Tsumo dzine mhuka

Hapana mhou inokumira mhuru isiri yayo

English translation: There is no cow that lows for a calf that is not hers

Mombe yekukwereta, kama wakaringa nzira

English translation: When milking a borrowed cow you have to watch the road

Mbudzi kudya mufenje, hufananyina

English translation: For a goat to eat cabbage-tree leaves is to imitate its mother

Kurava mbudzi nedzisipo, kurava nedzavamatowo

English translation: Counting even absent goats means counting even those which have become hides

Aramba ukama, apa huku yangu kurarama

English translation: One who rejects a familial relationship helps my chicken live longer

Chitiyo kupinda muzai, kuona mai

English translation: When the chicken enters an egg, it sees its mother

Gondo kuengerera, raona zumbu

English translation: If an eagle circles round and round it has seen a fowl-coop

Usapedzere tsvimbo kune makuwe, idzo hanga dzichauya

English translation: Do not use up knobkerries on go-away birds while the guinea- fowl are yet to come

Gudo guru peta muswe, kuti vadoko vakutye

English translation: Big baboon, fold your tail so that the young can respect you

Chinokwegura chinokotama, musoro wegudo chave chinokoro

English translation: What gets old gradually bends, the head of a baboon is a scoop

Mwoyochena ndewei, bere kugarira munhu akafa?

English translation: What kindness is it for a hyena to guard a dead man?

Chembere yoshayika, bere rorutsa imvi

English translation: The old lady is missing, the hyena is vomiting grey hairs

Nzou mutupo panevanhu, paseri ava machikichori

English translation: An elephant is taboo in public, in private it is delicious food

Nzou hairemerwi nenyanga dzayo

English translation: An elephant is not burdened by its own tusks

Kana shumba ikashaya nyama, inodya uswa

English translation: If a lion cannot find meat it eats grass

Manenji kuona mbada ichitamba nembudzi

English translation: It is a marvel to see a leopard playing with a goat

Chidziva chakadzikama ndicho chinogara ngwena

English translation: The quiet pool is the one in which the crocodile lives

Dziva rine ngwena, idivakamwe

English translation: In a pool with crocodiles, you swim only once

Mwana wenyoka mwana wenyoka, haana muduku

English translation: A young snake is a young snake, it is never too small

Rega kuyera nyoka negavi, iyo iripo

English translation: Do not measure a snake with strings of bark while it is present itself

Tsuro kotsa muromo

English translation: Hare, mind your mouth

Tsuro haiponi rutsva kaviri

English translation: A hare does not escape a veld fire twice

Mwana wegonzo anotamba akatarisa mudenga, kune mudzimu wake

English translation: A young rat plays while looking up at the sky, where its ancestral spirit is

Usapepuka dete, gobvu rapinda

English translation: Do not startle at the thin (rat) when the big one has already come in

Zviururwi zvinofara kana kondo afa ziso

English translation: The frogs rejoice when the hammer-head has lost its eye

Chura kugara mumvura, handi kunwa

English translation: For a frog to live in water does not mean to drink

Hove dzinokwira dzine muronga

English translation: Fish that go upstream are following a channel

Pachapwa madziva, miramba tichanyurura

English translation: When pools dry up we shall fish out the barbels

Chara chimwe, hachitswanyi inda

English translation: One thumb cannot crush a louse

Chigare chenda, kudya akaitakura

English translation: It's the louse's wont to bite the one who bears it

Kure kwegava, ndokusina mutsubvu

English translation: Far for a fox is where there is no smellyberry fingerleaf fruit tree

Chidembo hachinzwi kunhuhwa kwacho

English translation: The polecat does not smell its own stink