Etahi Whakatauki Maori.

Toa Takitini, Issue 15, 1 October 1922, Page 11

Etahi Whakatauki Maori.

I. IMo runga ite kaha ki te Mahi. I* He tangata momoe, he tangata mangere, e koree whiwhi kite taonga. (A sleepy-headed lazy fellow will never possess riches.) 2. Mauri mahi ! Mauri ora. (The industrious liveth.) 3- Tama tu, tama ora; t.ima noho, tama mate kai. (The working Chieftain flourishes, the idle Chief gets hungry.) 4. He kai na te tangata, he kai titongitongi kaki; He kai na tona ringa ake, tino kai, tino makona. (Food from another, is little and stinging to the throat; food of a man’s own getting, sweetly eaten and satisfying.) 5. He panehe toki ka tu tetangi taki kai. (A little axe well used brings plenty of food.) 6. Takoto kau ana whanau a taane. (The children of Taane are lying prostrate. The maara is cleared for planting) 7. Anei te ringa tango otaota ! (Here is the hand, that roots out the weeds.) 8. He mate kai e rokohanga, he mate anu e kore e rokohanga. (Hunger can be remedied, not so the chill of death.) 9. He toa taua; ma te taua he toa piki pari ma te pa ri; he toa ngaki kai ma te huhu tena. (The hero dies in fight; the precipice-climber by a fall; but the cultivator of food by worms (old age.) 10. He toa pahekeheke te toa taua; tena ko te toa mahi kai e kore e paheke. (Slippery is the fame of the warrior; but the fame of the “Industrious Cultivator” will not slip.) 11. Kahore he tarainga tahere ite huarahi ! (There is no hewing bird-snare on the way.) 12. Ka mate kainga tahi, ka ora kainga rua. (One home is danger, two quite safe.) 13. I hea koe i te ngahorotangao te rau o te kotukutuku. Where wert thou in the failing of the leaves of the “Kotukutuku.)

14. I hea koe ite tangihanga o te horirerire ? (Where wert thou at the crying of the horirerire ? Gerygone flaviventris.) 15- Ko te to-kanga nui a Noho ! (The abundant return of Nohos planting.) 16. He wha tawhara ki uta, he kiko tamure ki tai. (In land is the ‘wha tawhara” (fruit) the schnapper flesh at sea.) 17. Whanatu poho ki roto, haere mai taiki ki waho; nohoia te whare ko te he tonu. (Inward goes the stomach, outward come the ribs; stay inside means disaster.) 18. Te wahie ka whaia mo takurua, te kai ka mahia mo tan (Fire wood is sought for winter, food is laboured after for the year.) Be usefully employed. 19. Te toto o te tangala he kai, te oranga o te tangata he whenua. (The blood of man is from food, the sustenance of man is from the land.) 20. He taane rou kakahi ka moea, he taane moe i roto i te whare kurua te takataka. (The husband dexterous at kakahi-dragging will be slept with, and the husband who sleeps idly in the house will be thumped and knocked about.) . , G (Taria te roanga.)