Òwe on Ohun Ìjà: Weapons, Defence and Vulnerability
Twenty-two Yorùbá proverbs on the sword, the arrow and the cudgel as objects, and on the exposed or unprepared state that a weapon exists to answer, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Idà is the sword, ọfà the arrow, and kùmọ̀ the cudgel or club: the three weapons that recur most often in Yorùbá proverb, alongside the shield a warrior takes up at dawn like any other worker taking up the tool of his trade. This file collects twenty-two proverbs in which a weapon is the actual subject, its use, its misuse, its proper proportion to a threat, or its absence, together with proverbs about the state of being exposed or unprepared that a weapon exists to answer. The recurring argument is not that weapons are good or bad but that they are governed by proportion: the wrong weapon for a small problem is as much a fault as no weapon for a large one.
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; where the wording is his it is quoted.
The sword and its proper use
1. Idà ahun la fi ń pa ahun.
Literal: Idà ahun the-tortoise's-own sword la fi ń pa ahun is-what-we-use to-kill the-tortoise.
Idiomatic: "It is with its own sword that one kills the tortoise."
Meaning: Each creature, and each person, carries within itself the instrument of its own undoing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Each person carries his or her own bane"
Notes: Owomoyela's footnote explains the literal referent: the tortoise is traditionally killed by pulling out the head and rubbing the neck against the sharp rear edge of its own shell, the part of the shell known in Yorùbá as the tortoise's sword . The proverb is not a figure invented for the saying; it names an actual butchering technique and then generalises from it.
2. Idà ń wó ilé ara ẹ̀ ó ní òún ḿba àkọ̀jẹ́.
Literal: Idà ń wó ilé ara ẹ̀ the-sword is-destroying its-own home ó ní òún ḿba àkọ̀jẹ́ it-says it is-ruining the-scabbard.
Idiomatic: "The sword is destroying its own home, and it says it is ruining the scabbard."
Meaning: A person whose actions will eventually recoil on himself insists he is only harming others.
Used when: Owomoyela: said "of a person whose actions will eventually recoil on him or her, even though the person thinks that he or she is hurting others"
Notes: The scabbard is the sword's own house, so the sword's complaint mistakes self-harm for harm done elsewhere; the proverb turns on that confusion rather than on anything violent. Owomoyela cross-references entry 1167 as a related text .
3. A kì í fi idà pa ìgbín.
Literal: A kì í fi idà one does-not with a-sword pa ìgbín kill a-snail.
Idiomatic: "One does not use a sword to kill a snail."
Meaning: The remedy applied to a problem should be no larger than the problem itself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Remedies should be commensurate with the problem"
Notes: A snail is among the least dangerous creatures a Yorùbá proverb names, and a sword the most dramatic weapon; the gap between the two is the entire argument. Compare entry 9 below, which makes the identical claim with a fly in place of the snail.
4. "Tèmi ò ṣòro," tí kì í jẹ́ kí ọmọ alágbẹ̀dẹ ní idà.
Literal: "Tèmi ò ṣòro" my-matter is-not urgent, tí kì í jẹ́ that does-not allow kí ọmọ alágbẹ̀dẹ that the-child of-a-blacksmith ní idà have a-sword.
Idiomatic: "'Mine is not urgent' prevents the son of the blacksmith from owning a sword."
Meaning: A person who always yields his own turn to others never obtains what should have been his by right.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The person who always yields to others will never get anywhere"
Notes: The irony is exact: the one person for whom a sword should be freely available, the smith's own child, goes without one because he keeps deferring his claim on his father's own forge. The proverb is about misplaced deference rather than about weapons as such, but it depends on the reader knowing that a blacksmith's household is the one place a sword ought never to be scarce.
5. Bí ọwọ́ ò bá tẹ èkù idà, a kì í bèrè ikú tó pa baba ẹni.
Literal: Bí ọwọ́ ò bá tẹ èkù idà if the-hand has-not pressed the-hilt of-a-sword, a kì í bèrè one does-not ask ikú tó pa baba ẹni the-death that killed one's-father.
Idiomatic: "If one has not laid one's hand on the hilt of the sword, one does not ask what killed one's father."
