to intimidate.
11. Ìrókò o-nígun-mẹ́rìn-dín-lógún ò tó erin-ín gbé mì, áḿbọ̀ǹ torí ìtó ò a-lára-bóró-bóró.
Literal: Ìrókò o-nígun-mẹ́rìn-dín-lógún an-ìrókò-stick with-sixteen edges ò tó erin-ín gbé mì is-not enough for-an-elephant to-swallow, áḿbọ̀ǹ torí ìtó ò a-lára-bóró-bóró how-much-less the-melon-fruit with-a-smooth-body.
Idiomatic: "An ìrókò stick with sixteen edges is nothing for an elephant to swallow, much less the melon fruit with a smooth body."
Meaning: Having taken the hard thing, the easy one presents no difficulty at all.
Used when: Owomoyela's note begins "A person not defeated by a formidable obstacle will certainly not be stopped by ..." and is truncated in the source consulted .
Notes: Áḿbọ̀ǹ, how much more or how much less, is the Yorùbá particle for arguing from the greater to the lesser, and it marks this proverb as a piece of explicit reasoning rather than an image. It makes the same move as entry 10 with a different pair of objects.
What losing costs
12. Èkúté ilé ní tẹni tó pa òun ò dun òun bí ẹni tó gbé òun ṣánlẹ̀.
Literal: Èkúté ilé ní the-house-mouse says tẹni tó pa òun that-of-the-one who killed it ò dun òun does-not pain it bí ẹni tó gbé òun ṣánlẹ̀ like the-one who dashed it on-the-ground.
Idiomatic: "The house mouse says he is not as hurt by the person who killed him as by the person who dashed him on the floor."
Meaning: Being killed is one thing and being treated with contempt in the killing is another.
Used when: Owomoyela: "I may forgive the person who vanquished me but not the person who took advantage of me"
Notes: This is the file's central distinction and the corpus returns to it repeatedly: defeat is bearable and humiliation is not. The mouse is already dead and still ranking the two injuries, which is the proverb's grim humour. Compare entry 32 of owe-head-face-ori, where an elder's death is preferable to his disgrace.
13. Ibi tí a ti mú ọ̀lẹ ò kún ná; ibi tí a ti mú alágbára á tó oko-ó ro.
Literal: Ibi tí a ti mú ọ̀lẹ the-place where a-weakling was-seized ò kún ná bears no-marks; ibi tí a ti mú alágbára the-place where a-strong-man was-seized á tó oko-ó ro is-big-enough to-till as-a-farm.
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: Both were taken, and the ground records which one fought.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A worthy person, even if eventually vanquished, will leave signs of powerful resistance behind"
Notes: The measure of the struggle is the area of trampled ground, which is a physical record independent of the outcome. The proverb allows a defeated person to be judged by evidence rather than by the result, and it is the most generous thing the corpus says about losing.
14. A hán ìkokò lọ́wọ́ ọ̀tún, a hán ìkokò lẹ́sẹ̀ òsì; ó ku ẹni tí yó kò ó lójú.
Literal: A hán ìkokò lọ́wọ́ ọ̀tún we lopped the-hyena's right foreleg, a hán ìkokò lẹ́sẹ̀ òsì we lopped the-hyena's left hindleg; ó ku ẹni tí yó kò ó lójú there-remains whoever will meet it face-on.
Idiomatic: "We lop off the hyena's right forelimb; we lop off the hyena's left hind limb; the question is, who will face it now?"
Meaning: The injuries inflicted have not settled anything and have made the animal worse.
Used when: Owomoyela's note explains that inflicting such injuries is no victory and only enrages the animal .
Notes: The construction ó ku X, "X remains," is the Yorùbá way of naming the unsettled part of an account, discussed at entry 10 of owe-iwa-character. The proverb is about partial victories that leave the essential problem alive and angrier, and it is one of the sharpest warnings in the corpus against half-finished retaliation.
15. Ẹni tó mi kùkùté, ara-a rẹ̀ ní ń mì.
Literal: Ẹni tó mi kùkùté whoever shakes a-tree-stump, ara-a rẹ̀ ní ń mì it-is his-own body that shakes.
Idiomatic: "The person who shakes a tree stump shakes himself."
