76. Anakavĩte ta ĩlaa ya mũutĩ. She is as beautiful as the flower of a mũutĩ tree.

The axiom reflects Kamba appreciation of flowers and specific plants. Since the Islamic period this maxim has been used during negotiation of a dowry. The Kamba appreciated the fragrance of mũutĩ, a low bush species that produces radiant yellow flowers, and which played many roles: precolonial Kamba surgeons undertook brain surgery, sealed the skull, and treated the wound with mũutĩ; the flowers of the plant were the epitome of beauty in Ũkamba – during a dowry negotiation parents praised their daughter likening them to this glorious flower, regardless of reality.

77. Avaĩĩ kĩtathe vayũaa ndathe. Where there is a kĩtathe (Albizia anthelmintica) tree there will be ndathe seedlings.

Kĩtathe (known to botanists as Albizia anthelmintica) is a hardwood shade tree used for high-quality firewood and many other purposes. When the tree dies, new saplings emerge from tough seeds (ndathe) hardy enough to survive. This proverb emerged during the Monsoon exchange era, when the Kamba occupied ecological niches where the tree grows. It usually conveys a message that bad traits recur in a family and must be suppressed early.

78. Ĩlaa ya ngwatyo yaĩlaa mũthenya ũmwe. A borrowed flower is beautiful only for a day.

Flowers had medicinal, nutritional, magical, and aesthetic uses. Newborns were named after flowers. People borrowed and gave flower presents to lovers. Beyond this context, the proverb alludes to debt as a malevolent force that interrupts and diminishes both beauty and personal relationships by a pecuniary obligation. It has a darker meaning than ‘friendship and money are like oil and water: they never mix’. It implies an opposition between calculation and ideals with calculation likely to win out. Better to work, sacrifice, and save in order to obtain – in a way that does not interrupt the ethical web of interpersonal relations.

79. Kamanyĩa kũlĩsa mĩtĩ ĩla mĩnene tũla tũnini kaimanyaa kũlĩsa. A boy accustomed to climb big trees cannot climb small trees.

Climbing trees was part of boys’ training to be beekeepers as adults. Big trees in the context of this proverb, however, symbolize women while small trees symbolize girls. If a boy acquires the habit of having sex with adult women, says the proverb, he will find it hard to date girls.