Meaning: A person without the means to act on an answer should not go looking for it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Until one is able, one should not attempt to right an injustice"
Notes: The proverb links two acts that are otherwise unconnected, asking a question and gripping a weapon, and makes the second the precondition of the first: knowledge that cannot be acted on is knowledge not worth having yet. It assumes vengeance as the expected response to a father's killing, which the proverb neither approves nor condemns, only makes conditional on capacity.
6. Ẹni tí a lù lógbòó mẹ́fà, tí a ní kó fiyèdénú: ìgbà tí kò fiyèdénú ńkọ́?
Literal: Ẹni tí a lù lógbòó mẹ́fà one-whom we struck with-a-cudgel six-times, tí a ní kó fiyèdénú whom we-tell should be-patient: ìgbà tí kò fiyèdénú ńkọ́? what-of the-time when he-does-not have-patience?
Idiomatic: "A person is hit with a cudgel six times and then urged to learn forbearance; what other option does he or she have?"
Meaning: Advising patience to a victim with no other recourse states the obvious rather than offering real help.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A victim with no access to any remedy needs no advice to let matters drop"
Notes: The cudgel here is not the actor's own weapon but the instrument used against him, which distinguishes this entry from most others in this file: the subject is the receiving end of a beating, and the sarcasm is aimed at the bystander offering counsel rather than aid. Compare entry 7, which uses the identical image for a different but related complaint.
7. Ẹni tí a nà ní kùmọ̀ mẹ́fà, tó ní ọ̀kan ṣoṣo ló ba òun, níbo nìyókùú sọnù sí?
Literal: Ẹni tí a nà ní kùmọ̀ mẹ́fà one-whom we beat with-a-club six-times, tó ní ọ̀kan ṣoṣo ló ba òun who says only-one landed-on him, níbo nìyókùú sọnù sí? where did the-rest disappear to?
Idiomatic: "If a person is hit six times with a club and says only one blow landed, where did the other blows disappear?"
Meaning: A person who minimises an obvious misfortune convinces no one but exposes his own denial.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who tries to minimize obvious misfortune deceives no one"
Notes: The proverb is built as a rhetorical demand for an accounting, and the absurdity of the missing blows is the argument: physical evidence of a beating does not vanish because the victim declines to acknowledge it. Read beside entry 6, the two proverbs treat the same six-fold cudgelling from opposite angles, one about the futility of advice, the other about the futility of denial.
8. Ìbínú lọba fi ń yọ idà; ìtìjú ló fi ḿbẹ́ẹ.
Literal: Ìbínú anger lọba fi ń yọ idà is-what-the-king uses to-draw sword; ìtìjú shame ló fi ḿbẹ́ẹ is-what-he-uses to-carry-through the-beheading.
Idiomatic: "It is in anger that the king draws his sword; it is shame that makes him go through with the beheading."
Meaning: An action begun in a moment's anger is often completed only because stopping would now look worse than finishing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Once one begins an injudicious action on impulse, one may have to see it through, however regrettable, to avoid the greater embarrassment of backing down"
Notes: The proverb separates two emotions across the same act: the drawing of the sword belongs to anger, but the fatal stroke belongs to shame, which is a sharper and more damning diagnosis than simply calling the king wrathful. It is one of the few proverbs in this set where the weapon-holder is named as a king rather than an ordinary person, which gives the excess of the act its full political weight.
9. A kì í rí idà lọ́rùn eṣinṣin.
Literal: A kì í rí idà one does-not see a-sword lọ́rùn eṣinṣin at-the-neck of-a-fly.
Idiomatic: "One does not see a sword at the neck of a fly."
Meaning: Using a drastically disproportionate remedy against a trivial problem is itself the error.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is unnecessary to use a sledge hammer to kill a fly. Also, some approaches are improper in tackling certain problems"
Notes: The fly is even smaller game than the snail of entry 3, and the pairing of the two proverbs across the collection suggests the image of an oversized weapon against an undersized target was productive enough to be used more than once with different creatures. Owomoyela's own gloss extends the claim past sheer size to propriety generally.
