1522. Itho ĩkatonyeka ĩsalũkĩlyaa kĩlaanĩ. An eye bound to be blind blinks in the Acacia mellera bush.

This depicts the nature of Ũkamba landscape, full of thorn bushes that tear clothes and skin if walked through carelessly. In thorny terrain travellers closed their eyes or kept them semi-closed until they passed through such an area. Sometimes thorns got in their eyes and hence this proverb. The ancient proverb warns people to be careful to avoid danger.

1523. Kĩthimo kya metho kĩthimaa kĩtumbo. The eye scales weigh a carcass.

The Kamba say a weighing scale in the eye weighs dead animal meat, alluding to rarely documented practices in rural villages. When an animal dies from unexpected causes, the meat is chopped without using scales in a process called kĩtumbo. The maxim means people cannot rely on eyes to measure things. One may think they see pride in someone and be wrong. This is now the ‘eyes’ measure’ since eyes only see the surface.

1524. Kimbaa kĩisyaa. It swells when it is giving birth.

This may refer to an expectant mother’s body. After childbirth she gains weight and most parts of her body swells. It means changes occur at the hour of reckoning. Pleasure is transient, pain inevitable. Coined by women, the proverb has been in circulation for millennia and has more meanings than are given here.

1525. Ũkũne ũvwaa ũkũve ndumaa mwĩĩ. Laceration is like coitus, it does not get out of the body.

Both laceration and coitus or rape are incisions into the body and cannot be retrieved. The message is that certain things are better avoided or prevented. The damage they cause if they happen is irreparable. This emerged out of conflict in precolonial times. In other words, tit for tat. This axiom is akin to the next entry.

1526. Kĩkatĩ wa maaũ kĩyĩ mwathũkĩĩle. An object between the legs has no way to evade.

This axiom alludes to coitus where penetration is assumed to be hard to evade. Certain things perpetuate themselves when they happen and should be avoided.

1527. Kuusya ona kyaasava no kyaku. Pull it; even if it elongates, it is yours.

The proverb emerged around the 1970s in a fight between a man and his wife. The woman grabbed the husband’s penis to demobilize him, leaving the man to resignedly say this axiom.