Maasai Proverbs

[Laurence Horn]

>         So what's the explanation for the goat dung proverb?

I think of it as similar to not being able to put a round peg in a
square hole, or some more appropriate proverb I can't remember.
(Something about needing the right tool for the right job.)

The idea, to my mind, is that even something as tiny as a particle of
goat dung can't be consumed by even something as big as a large gourd
because gourds don't have mouths.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bapopik at AOL.COM [mailto:Bapopik at AOL.COM]
>Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 2:38 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Maasai Proverbs
>
>WISDOM OF MAASAI
>by A Ol'Oloisolo Massek and J. O. Sidai
>52 pages, paperback
>Nairobi: Transafrica Publishers
>1974
>
>
>Pg. 39:
>A particle of goat dung cannot be eaten by a large gourd.