10. Idà kì í lọ kídà má bọ̀.
Literal: Idà kì í lọ a-sword does-not go kídà má bọ̀ without it returning.
Idiomatic: "The sword never departs without returning."
Meaning: What is carried out on a mission of this kind is expected to come back to its owner.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said in the context of a prayer that a person departing on a journey might return safely"
Notes: This is the one entry in the set used as a blessing rather than as commentary on conduct; the sword's reliable return home is offered as a good omen for a traveller's own return, the weapon standing in for the person who carries it.
11. Agada ò mọ orí alágbẹ̀dẹ.
Literal: Agada the-machete ò mọ orí does-not know the-head alágbẹ̀dẹ of-the-blacksmith.
Idiomatic: "The sword cannot tell the smith's head from others."
Meaning: A finished weapon shows no special mercy to the very person who forged it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Natural justice does not play favorites"
Notes: The blacksmith who makes the blade has no claim on it once it is made; the object he shaped is indifferent to his authorship. This is a distinct proverb from entry 4, which is about deference rather than about the finished weapon's impartiality, though both use the blacksmith's household as the setting.
12. Bí a bá sọ idà síl̀ẹ lẹ́ẹ̀mẹwàá, ibi pẹlẹbẹ ni yó dà délẹ̀.
Literal: Bí a bá sọ idà síl̀ẹ if one throws a-sword down lẹ́ẹ̀mẹwàá ten-times, ibi pẹlẹbẹ ni yó dà délẹ̀ the-flat side is-what it-will land-upon.
Idiomatic: "If one throws a sword down ten times, it will come to rest on its side."
Meaning: However long a dispute is turned over, the underlying facts settle into the same shape.
Used when: Owomoyela: "However long one worries a case, the facts will not change"
Notes: A sword's flat, elongated shape makes it far more likely to land on its side than balance on its edge, an observation about physics that the proverb repurposes as a claim about the stubbornness of fact against repeated argument.
13. Bí agbọ́n bá máa ṣorò, a kì dí bọlẹ̀; bí idà-á bá máa ṣorò, a ki ẹ̀kù bọ àkọ̀.
Literal: Bí agbọ́n bá máa ṣorò when a-wasp is-about-to fight, a kì dí bọlẹ̀ it dips its-tail to-the-ground; bí idà-á bá máa ṣorò when a-sword is-about-to fight, a ki ẹ̀kù bọ àkọ̀ it dips its-hilt into-the-scabbard.
Idiomatic: "When the wasp is about to fight, it dips its tail in the ground; when a sword is about to fight, it dips its hilt into the scabbard."
Meaning: A serious confrontation is preceded by visible preparation, and that preparation itself is a warning.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Before engaging in a demanding task, one makes the proper preparations. Also, momentous events are presaged by warning signs"
Notes: The sword's own small motion, the hilt settling into the scabbard before a draw, is treated as parallel to an insect's instinctive readiness, which extends the proverb's claim from human conduct to a general law of how anything armed behaves just before it acts.
The arrow, the quiver and their proportion
14. Ọ̀rọ̀ rere ní ń yọ obì lápò; ọ̀rọ̀ búburú ní ń yọ ọfà lápó.
Literal: Ọ̀rọ̀ rere good talk ní ń yọ obì lápò is-what draws kola-nut from-a-pouch; ọ̀rọ̀ búburú provocative talk ní ń yọ ọfà lápó is-what draws arrow from-a-quiver.
Idiomatic: "Good talk brings the kola nut out of the pouch; provocative talk draws the arrow out of the quiver."
Meaning: The tone of speech determines whether an exchange ends in hospitality or in violence.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Judicious language defuses problems, whereas thoughtless talk aggravates them"
Notes: The kola nut, offered to a guest as a gesture of welcome, and the arrow, drawn against an enemy, are the two possible outcomes of speech held in exact symmetry by the parallel grammar of the two clauses; the proverb does not need to state which kind of talk is better because the imagery alone makes the case.
15. A kì í gbélé gba ọfà láìlọ ogun.
Literal: A kì í gbélé one does-not stay-home gba ọfà receive an-arrow láìlọ ogun without-going to-war.
