Lepotla-potla le ja poli; lesisitheho le ja khomo.
The “hurry-hurry” person eats goat; the one who takes his time (or hesitates) eats beef.
--Sesotho (Lesotho and South Africa) Proverb
Angora goats are raised throughout the mountains of Lesotho in Southern Africa. Their coats of mohair are a major source of the exquisite wool used in the weaving of Basotho blankets. Sometimes, as a sort of stand-in for cattle, the Basotho do eat the goats. The cow is the animal that the Basotho people prize, love and respect. Cattle are the animals slaughtered on special occasions, the focus of bridal negotiations between families and the chief measure of wealth. The Basotho even have a saying: “Khomo ke banka ea Mosotho” (“A cow is the bank of a Sotho person”).
Thus the goat symbolizes something that is merely economic and rather superficial from a Sotho perspective. The cow symbolizes all that is deeply meaningful about life and family. Goat meat may feed the body, but beef feeds the soul. This proverb (often only the first half is quoted and the rest is taken for granted) is an excellent warning for time-conscious Westerners in time-oblivious Africa. In Lesotho, rift with AIDS, subsistence poverty and early death, life is too short to spend hurrying. Only the person who takes his or her time in life will ever “get to eat the beef,” that is, be deeply satisfied by the truly meaningful things in life. Perhaps we in the West should learn this lesson.
--WB Scribbler
The “hurry-hurry” person eats goat; the one who takes his time (or hesitates) eats beef.
--Sesotho (Lesotho and South Africa) Proverb
Angora goats are raised throughout the mountains of Lesotho in Southern Africa. Their coats of mohair are a major source of the exquisite wool used in the weaving of Basotho blankets. Sometimes, as a sort of stand-in for cattle, the Basotho do eat the goats. The cow is the animal that the Basotho people prize, love and respect. Cattle are the animals slaughtered on special occasions, the focus of bridal negotiations between families and the chief measure of wealth. The Basotho even have a saying: “Khomo ke banka ea Mosotho” (“A cow is the bank of a Sotho person”).
Thus the goat symbolizes something that is merely economic and rather superficial from a Sotho perspective. The cow symbolizes all that is deeply meaningful about life and family. Goat meat may feed the body, but beef feeds the soul. This proverb (often only the first half is quoted and the rest is taken for granted) is an excellent warning for time-conscious Westerners in time-oblivious Africa. In Lesotho, rift with AIDS, subsistence poverty and early death, life is too short to spend hurrying. Only the person who takes his or her time in life will ever “get to eat the beef,” that is, be deeply satisfied by the truly meaningful things in life. Perhaps we in the West should learn this lesson.
--WB Scribbler
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