Review: The Book of African Proverbs by Gerd de Ley #BookAfricanProverbs #AfricanProverbs #GerdDeLey

(product photo courtesy of www.amazon.com)

The Book of African Proverbs: A Collection of Timeless Wisdom, Wit, Sayings & Advice by Gerd de Ley

$15.00 US/$20.00 CAN

Have you ever listened to a proverb that someone told you and thought, there has to be some truth to that? Usually there is. Often proverbs, idioms and sayings are based in truth and have come to take on a life of their own in time. Halloween, a perfectly innocent holiday, has roots in pagan religions of Northern Europe. It is the celebration of the end of the harvest and the beginning of Winter, the lean cold months which reminded the ancients of death. The actual Day of Halloween was called Samhain (Sow-ain) and the veil between the living and the dead was supposed to be thinnest at that time. This is an example of good American origin story. You can create proverbs from this. 

The book is divided up into different kinds of proverbs and has content names like "An Unbreakable Spirit", "A Tradition of Storytelling", "The Value of Hard Work", "Food and Good Times", "Animal Wisdom" and "Words to the Wise".There is also a bibliography were all the quotes came from, although matching it up with the quote you are trying to find is a nightmare.  

These quotes and sayings are definitely something you need to keep an eye out for your own mother now. Here are a few of them:

• Allah, preserve us from ,"If only I'd known"--Hausa
• Don't ask me where I am coming from, ask me where I have come from.--African proverb.
• One blow will not knock down the strong man.--Nigeria
• All the world fears time but time fears the Pyramids--Egypt

Those are a few in the Unbreakable Spirit Section. Now let us o the A Tradition of Storytelling section. 

• Repetition is the mother of knowledge.-African Proverb
• Silence is also speech.--Fulfulde
• Silence is more that just a lack of words. --Egypt
• Words are like spears. Once they leave your lips they can never come back.--Yoruba
• A child that asks questions isn't stupid--Ewe
• He who learns teaches--Ethiopia

Life and Death Section.

• What is the use of consulting a dead man's horoscope--Senegal
• Death makes no appointment-Ashanti
• Eternity gives no answer--Liberia

Section entitled The Value of Hard Work

• Authority does not depend on age--Ovambo
• A back does not break from bending--Egypt
• A bald headed
• man will not grow hair by getting excited. 

On People

• A woman who has not been twice married cannot know what a perfect marriage is--Nigeria
• A woman's stomach does not grow if she is not pregnant.--Ethiopia
• Divorce a young woman and you make another young man happy-Ethiopia

Food And Good Times

• Friendship is honey but don't eat it all--Morocco
• An onion shared with a friend taste like roast lamb--Egypt
• Don's despise the nut, one day it will be a beautiful palm tree--Angola
• An orange never bears a lime-Sierra Leone

From the Animal Wisdom Chapter

• The fowl digs out the blade that kills it.--Somalia
• When a fly does not get of a dead body, he is buried with it.--Ashanti
• A fly does not mine dying in coconut cream-Swahili
• When the hyena drinks, the dog can only look on. --Hausa
• The horse that arrives early gets good drinking water--Zulu

All of these proverbs are to a point and make sense when translated. They also make sense with the idioms of our language. This would also make a great coffee table book, home library book or fun book to give as a gift. The Book Of African Proverbs retails for $15.00 Us/$20 CAN. It can be purchased online at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. 

Until Next Time~

Marie Papachatzis

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