Idiomatic: "One does not sit at home, not going to war, and yet be shot with an arrow."
Meaning: A person's own household should be the one place where the dangers of the wider world cannot reach.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should be safe in one's own home"
Notes: The proverb states an expectation rather than a universal fact, which is what gives it force as a complaint: being struck by a stray arrow while at home, having taken no part in the war that produced it, is presented as a violation of a baseline that ought to hold.
16. Àkànṣe lọfà ìmàdò; jagan oró ò ran èse.
Literal: Àkànṣe a-special-undertaking lọfà ìmàdò is-the-arrow for-a-warthog; jagan oró an-ordinary poison ò ran èse has-no-effect on-a-cat.
Idiomatic: "The arrow for a warthog is a major project; an ordinary poison has no effect on the cat."
Meaning: Certain adversaries or tasks require deliberate, extraordinary effort, and a routine approach will simply fail against them.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Certain tasks call for deliberate and extraordinary efforts"
Notes: The warthog's arrow and the cat's poison are two separate images making the same point from opposite directions, one about the weapon that must be specially prepared, the other about the ordinary remedy that will not do; taken together they argue that the tool must be matched to the specific target, not to targets in general.
17. Ó ta ọfà sókè, ó ṣí odó borí.
Literal: Ó ta ọfà sókè he shot an-arrow upward, ó ṣí odó borí he covered his-head with-a-mortar.
Idiomatic: "He shot an arrow toward the sky and covered his head with a mortar."
Meaning: A person who sets a danger in motion then hides, leaving others exposed to what he started.
Used when: Owomoyela: said "of a person who causes problems and goes into hiding, leaving others to suffer the consequences"
Notes: Shooting straight up guarantees the arrow's return to earth without any control over where it lands, so the shooter's own precaution, sheltering under a mortar, protects only himself while everyone else remains exposed to a hazard he alone created.
The weapon that must fit the task
18. Agbọ́nmi ní ń wólé ẹja; apàjùbà ní ń wólé àparò; òlùgbóńgbó tìlà ni wọ́n fi ń ṣ́ẹgun ògúlùtu.
Literal: Agbọ́nmi who-drains-the-stream ní ń wólé ẹja is-what destroys the-home of-fish; apàjùbà who-clears-the-forest ní ń wólé àparò is-what destroys the-home of-partridge; òlùgbóńgbó tìlà a-huge cudgel ni wọ́n fi ń ṣ́ẹgun ògúlùtu is-what-is-used to-conquer what-remains-of-a-wall.
Idiomatic: "Who drains the stream destroys the home of the fish; who clears the forest for farming destroys the home of the partridge; a huge cudgel is the weapon for conquering what is left of a wall."
Meaning: Every situation has its own matching agent of ruin, and every person his or her particular undoing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Each situation has its proper medicine, and each person his or her nemesis"
Notes: The cudgel clause is the third in a set of three destructions, and it is the only one involving a deliberate weapon rather than an incidental human activity; a wall already reduced to a remnant needs no more than a club to finish it, which caps the proverb's escalating list with the smallest possible force applied to the weakest possible target.
19. Ẹni tí ó bá wọ odò ni àyà ń kọ̀, àyà ò fọ odò.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó bá wọ odò the-one who enters a-river ni àyà ń kọ̀ is-whose heart fails, àyà ò fọ odò the-heart does-not fail the-river.
Idiomatic: "It is the person who enters a river who is terrified, not the river."
Meaning: Fear, and the vulnerability it registers, belongs to the person who takes on a danger, not to the danger itself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is the person who takes on an invincible adversary, not the adversary, who has a problem"
Notes: No weapon appears in this proverb, but it belongs with the others here because it states the condition every weapon in this file exists to answer: the felt exposure of a person facing something that can overpower him. The river is chosen because it is an adversary that cannot be reasoned with or frightened, unlike a human enemy.
20. Ogun àgbọ́tẹ́lẹ̀ kì í pa arọ.
Literal: Ogun àgbọ́tẹ́lẹ̀ a-war heard-of-in-advance kì í pa arọ does-not kill a-cripple.
Idiomatic: "A long-foreseen war does not kill a cripple."
