• When a lizard nods its head, it does not mean that all is well.
• It is the heedless hen that turns her back to the wind.
• The egret refused to be the king because that status would prevent it from pecking at crayfish at the sand bank, as that does not befit a king.
• The goat says the mouth which does not chew smells.
• The face does not quarrel with the nose which gives it beauty.
• It is a fool who does not recognize the strength of the enemy.
• He who pours water in his compound will always step on wet ground.
• Wisdom is like grey hairs that money cannot buy.
• The thing that happens in the house of dogs, happens also in the house of goats.
• The baby cobra is never free of venom.
• If you play with puppy, it shows your nakedness to the world.
• Two rams cannot drink water from one pot at the same time.
• Once you have sold your fish in the market, you can’t expect to have them back and keep the money.
• Our people say if the fowl leaves home at dawn, it will not miss its way when going to roost.
• Our people say, he who has not secured a place on the floor should not look for a mat.
• Only the elders of the town know the boundaries of the land.
• The hen says, the duck is too dirty to touch her; it is when the wind blows that we see her anus.
• It is the teeth with which the dog plays with its babies that it uses against its enemies.
• Our people say that when a handshake goes beyond the elbow, it has turned to another thing.
• It is not how you drink water that you drink akpetesi.
• When a man ceases to be a man, he develops hunchback.
• He who sits on the floor is never driven by the elders.
• A goat is a goat, and a hen is a hen, even if the rain forces them to take shelter under the same roof.
• A tree without a hole does not accommodate ants.
• It is what a man has in mind when he is sober that he emits when he is drunk.
• A child does not knock his father on the head, just because he is taller than his father.
• No one cries to bring blood.
• It is not how you drink water you drink pepper soup.
• He who is thinking of tying down an alligator should not forget that he will be touched by mud.
• It is from the pole that the water gets into the canoe slowly.
• The hippopotamus that is looking for a canoe is really looking for the man.
• It is the foolish woman who goes under the rain when she is tying only one a wrapper.
SOURCE: Ayakoroma, Barclays. Dance On His Grave. Yenagoa: Dee-Goldfinger Publishers, 2002.