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
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
- Brutus in Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3 by William Shakespeare
Chinese: 趁熱打鐵
Thai: ตีเหล็กเมื่อแดง
Hindi: लोहा गरम हैं. मार दो हथौड़ा.
Irish: buail an t-iarann te
Swahili: Fua chuma wakati kingali moto
Image: Elimu Yetu teachers visit to Shanga Foundation, Arusha, Tanzania
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
A penny spar'd is twice got.
Senti iliyookolewa hupatikana mara mbili.
- Outlandish Proverbs by George Herbert (1640)
Matumizi ya pesa ndiyo faida zote zinayopatikana ukiwa na pesa.
Kwa pound [£] sita kwa mwaka [yaani riba] unaweza kutumia £ mia [yaani kupitia mkopo], kama unajulikana kama mwaminifu na mwenye busara.
Anayetumia groat [senti 4] kwa siku bure, hutumia pound £ zaidi ya sita kwa mwaka, ambazo ni bei ya kujipatia matumizi ya pound £ mia moja.
[Kwa hivyo] Anayepoteza muda wake wa thamani ya groat [senti 4] kwa siku, siku moja na nyingine, anapoteza fursa ya kutumia pound mia moja kila siku.
Anayepoteza muda wa shilingi tano kwa uvivu hupoteza shilingi tano, ni kama amezitupa tu baharini.
Anayepoteza shilingi tano sio tu kwamba anapoteza kiasi hicho, bali anapoteza pia faida yote ambayo ingeweza kupatikana kwa kuzitumia katika shughuli zake, ambayo, akiwa kijana, wakati wa uzee ingefikia kiasi kikubwa cha fedha.
Tena: anayeuza kwa mkopo huongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa kiasi sawa riba angaliingiza na pesa hizo kwa kipindi ambacho atazikosa. Kwa hivyo, anayenunua kwa mkopo hulipa riba kwa kile anachonunua, na anayelipa pesa mara moja kwa kila anachonunua hukoa fursa ya kuzikopesha kwa wengine, kwa hivyo aliye na kitu alichonunua ameshalipa riba kwa matumizi yake.
Hata hivyo nasema kulipa mara moja unaponunua ni bora, kwa sababu anayeuza kwa mkopo anatarajia kupoteza asilimia tano ya mikopo; kwa hivyo anaongeza bei ya kile anachokiuza kwa asilimia ileile ili kuzuia hasara. Wanaolipa kwa mikopo hulipa kodi mara moja. Anayelipa kwa pesa mara moja anaweza kuzuia kodi hii
"Senti iliyohifadhiwa ni senti mbili hakika;
[haba] kwa siku ni [nne] kwa mwaka."
Better than never is late
“Bora kuliko kamwe ni kuchelewa
-The Canterbury Tales, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
Lilatini: potiusque sero quam numquam
Bora kuchelewa kuliko kukosa kabisa
- History of Rome, Book 4
It's never too late
Hakuna kuchelewa
Don't close the gate after the horse has bolted.
Usifunge mlango baada ya farasi kukimbia
जब जाति तब सवेरे
Wakati wowote unapoamka, ndo asubuhi yako
Fikiria kama umechelewa Mahojiano ya Ajira. Ungefanyaje? Next time unapofikiri "Nimeshachelewa" jiambie "Bora kuchelewa kuliko kukosa kabisa." Kwa mfano makala hii ya Methali ya Siku ilichelewa, lakini sasa unaisoma - Asante!