Meaning: The immovable object returns the whole force to the person applying it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever takes on an invincible adversary fashions his or her own defeat"
Notes: A stump is rooted and cut short, so there is no leverage and nothing to give, which makes it the exact image for an adversary who cannot be moved. The mechanics are correct and are the argument, in the same way as entry 6.
16. Ẹní bá pé kí àkàlà má jòkú, ojú-u rẹ̀ lẹyẹ ń kọ́kọ́ yọ jẹ.
Literal: Ẹní bá pé kí àkàlà má jòkú whoever says the-ground-hornbill should-not eat carrion, ojú-u rẹ̀ lẹyẹ ń kọ́kọ́ yọ jẹ it-is his eyes the-bird will-first pluck-out and-eat.
Idiomatic: "Whoever says the ground hornbill should not eat carrion will be the first to lose his or her eyes to the bird."
Meaning: Interfering with what a creature must do makes you the first casualty of it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever tries to prevent the inevitable will be trampled in the process of its occurring" Owomoyela cross-references 2192 .
Notes: The punishment is precisely fitted: the man who used his eyes to object loses them to the bird whose feeding he objected to. Compare entry 35 of owe-king-chief-throne, where even a king cannot legislate against what a creature does by nature.
17. Bí lékèélékèé ò bá rómi wẹ̀, a dẹgbẹ́ àparò.
Literal: Bí lékèélékèé ò bá rómi wẹ̀ if the-cattle-egret finds-no water to-bathe-in, a dẹgbẹ́ àparò it becomes the-equal of-a-partridge.
Idiomatic: "If the egret cannot find water to bathe in, it becomes like the partridge."
Meaning: Take away the resource and the distinguished thing becomes ordinary.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When a great person loses his resources, he becomes like ordinary people"
Notes: The egret's standing rests entirely on its whiteness, which is what entries 9 and 25 of owe-beauty-ugliness-appearance both turn on, and whiteness requires washing. The proverb locates greatness in an upkeep rather than in a nature, which is a colder account than the egret's praise-names allow.
18. Gagalo-ó ṣubú, ọwọ́ tẹ apákó.
Literal: Gagalo-ó ṣubú the-stilt-walker fell, ọwọ́ tẹ apákó hands reached the-planks.
Idiomatic: "The stilt walker falls; planks become available."
Meaning: His fall converts his equipment into salvage for whoever is standing there.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When a person loses control, his or her belongings become fair game"
Notes: Stilt-walking is a performance skill associated with masquerade, so the man was elevated and conspicuous before the fall, and the proverb is exact about how quickly the crowd's relation to him changes. It belongs with owe-power-limits-loss.
19. Odídẹrẹ́ d'awo, ìkó ìdí ẹ̀-ẹ́ dọ̀gbẹ̀rì.
Literal: Odídẹrẹ́ d'awo the-parrot became an-initiate, ìkó ìdí ẹ̀-ẹ́ dọ̀gbẹ̀rì its tail-feather became a-non-initiate.
Idiomatic: "The parrot becomes fully initiated into the secrets; his tail feather becomes a noninitiate."
Meaning: The bird rose and the feather that made it valuable was left outside.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The person being propped up achieves great glory, but his backer loses his standing"
Notes: The red tail feather, ìkó, is the item used in ritual and regalia, so the feather is the source of the parrot's importance and is here separated from it. Ọ̀gbẹ̀rì is the uninitiated person, the standing term in cult vocabulary. The proverb is the file's sharpest statement about backers who are discarded, and it pairs with entry 2, where backing is what wins.
20. Kàkà kí ọmọdé pàgbà láyò, àgbà a fi ọgbọ́n àgbà gbé e.
Literal: Kàkà kí ọmọdé pàgbà láyò rather-than a-child beating an-elder at-ayò, àgbà a fi ọgbọ́n àgbà gbé e the-elder uses elder's cunning to-carry-it.
Idiomatic: "Instead of permitting defeat by a child in a game, an elder should resort to elderly wiles."
