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Shona Definition
Kana munhu asingatyi kukanganisa chinhu chidiki haazotyiwo kupara mhosva huru. Munhu anotanga nokuba zvinhu zvidiki anozopedzisira ava mbavha yamandiriri.
English Translation
Whoever helps himself to an egg today will take the whole hen tomorrow. A person who does not hold himself back in small wrongs will not shrink from grave ones, and petty pilfering ends in full-blown thievery.
Cultural Context
“Said as a warning that minor faults left unchecked grow into serious offences.”
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This is a variant of
Mviro-mviro yemhanza / inotanga shoshaBaldness shows itself first at the temples (the book's rendering prints "boldness", apparently a slip). The earliest trace of a thing appears at its edges.