Suriname folk-lore

4. Notes on Proverbs

When we consider the specimens of Suriname folk-literature that have appeared, we find that it is pre-eminently the proverb that has received the attention of collectors. From the time of Wüllschlägel,¹ who published over seven hundred, various shorter collections of proverbs have appeared. A number of these collections, published locally in Suriname, are now not available. The most recent collection to be published is one which, up to the fifth section, contains over three hundred sayings.² It is not strange that this form should have been the one to which collectors turned, for in comparison with riddle and story, the proverb is heard more often, and presents much less difficulty in gathering. Among the Suriname Negroes of both town and bush, proverbs are employed in every kind of situation, as they are in Africa. They are a prime factor in the education of the young, in pointing a lesson to a fellow adult, in passing a judgment on someone newly met. We have already discussed the use of the proverb in connection with the naming of designs and the methods of tying the head-kerchiefs worn by the women in town.³ In the bush, proverbial sayings are woven into all conversation, and it is characteristic of an elder of a village, or a man who has standing in his group, that he is an adept at introducing these pithy sayings, so that at times what he says reduces itself to the quotation of one proverb after another, with so few connectives to point these to any definite subject as to make it a form of elliptical expression understood only by men of like rank and experience. Indeed, in the bush it may well be said that the skillful use of these proverbs marks the man who in our own civilisation would be regarded as scholarly. In the town, also, it is the older people who introduce these proverbial asides and comments most frequently, but since, as we have indicated, the culture is carried on chiefly by women, the proverbs in most frequent and most vigorous use are those that enter into disputes, either as threats, or with vituperative intent, or as expressions of

1 In the appendix to his dictionary of Negro-English. Our own collection of proverbs is much smaller than it otherwise would have been, due to the loss of our copy of this work in bringing it back from Suriname, where we used it in checking the number of old proverbs current today.

2 Neger-Engelsche Spreekworden (Odo's).

3 See above, pp. 5-7. All proverbs employed for this purpose are marked with the notation (K.). This does not mean, however, that the use of such a proverb is restricted to designating the kerchief it has been selected to identify.

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indifference to threats. Yet another factor enters into the use of the proverb in quarrels, namely, that these Negroes, like those in other parts of the New World and Africa, attach supernatural power to ‘cussing’. Thus it is safer to take recourse in a traditional expression to vent their feelings than to become involved in accusations and recriminations, because of the mishaps that befall the one who had been ‘cussed.’ It is not intended to suggest, however, that there are not sayings to comment fatalistically, or jibingly, or wittily, on human experience. We find, in fact, that human ingratitude is remarked upon, and the faithlessness of women; that foolish show of courage is deplored, and boastfulness is ridiculed; that caution is recommended, and discretion, but not timidity; and the point is made that no one is so powerful or exalted that there is not someone to meet him on his own terms; greed is criticised, but reckless generosity is enjoined; the importance of wisdom is cited, and the role of necessity stated.

In the bush the belief exists that these proverbs are constantly being added to by the elders, and the chief in particular was credited with having originated countless of these. For at least one of the proverbs attributed to Gramᾳn Moana Yąnkuso, however, we have found a parallel in West Africa,¹ and what is happening in the bush may, as in the city, be that within the framework of a traditional proverb a few words are changed or added. For example, proverbs 9, 9a, 15, 77, 97² all are stylistically the same, but references such as those to the lottery or to the Ice Company are recent adaptations. Tradition in town holds that there was in olden days a Bas' Djaki who was the originator of many of these sayings. Only one of our proverbs cites him as the speaker of the proverb, but our informants assured us that many which are spoken had first been heard from him. He is said to have been an iron-worker, remarkable not alone for his craftsmanship and supernatural strength, but for his gift of improvisation.

This device of attributing the sayings to a given character, animal or human, follows African pattern, and, as might be expected, is met with most frequently in the bush. Thus, out of forty-nine Saramacca proverbs, we have ten attributed to definite speakers, whereas out of one hundred and seventy-four from the town, we have but six references to the character who is citing the proverb. Stylistically, the proverbs are given in a few instances as rhymed couplets, and all show a fixed rhythmic patterning.

1 Saramacca proverb No. 35.

2 Unless otherwise stated, the proverbs are those in taki-taki.