291. Ĩkũya ĩngĩ nĩyo ĩ maumĩ. The one eating another is the one that roars.

Precolonial Ũkamba was teeming with wild animals. Bygone generations witnessed predators prowling, capturing, mauling, and devouring their prey, leading to this ancient proverb. It points to power relations between the giver and the receiver, the ruler and the subject, and so on.

292. Ĩvĩndĩ yaemie mbiti ngitĩ ekanaa nayo ata. A bone that defeated the hyena the dog cannot crunch.

The hyena’s strong teeth can clear an entire carcass and crack bones. The axiom admonished people to take up tasks that were within their means. It specifically admonished bachelors not to marry divorcees, lest they end up divorced.

293. Kala kevwia kenũkĩaa inya. The coward returns to the mother.

This has multiple variations, all advising listeners to avoid confrontation even when they are offended and sure to prevail. Thus, cowardice can be seen as admirably prudent in conflict management.

294. Kasamũ kanini kaĩĩa kangĩ o nzaa. A little creature eats another simply because of hunger.

Several variations explain why a hungry creature consumes almost anything. They all imply that lack of alternatives force people into peculiar actions.

295. Kanywa ũumaa mbiti ĩ mũingo wa ũsĩ. The mouth insults the hyena only when it is across the river.

One may talk fiercely about something at a distance or in the future, but when the hour of reckoning arrives, the person becomes dumb. Stop speculations.

296. Sya vaasa syĩthesyaa mavĩndĩ. Those from distant places do not clean bones.

This ancient proverb addresses transient things that one should not worry about. This comes from a political song in 1974. The singer praising her favourite parliamentary candidate used this proverb to imply that the opponent was a passing cloud. The hyena in the song was the opponent who was from another corner of the constituency and the singer meant that this distant competitor was unlikely to get local votes – the analogy of licking the bones clean.

297. Kana ka mbiti katũlile nyinya mũtĩ. The hyena’s cub blamed its mother.

This ancient axiom was drawn from a folktale. The hyena’s offspring killed a leopard cub upon incitation of the mother. The leopard retaliated by killing both the mother hyena and her cub, with the latter blaming the mother for the punishment. This means, if parents encourage evil their children will blame them for not correcting them.