Meaning: Losing to a junior is not an acceptable outcome and the elder will use what he has to avoid it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "An elder should save face and protect his standing by all means available"
Notes: Ayò is the board game of seeds and cups, the same one that supplies the pun at entry 29 of owe-war-warrior-battlefield. Owomoyela's gloss endorses the manoeuvre rather than criticising it, which is worth noticing: the proverb is not a complaint about cheating elders but advice to them, and it shows how heavily the corpus weights seniority against fair play.
Defeat that cannot be averted
21. Bí adìẹ́ bá ṣe ogún, tó ṣe ọgbọ̀n, àgò ni yó dè é.
Literal: Bí adìẹ́ bá ṣe ogún whether chickens be twenty, tó ṣe ọgbọ̀n or be thirty, àgò ni yó dè é the-coop is-what will cover-them.
Idiomatic: "Whether chickens number twenty or thirty, they will yield to being covered by the coop."
Meaning: Numbers do not alter an outcome that does not depend on numbers.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Certain fates cannot be averted by numbers alone"
Notes: The coop is put over the birds at nightfall regardless of how many there are, so the proverb reasons from a domestic routine rather than from a contest. It is the plainest statement in the file that some results are structural.
22. Bí ikú bá ti lẹ̀kùn, ebi ní ń ṣíi.
Literal: Bí ikú bá ti lẹ̀kùn if death has-shut the-door, ebi ní ń ṣíi it-is hunger that opens-it.
Idiomatic: "If death locks a door, hunger will open it."
Meaning: Grief closes the house and the body's requirement reopens it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The disconsolate mourner will sooner or later yield to hunger"
Notes: The proverb is not cynical about mourning; it observes the limit of what grief can sustain, and ebi, hunger, is the same undeniable claimant that decides the standards of entries 1 and 2 in owe-stomach-appetite-inner-person. Two forces are set against each other and the smaller one wins because it is continuous.
23. A kì í mọ̀ọ́ gún mọ̀ọ́ tẹ̀ kí yán ewùrà má lẹ̀ẹ́ mọ.
Literal: A kì í mọ̀ọ́ gún mọ̀ọ́ tẹ̀ one is-never so-skilled at-pounding and-smoothing kí yán ewùrà má lẹ̀ẹ́ mọ that pounded ewùrà yam will-not be-lumpy.
Idiomatic: "One is never so good at pounding and smoothing that the pounded yams one makes with ewùrà yams [also water yams] will not be lumpy."
Meaning: The material defeats the technique, however good the technique is.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Certain tasks defeat even the experts"
Notes: Ewùrà, the water yam, has a texture that will not come smooth however it is worked, so this is a kitchen fact before it is a proverb. It is the corpus's standard defence of a competent person who has produced a poor result, and it belongs with owe-skill-incompetence-botched-job.
24. Ẹní jù ló máa gbé ara mì nínú ajá àti ọ̀kẹ́rẹ́.
Literal: Ẹní jù the-one-who-exceeds ló máa gbé ara mì is-who will swallow the-other nínú ajá àti ọ̀kẹ́rẹ́ between the-dog and the-squirrel.
Idiomatic: "The more formidable will triumph over the other in a contest between the dog and the squirrel."
Meaning: Where the disparity is that large the contest has no interest.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The weakling will not triumph over the powerful person"
Notes: The corpus generally prefers the indirect victory, as at entries 1 and 4, and this proverb marks the limit of that preference: cunning has a range, and beyond it size settles the matter. It is quoted to talk someone out of a fight rather than to celebrate the strong.
25. Kò sí ìlù tó lè borí-i bẹ̀ḿbẹ́.
Literal: Kò sí ìlù there-is-no drum tó lè borí-i bẹ̀ḿbẹ́ that can surpass the-bẹ̀ḿbẹ́.
Idiomatic: "There is no drum that can surpass the bẹ̀ḿbẹ́."
Meaning: In that class, precedence is already settled.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The greatest entity will not lose its preeminence to minor ones"
Notes: Borí, to surpass, is literally to cover the head, so the Yorùbá idiom for outranking is built on the orí discussed throughout owe-head-face-ori. The bẹ̀ḿbẹ́ is a large drum used on important occasions, and the proverb belongs equally with owe-drummer-music-performance.
