Tsumo starting with MH

Shona Proverbs

• Mhamba haina duraBeer gives no thought to the grain store. Drink leaves a person so merry and so heedless that he hands out even the things he cannot do without.
• Mhamba haina uko ndashanyira.Drink strips a guest of his self-control, until his talk and behaviour make him act as though the place were his own rather than his host's.
• Mhandakadzi / ihonza varandaA quarrelsome, complaining woman wears her servants down until they waste away.
• Mhandara kuita mavende / kuda kuti vanhu vasekeA gap-toothed girl invites laughter whenever she opens her mouth. Something that happens unexpectedly both astonishes people and makes them laugh.
• Mhanza kutsvukira / kuona pfuta. (M)A bald head shines because oil has been rubbed on it; visible contentment likewise has a cause behind it. A small child looks well and cheerful because it is being properly fed and cared for.
• Mharadzano dzakabva munziraThe forks and side tracks all grew out of the one main road.
• Mhosva haina dikiNo offence counts as a minor one. Once a wrong has been committed it is tried according to the law and paid for at whatever level is found fitting.
• Mhosva haipfumirwiNo one can set money aside in advance for a court case that has not yet happened. Trouble of that kind cannot be budgeted for ahead of time.
• Mhosva haitongwi nokurwaEvery dispute is meant to be talked through, not fought out. Reaching for violence to force a settlement is itself an admission that one has lost the argument.
• Mhosva haizvitongi. (M)A case cannot sit in judgement on itself. However senior a person is, once he is the one at fault he cannot judge his own wrongdoing and must accept the ruling of others.
• Mhosva ibakatwa / rinopakatirwa nokwawaendaAn offence clings to the offender the way a large knife is carried about wherever he goes. Even if he runs off and settles far away for years, the charge will be waiting for him when he comes back.
• Mhosva inorondwa / hakuna mhosva yakaita honyeAn offence is traced back to its source; no case has ever sat long enough to breed maggots.
• Mhosva ndeyomwene / vazhinji zvapupuA case belongs to the one who did the deed; everybody else stands only as a witness.
• Mhosvakadzi / muripo mweneWhen the offence concerns a woman, she herself is the compensation that settles it.
• Mhuka hairondwi isina kusiya gwara reropaAn animal that has left no blood trail cannot be tracked. A suitor should pursue a woman who has given him some encouragement, but with no sign of interest from her there is nothing to follow.