by Magreth Lazaro Mafie 🇹🇿 🏆 Proverb Essay Contest 🥉 Third Place Winner (English translation from Kiswahili)
I fear neither sun nor rain, making my tomorrow
I fear neither injuries nor pain, because all are temporary
Scorching sun and work are my custom, so that happiness comes in life
The street vendor, the farmer, the [port boys] and their fisherman and the sun, in search of tomorrow
One who works in the sun, eats in the shade, I am still searching for shade.
It's noon, the sun overhead, in my head I have the harvest, sweat is dripping,
The sun has set now, the oar on the beach, exhausted in bed, nets in the sea,
At home on fourth street, captain of the family, may I pull happiness from hard labor
Now the sun is rising, walking the path to look for a bite,
One who works in the sun, eats in the shade, I am still searching for shade.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Essay by Magreth Lazaro Mafie English translation by Brighid McCarthy Published by Maktaba.org Image: CC BY Maktaba.org Image created from "Peasant with a Hoe" by Georges Seurat, c. 1882, Public Domain
M - chumia - jua - ni - hu - lia - kivuli - ni One who - earns/toils/labors/saves/economizes/works - the sun - in - usually - eats - the shade - in
He who earns his living in the sun, eats in the shade
The one who saves up in the sun eats in the shade
Work in the sun, eat in the shade
He/She who toils in the sun will eat in the shade
The laborer in the sun eats in the shade
The worker in the sun eats in the shade
Ukitaka kwenda haraka, nenda peke yako, ukitaka kwenda mbali, nenda na wenzako
If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together
Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour
from Li Proverbe au Vilain, published around 1190
Modern French: Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour
Rome wasn't built in a day
冰凍三尺,非一日之寒
Three feet of ice is not the result of one cold day
Chan ann leis a’ chiad bhuille a thuiteas a’ chraobh
It is not with the first strike that the tree will fall
Image credit: Screenshot from 3D virtual tour of Kilwa Kisiwani created by Zamani Project
You can sail in a ship by yourself,
Take a nap or a nip by yourself.
You can get into debt on your own.
There are lots of things that you can do alone.
But it takes two to tango, two to tango...
ايد لوحدها ماتسقفش
One hand can't clap
Bila mtu wa pili ugomvi hauanzi
Without a second person a quarrel cannot start
Kidole kimoja hakiuwi chawa
One finger doesn't kill a louse
Silaha za siku hizi ni kalamu na karatasi.
Today's weapons are pen and paper.
- Swahili proverb
You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war.
- William Randolph Hearst
(FRAGMENTS)
Watch carefully over thy mouth ...... and make thy heart slow(?), for the word spoken is like a bird, and he who utters it is like a man without ...
... the craft of the mouth is mightier than the craft of ......
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills.
-William Shakespeare Hamlet Act 2, scene II (page 59)
Unaweza kusafiri kwa meli peke yako,
kulala au kupumzika peke yako.
Unaweza kuingia kwenye deni peke yako.
Kuna mambo mengi ambayo unaweza kufanya peke yako.
Lakini ni lazima muwe wawili ili kucheza tango, muwe wawili ili kucheza tango...
ايد لوحدها ماتسقفش
Mkono mmoja hauwezi kupiga makofi
Bila mtu wa pili ugomvi hauanzi
Kidole kimoja hakiuwi chawa