26. Bí ìkà-á bá ń rojọ́, ìkà kọ́ ni yó da.
Literal: Bí ìkà-á bá ń rojọ́ if the-wicked-one states-a-case, ìkà kọ́ ni yó da it-is not a-wicked-one who will judge-it.
Idiomatic: "If the wicked person states a case, it is not the wicked person who will judge it."
Meaning: He does not get to decide the matter he is party to.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The wicked will not prevail in the face of impartial judges"
Notes: The proverb states a structural safeguard rather than a hope, and it belongs with owe-justice-judgement-court. Set against entry 2, where lawsuits are won by whoever has people behind them, the corpus is holding two views of the courts at once and neither cancels the other.
27. Kí ilẹ̀ tó pa òṣìkà, ohun rere gbogbo á ti bàjẹ́.
Literal: Kí ilẹ̀ tó pa òṣìkà before Earth kills the-wicked-one, ohun rere gbogbo á ti bàjẹ́ every good thing will-have been-spoiled.
Idiomatic: "Before Earth kills the wicked, a great many good things will have been ruined."
Meaning: The reckoning arrives and arrives late.
Used when: Owomoyela: "God's justice may eventually prevail, but by then a lot of evil will have been done"
Notes: Ilẹ̀, Earth, is an agent here rather than a place, and Earth is the power that witnesses oaths and punishes their breach in Yorùbá practice. The proverb concedes the eventual victory and refuses to be consoled by it, which is a position the corpus states without softening.
Reversals
28. Bí iná bá wọlé, òkùnkùn a para dà.
Literal: Bí iná bá wọlé when light enters the-house, òkùnkùn a para dà darkness turns-itself-aside.
Idiomatic: "When light enters the house, darkness removes itself."
Meaning: The lesser presence withdraws without being fought.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When one's superiors arrive, one yields authority to them"
Notes: Para dà, to turn oneself aside, makes the withdrawal the darkness's own act rather than a defeat inflicted on it, which is the courtesy the proverb models. It describes the ordinary Yorùbá practice of ceding place on the arrival of a senior, treated in owe-elders-seniority-respect.
29. Ó bọ́ lọ́wọ́ oṣù ó dàràn-mọ́jú.
Literal: Ó bọ́ lọ́wọ́ oṣù it escaped from the-moon ó dàràn-mọ́jú it shone-until-daybreak.
Idiomatic: "The moon loses its esteem and shines all night long."
Meaning: By staying out the whole night it has spent whatever was remarkable about it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who overstays his or her welcome ceases to be valued"
Notes: The proverb is about the exhaustion of standing through excess rather than through failure, and its mechanism is duration alone. Compare entry 17, where a resource is removed, and entry 18, where a fall does it: the corpus distinguishes three quite different ways of ceasing to be distinguished.
30. Bí ọtí bá ń pa ni, ṣé òòrùn ń pa bọ̀tí; oró tá a dá ọkà lọkà ń dá ni san.
Literal: Bí ọtí bá ń pa ni if drink is-striking one, ṣé òòrùn ń pa bọ̀tí the-sun struck the-fermented-corn; oró tá a dá ọkà the-injury we did the-corn lọkà ń dá ni san is-what the-corn is-repaying.
Idiomatic: "If wine intoxicates one, the fermented corn was beaten by the sun also; it is the pain one inflicted on the corn that is being avenged."
Meaning: What the drink does to you is the grain returning what was done to it.
Used when: Owomoyela's note begins "If one is wronged by the person one has wronged, one has no ground for compl..." and is truncated in the source consulted .
Notes: The proverb traces a chain of treatments back through the brewing process, so the intoxication is presented as an accounting rather than an accident. Dá san, to repay, is the ordinary word for settling a debt, which makes the grain a creditor.
31. Ọ̀tá ń lù ìlù ìbàjẹ́, Ọlọ́run ò jẹ́ kó dún.
Literal: Ọ̀tá ń lù ìlù ìbàjẹ́ the-enemy is-beating the-drum of-defamation, Ọlọ́run ò jẹ́ kó dún God does-not let it sound.
Idiomatic: "One's enemy is beating the drum of defamation, but God won't let it make a sound."
Meaning: The attack is being made and is not carrying.
