Tsumo starting with MB

Shona Proverbs

• Mbavha ibatwi / mbavha rutsoka ishamwariGuilt for theft is settled by catching the person at it. Where nothing but a footprint points to someone, that person may be as innocent as a friend, and the suspicion may be wholly mistaken; so hold back the accusation.
• Mbavha nechidima zvinonzwanana. (M)A thief wants to steal without being seen, so he must do his work at night. Darkness and thieving are therefore natural companions.
• Mbende inosimbira kutete / ichisiya kukobvuThe grey-backed gerbil presses its effort where the ground is soft and leaves the hard part alone.
• Mberi kwenzara / magutaHunger is followed by plenty: hardship is rarely permanent, and someone who strives will in time have enough. A household short of food this year may be among the best providers in years to come.
• Mbeva zhinji hadzina mariseWhere mice are too many, their nest ends up with no lining in it.
• Mbhandara inosara yoseka / kumba yashandaSomeone with nobody to help them gets their work organised in good time, knowing that otherwise the tasks will pile up once the time is gone. Enjoyment comes only once the ordinary duties have been dealt with.
• Mbhanje isina mwana / hainzi ichembereA woman who has borne no child is not to be counted among the old women.
• Mbhanza chironda / inotevera akuraBaldness comes with age, and so does the bearing that age demands: someone of standing is owed respect but is equally expected to carry himself with dignity rather than like a child.
• Mbhosva yomumwe / mangwana ndeyakoThe trouble another person is answering for today may well be your own trouble tomorrow.
• Mbhuno hainwi mvura muromo usina kunwaNot until the mouth has had its drink of water does the nose get one.
• Mbira yakashaya muswe ngokutumira. (M)Business handled through messengers cannot be relied on; attend to your own affairs yourself, because what you leave to others tends not to come off. In the folktale the rock rabbit sent other animals to collect a tail for him, was told to come in person, and arrived to find the tails all given out.
• Mbudzi kudya mufenje / kufana nyinaWhen a goat browses on cabbage-tree leaves, it is doing exactly what its mother does.
• Mbudzi kukwira mufuta / kufana rudzi. (M)A goat that climbs a castor-oil plant is only doing what goats of its own kind do. Behaviour follows the stock one comes from.
• Mbudzi yafura mumera / yatorunzaBy grazing on the sprouting grain the goat has given away its greed.