An African child is usually viewed as a gift for the whole village from the day he/she is born. This means that every villager takes responsibility on the well being of the child. This has served as a way of maintaning unity, love and peace within most African societies. This also entails the fact that every older person is respected as your mother, brother, father or sister even when they are not from within your family. These typical acts ensured that the young ones grew up respecting the elderly and in helping fostering this, the elders used various methods in inculcating good behaviours and morals in young people through methods like stories in form of folktales as well as what i am focusing on today which are PROVERBS.
BELOW IS A LIST OF AFRICAN PROVERBS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED OVER YEARS TO SHAPE AN AFRICAN CHILD
- The fall of a dead leaf is a warning to the green ones!
2.It is the nature of the hyena to blame its puppies for smelling like goats as an excuse to eat them!
3.A he-goat which starts a fight should be sure of the strength of its horns.
4.A good dancer should know when to leave the stage.
To the one who has not travelled that much, his mother remains the best cook.
Wisdom is like a baobab, no one individual can embrace it!
To get lost is to learn the way!
8.By crawling, a child learns to stand!
- By the time the fool has the learnt the game, the players will have dispersed.
10.You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla!
11.Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it gets chopped off.
Peace is costly but it is worth the expense.
A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow.
A mere large chair does not make a king!
15.An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep!
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