Used when: Owomoyela: "God has frustrated the schemes of one's enemies"
Notes: The image is precise: the enemy is visibly at work and the instrument produces nothing, so the defeat is total and invisible to the attacker. This is a proverb of thanksgiving rather than of argument and belongs with owe-prayer-blessing-curse.
32. Rìkíṣí ò gbọ́ oògùn; Ọlọ́run ní ḿbá ni ṣẹ̀tẹ́-ẹ rìkíṣí.
Literal: Rìkíṣí ò gbọ́ oògùn intrigue does-not respond-to medicine; Ọlọ́run ní ḿbá ni ṣẹ̀tẹ́-ẹ rìkíṣí it-is God who helps one break the-plot of-intrigue.
Idiomatic: "Intrigue cannot be combatted with medicine; only God can help one conquer intrigue."
Meaning: There is no preparation against conspiracy, only recourse.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Only God can help one overcome one's enemies"
Notes: This is another instance of the internal scepticism about oògùn noted at entries 37 to 39 of owe-weapons-defence-vulnerability: medicine is granted a domain and denied this one. Rìkíṣí is conspiracy or intrigue, and the proverb names it as the specific threat that technique cannot answer.
33. A kì í ba Ọlọ́run ṣòwò ká pàdánù.
Literal: A kì í ba Ọlọ́run ṣòwò one does-not trade with God ká pàdánù and-make-a-loss.
Idiomatic: "One does not trade with God and come up a loser."
Meaning: That is the one partner with whom the account cannot go against you.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Any venture that takes God into account will surely prosper"
Notes: The proverb puts God in a commercial relation, ṣòwò, to trade, which is characteristic of the corpus's habit of reasoning about the unseen in the vocabulary of the market. It belongs with owe-trade-profit-debt-trader as much as here.
34. Kòkòrò tó jẹ̀fọ́ jàre ẹ̀fọ́; ìwọ̀n lewéko ń dára mọ.
Literal: Kòkòrò tó jẹ̀fọ́ the-insect that ate the-vegetable jàre ẹ̀fọ́ is-vindicated against the-vegetable; ìwọ̀n lewéko ń dára mọ in-moderation is-how leaves should be-attractive.
Idiomatic: "The insect that eats the vegetable wins the case against the vegetable; leaves should observe moderation in their attractiveness."
Meaning: The eater is acquitted and the eaten is faulted for being appetising.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person enticed to a crime is not as guilty as the person who did the enticing"
Notes: Jàre, to be vindicated or to win a case, is a legal verb, so the proverb stages an actual judgement and delivers a verdict that inverts the obvious one. It is the file's most striking reversal and its logic is uncomfortable, as Owomoyela's gloss makes explicit: the attraction is treated as provocation. Compare entries 7 and 8 of owe-beauty-ugliness-appearance, where beauty attracts trouble and is blamed for it.
Reading this set
Three observations across these thirty-four proverbs.
Victory in this corpus is rarely produced by strength. Entry 1 gives it to cunning and counsel, entries 2 and 3 to the people standing behind a party, entry 4 to the man who did not hurry, entry 6 to the thread that does not snap and entry 8 to the person who simply absorbs. Entry 24 concedes that where the disparity is large enough the stronger animal wins, and it reads as a limiting case rather than as the rule. Anyone reconstructing a Yorùbá theory of contest from owe-war-warrior-battlefield alone would get the emphasis badly wrong.
Defeat and humiliation are separated, and only the second is treated as intolerable. Entry 12 has a dead mouse ranking its killer above the man who threw it down, entry 13 measures a beaten man by the trampled ground rather than the outcome, and entry 20 licenses an elder to cheat rather than lose to a child. The corpus is willing to be defeated and is not willing to be made ridiculous, which is the same ordering found at entry 32 of owe-head-face-ori, where death is preferable to disgrace.
A number of these proverbs decline to be consoling. Entry 27 concedes that Earth kills the wicked and insists that everything good will be ruined first. Entry 19 has the backer discarded once the person he propped up succeeds. Entry 34 acquits the insect and faults the vegetable for being attractive. Owomoyela records each without softening, and a collection that kept only the proverbs about truth prevailing would misrepresent what the record actually contains.