Meaning: Advance warning allows even the least able person to protect himself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One must take advantage of foreknowledge to protect oneself"
Notes: The cripple is the figure in this set with the least capacity for self-defence, which is exactly why the proverb chooses him: if foreknowledge is enough to save even the most vulnerable person in the community, it is enough for anyone. Owomoyela cross-references entry 2237 as a related text .
21. O wà lọ́rùn ọ̀pẹ ò ḿbá Ọlọ́run ṣèlérí.
Literal: O wà lọ́rùn ọ̀pẹ you are at-the-neck of-a-palm-tree ò ḿbá Ọlọ́run ṣèlérí you-are bandying-words with-God.
Idiomatic: "You are perched at the lofty neck of the palm tree and you are bandying words with God."
Meaning: A person who taunts a far stronger adversary while already in a physically precarious position doubles his own exposure.
Used when: Owomoyela: said "of a person who taunts more powerful adversaries even when he or she is in a vulnerable position"
Notes: The height of the palm tree supplies the literal vulnerability, a fall being the ordinary risk of climbing one, and the proverb layers a second, figurative vulnerability on top of it by having the climber pick a quarrel with God from that unstable perch; the two dangers, physical and provoked, are meant to be felt together.
The weapon taken up like any other tool
22. Bí ojú bá mọ́, olówò a gbówò; ọ̀rànwú a gbé kẹ́kẹ́; ajagun a gbé apata; àgbẹ̀ a jí tòun tọrúkọ́; ọmọ ọdẹ a jí tapó tọrán; ajíwẹṣẹ a bá odò omi lọ.
Literal: Bí ojú bá mọ́ when the-eye [day] dawns, olówò a gbówò the-trader takes-up his-trade; ọ̀rànwú a gbé kẹ́kẹ́ the-cotton-spinner picks-up the-spindle; ajagun a gbé apata the-warrior takes-up his-shield; àgbẹ̀ a jí tòun tọrúkọ́ the-farmer wakes with-himself and-his-hoe; ọmọ ọdẹ a jí tapó tọrán the-hunter's-son wakes with-quiver and-bow; ajíwẹṣẹ a bá odò omi lọ he-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap goes-to the-river.
Idiomatic: "When day breaks, the trader takes up his trade; the cotton spinner picks up the spindle; the warrior grabs his shield; the farmer gets up with his hoe; the son of the hunter arises with his quiver and his bows; he-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap makes his way to the river."
Meaning: Every person rises to the instrument proper to his own occupation, and the warrior's shield is simply his version of the trader's goods or the farmer's hoe.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When morning comes, everybody should embark on [the business proper to him or her]"
Notes: This is the one entry in the file where a weapon is named without any charge of violence or danger attached to it at all: the shield sits in the list on exactly the same footing as a spindle or a hoe, an ordinary tool picked up at the start of an ordinary day. Read against the rest of this file, where weapons mostly appear at moments of excess, misuse, or exposure, this proverb is the corrective: for the person whose trade it is, the weapon is simply equipment.
Reading this set
Proportion, not the weapon itself, is what these proverbs judge. Entries 3 and 9 condemn a sword for being too much weapon for too small a target; entry 16 insists the opposite failure is equally real, an ordinary tool failing against a target that needs a special one. No proverb in this set treats the sword, arrow, or cudgel as wrong in itself. The fault is always in the match between instrument and occasion.
Vulnerability in this set is mostly self-inflicted or foreseeable, and the proverbs have little patience for either. Entry 21's climber taunts God from an already precarious perch; entry 17's archer shoots blind and hides; entry 8's king acts from anger and finishes from shame. Only entries 15 and 20, the arrow that reaches a person safe at home and the foreseen war that spares the cripple, treat vulnerability as something that can strike the blameless or be neutralised by preparation rather than character.
The blacksmith's household recurs as the place where weapons are made and where their logic is tested. Entries 4 and 11 both use the smith's forge, one to show that even a smith's own child can go without a sword through excessive deference, the other to show that a finished blade shows no loyalty even to the hand that shaped it. Read together they argue that making a weapon confers no special claim on it once it exists.