Tsumo starting with M

Shona Proverbs

• 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.
• Mvura haina nhangi-tangi / tiza chikore chayo.Rain will not race you, so there is no point competing with it; get out of the way as soon as you see its cloud.
• Mvura inoshinyira / ngeiri pazambuko.The water to fear most is the water at the crossing place. The danger that matters is the one standing right where you must pass.
• Mvura yembambara / tiza ichabva kureRun from the storm carried on the south-west wind while it is still a long way off. Take yourself out of danger's path early, before it is upon you.
• Mvura yokuchererwa / haipedzi nyotaWater drawn for you by someone else never really satisfies your thirst. Handouts rarely give a person as much as he needs; to be satisfied he has to go and get things for himself.
• Mvura yomubvumbi igonza kuba.
• Mwana asi wako haatumidzwi zita.
• Mwana asina mai / haarari hope dzamasikatiThere is no daytime sleeping for a child whose mother has died. Careful people handle their affairs with an eye to not losing what is theirs, and they seldom do lose it; blessings that come one's way have to be guarded and used shrewdly, because once they are gone they will not be had again. Watchfulness is what keeps a fortune in a person's hands.
• Mwana asingachemi / anofira mumberekoThe baby who never cries dies unnoticed on its mother's back. Someone who never makes their need heard gets no help.
• Mwana asiri wako / tuka wakateerera izwi ramai vakeIf you reprimand a child who is not your own, keep an ear open for what the child's mother has to say.
• Mwana chingwarire / haapunyutsi mbevaIn the hands of a child who takes care, a mouse stays caught.
• Mwana kuchemera nyere yepfuta / achairega yaputaA child who cries and pleads for a whistle cut from the castor-oil plant will throw it aside once it dries up and shrivels. What is demanded so urgently is often dropped as soon as it loses its freshness.
• Mwana mudiki chirangarangaAn infant shows no favouritism or jealousy towards anyone, and in turn is loved by all; like the delicate top of the spine, a baby is passed freely from person to person and handled with great care.
• Mwana muduku in'angaA young child speaks only the truth, with none of the adult reserve about what may or may not be mentioned. What a child reports can therefore be relied on.
• Mwana muduku kubvuma rwendo / rwake ruri mukatiWhen someone badly wants something, they will go to any length and put up with any inconvenience to obtain it. A child who readily takes on an errand usually has an errand of his own in mind.
• Mwana muduku kudziva musendo noruoko iwo uchazomudziva womeneA child who wards off a sharp woodworking blade with his bare hand will find the blade wards off his hand in turn. Many people ignore warnings about danger until they are hurt and learn caution the hard way.
• Mwana mumwe chete izai regondo.
• Mwana musvinuki ndiye mudyisi wavashe.
• Mwana ndeari mudumbu / ari kunze anotambwa nayeA mother has her unborn child entirely to herself, but once it is born anyone fond of it may play with it. Small children delight everyone around, and the mother would not refuse them.
• Mwana nyangonaka sei / haaguswi musoro usikuThe person charged is the one who must answer for the offence; no one else can speak in his place, and he cannot be condemned while absent or while denied the chance to speak for himself. Witnesses are there only to give evidence when asked.
• Mwana wegomba / inhimhanapasi sehweveraA child fathered by an adulterer causes ruin the way a cutworm does.
• Mwana wegonzo anotamba akatarisa mudenga / kune mudzimu wakeThe young rat plays with its eyes turned upward towards its ancestral spirit.
• Mwana wehuku anoguta ndearipo.
• Mwana wenyoka - mwana wenyoka / haana mudukuA snake's young is still a snake, no matter how small it is. Smallness is no reason to treat something as harmless.
• Mwana wowenzara / murasiThose who have least are frequently the worst at managing the little that reaches them, and so hunger stays at their door. The saying makes a wry observation of something people see often.
• Mwanasikana ndimapfumiseA daughter brings wealth to her family: on the day she is married she brings in a herd of cattle.
• Mwena unorindirwa / ndounobuda ishwaThe hole worth keeping watch over is the one the termites actually come out of. Effort is spent where there is something to be gained.
• Mwene worufu anoonekwa nebaravaraYou can tell who has lost a relative by the shaved head. The one struck by grief carries a visible sign so that others know of his loss.
• Mweni haaendi neduraA visitor may be fed generously, but he will not take the whole grain store away with him.
• Mweni haaiswi paduraNo one gives a stranger the errand of going to the granary.
• Mweni kudyisa / hunge aona vohwo vachiita gapaWhat frees a visitor to eat his fill is seeing the household eating freely too. In the same way, whoever is being helped ought to put his own strength into the job, or those helping him will drop back from it.
• Mweni kusvika paimba / kuregedza maokoWhen a visitor turns up, whatever work is under way comes to a halt; the household sits down with him, hears his news and makes him welcome.
• Mwoyo chipanda, chaunoda unoturika.
• Mwoyo ibakwa / chaunoda unoturikaThe heart stores every intention a person has, the bad along with the good; in time some of them are acted on and the rest are set aside.
• Mwoyo ihozi, chaunoda unopfigira.
• Mwoyo ipfimbi, inozivikanwa nowakaipfimbika.No one can know what is in a person's heart unless the owner reveals it. It is like saying what is in the heart is in a closed fist.
• Mwoyo muti / unomera paunodaThe heart is a tree that sprouts wherever it pleases. Affection and desire settle where they choose, not where others would direct them.
• Mwoyochena ndowei bere kurinda mhuru yakafa?
• Mwoyochena ndowei, tsvimborume kubata mwana wemvana
• Mwoyochena una amai / kuyamwisa mwana asiri wavoA kind-hearted woman will breastfeed a child who is not her own.
• Mwoyochena unobayisaA generous person is seldom thanked by everyone; more often it is precisely the kind-hearted who get trampled on because of the good they do. Kindness can be repaid with harm.
• Mwoyochena wei / gunguo kugadzirira mbongoro (inorwara) pokurara?When someone gives help for nothing, people assume there is a hidden motive and that the helper expects something back later. Unlikely kindness, like a crow making a bed for a sick donkey, is treated as suspect.
• Mwoyochena wei / kugombera inonwa zvayo?There is no real generosity in standing guard over a calf that is already feeding by itself. Help offered where none is needed is not true kindness.
• Mwoyochena wei / tsvimborume kubvisa mwana wemvana madzihwa?What kind of good-heartedness is it when a bachelor wipes the nose of a child belonging to a woman who already has one? The question casts doubt on whether such kindness is what it appears to be.