The Gogo and the Hare and My 12 Favorite Swazi Idioms

There once was a Gogo and a hare.  The hare was a clever animal.  So the hare said to the Gogo “Let’s play a game.”  It’s called into-the-pot, out-of-the-pot.”  The Gogo agreed and they began to play.  First the Gogo jumped into the pot.  Then she said “Ok- you can let me out now, I’m cooking.”  And the hare let her out.  Then it was the hare’s turn.  The hare jumped into the pot.  Then he said “Ok- you can let me out now, I’m cooking.”  The Gogo let him out.  Then she jumped into the pot again.  Then she said “Ok- you can let me out now, I’m cooking.”  But the hare said “No!  Not til you’re all the way done!”  So the hare cooked the Gogo in the pot. 

Soon, the Gogo’s grandchildren came home and asked where their Gogo was.  “Ah, she had to go away for a while, but have some of this nice stew she made you,” said the hare.

The children happily ate the stew.  “Hmmm…this finger looks a lot like Gogo’s finger,” said one of the grandchildren. 

“That’s because it is!” cackled the hare. 

The grandchildren leapt up and chased the hare all the way to the river.  When it got to the river, the hare tried to jump over, but couldn’t, and turned into a stone instead.  

 

My 12 Favorite Swazi Idioms:

1. Akatalanga wabola ematfumbu

Translation:

She did not give birth but had rotten intestines

Means:

Her kids are soooo lazy

2. Inkhosi yinkhosi ngebantfu bayo

Translation:

A king is a king by his people

Means:

Governance by consent of the governed

3. Kukandlula wafa

Translation:

Go past and die

Means:

We have no food here to give you, so don’t ask

4. Kudliwa tintsaba

Translation:

To be eaten by the mountains

Means:

To disappear without telling anyone where you’re going

5. Kukhotfwa ngemadloti

Translation:

To be licked by the ancestors

Means:

To have good luck

6. Kungenwa liphela endlebeni

Tranaslation:

To have a cockroach enter your ear

Means:

Nagging

7. Kusenga letimitsi

Translation:

To milk the pregnant ones

Means:

To tell lies

8. Kuveta litinyo

Translation:

To show a tooth

Means:

To laugh

9. Lucu aluhlangani

Translation:

The necklace doesn’t fit

Means:

I don’t love you

10. Mahlekehlatsini

Translation:

Someone laughing in the forest

Means:

A man with a big, untidy beard

11. Muhle sengats akayi ngaphandle

Translation:

She is beautiful as if she doesn’t go to the toilet.

Means:

She is so beautiful you forget that she goes to the toilet.

12. Umhlaba kawunoni

Translation:

The soil does not get fat/oily

Means:

This is said when a good person dies