MAORI PROVERBS.
We publish below a few Native proverbs, and should be glad to receive from our European and Maori friends any information as to the origin of many of them:— Let industry be rewarded lest idleness get the advantage. Food, the produce of your own labour, you may eat without stint. Prosperity is the fruit of industry, while idleness begets poverty. Eood belonging to another will be eaten sparingly; but food, the produce of your own labour, you may eat till you ai*e satisfied. The warrior war will take; the precipice climber, a precipice ; but the husbandman the worm will have. The fame of a warrior is precarious, while that of a man strong to cultivate food is lasting. The eel-fisher's sleep is tranquil, while that of a member of a war party is fitful and broken. The men (it is true) are Waitaha, but the heart is kawe-ke. In name all one people, but not so in heart. Professing to be Waitaha, and, in reality, anything but one people. A greenstone of two colours (for a changeable person). It is possible to search the corners of a house, but those of a heart impossible. The thoughts of the descendants of Kapu were never known, whether for good or evil. The shaft of wood may be pained, but the shaft of the tongue cannot be pained. Inwardly one thing, outwardly another. Outwardly eating together, inwardly tearing to pieces. The spider is not seen when hid in his web, so tlio real intention of the man is concealed in the recesses of his heart. A fair speech and a false heart. A track in the grass can be seen, but a track in the ocean is invisible.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAKAM18750622.2.23
Bibliographic details
Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 12, 22 June 1875, Page 145
Word Count
287MAORI PROVERBS. Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 12, 22 June 1875, Page 145
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