Kikuyu - Riddles and Proverbs
Proverbs
Riddles
Sung riddles
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Kikuyu - Riddles and Proverbs |
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| Most of the following proverbs and riddles are taken from Gikuyu Oral Literature, by Wanjiki Mukabi Kabira and Kerega wa Muthahi (1988: East African Educational Publishers, PO Box 45314 Nairobi, Kenya). See the copyright notice. |
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| In this page: Proverbs Riddles Sung riddles |
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- The quality of a home is only known by its resident
- One who never travels thinks it only his mother who is a good cook.
- A beautiful girl passes by the poor man's home.
- The prospective initiates may take the initiation bath yet fail to go through the initiation.
- The warrior may be tripped by a maize cob
- Where men have been on cannot pick a good feather.
- Good reasoning breaks a strung bow.
- A disunited battalion gets beaten with one club.
- An old he goat does not sneeze for nothing.
- We are like a Maasai and his underpants
(if two Kikuyu wish to have nothing further to do with each other after a disagreement, they will say this meaning 'we have nothing to do with each other' - the Maasai do not wear underpants, at least not in popular legend)- Women and the sky cannot be understood.
- The man may be the head of the home, but the woman is the heart.
- Frowning frogs cannot stop the cows drinking from the pool.
Riddle |
Answer |
When I look at you I see you through to the intestines |
A granary |
I have travelled with one who never tells me to rest |
My shadow |
I have gone round the forest with a red motorcycle |
A rainbow |
I have a house without a door or a window |
An egg |
It is upside down but does not leak |
A cow's udder |
They face up as if they are about to lead a song |
The horns of cattle |
I have a person who stays between two swords but never gets cut |
The tongue |
My house has only one pole |
The mushroom |
Those things in the cave have one hundred eyes |
Honey combs |
An elephant with one ear |
A cup |
If anyone has any more information about these, I'd love to hear it!
The Kikuyu had a very elaborate sung riddle game, a duet called the enigma poem or gicandi (gicandia), a set text of riddles that could apparently contain up to 127 stanzas. It was sung in a duet by two competitors, who had each learned the poem by heart. A decorated gourd rattle accompanied the singing.
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