By Deng Elijah,
July 08, 2022 — I slightly modified this proverb but it’s literally the same African proverb by Chinua Achebe, Elizabeth Shassere and others, that says “until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter”; “until lions have their own story tellers, hunters will always be the hero in their story”; and “until the lion learns to speak, the tales of hunt will always favor the hunter”.
These proverbs literally have the same meaning but in this social media generation, I feel that learning how to speak or write might not be enough. Lions would need to know how to speak, read and write, and even have their social media accounts, to have their sides of stories heard!
Origin of the proverb
In traditional African societies, to become of age, boys (and sometimes girls) had to undergo a rite of passage or a ritual to mark their transition from boyhood to manhood. Because this was a big deal, it was practiced in almost all African communities. Every rite of passage was unique in every community and so was the initiation of boys into manhood!
In some communities, especially among the Masaai of Kenya and Tanzania, a boy had to kill a lion to be distinguished as a “moran”, or a warrior, who is capable of defending himself and his community. In the precolonial period, these recognition were more than golds and diamonds to these communities. They came with tons of benefits and they were everything boys, or society as a whole dream to achieve – to be graduated into a well respected warrior of your age and to have outstanding warriors to defend your community. These were the modern days university or college graduations!
Nonetheless, this is not an attempt to dive into history but to emphasize why the killing of a lion or some of these traditions, which are now abolished, were or are still important.
Killing a lion by itself was never enough until the story behind it is told, and of course it would be told by the hunters, who usually exaggerate their unmatched skills and sophistication to be glorified.
Like any winner, every hunter wants to be praised, respected and idolized by his community and anyone else who hears or reads their stories.
These are stories that emphasized bravery, great skills and talents among the hunters; however, until the lion learns to speak, read and write, we will never hear the other side of the story. Who knows, some of these lions could have died of sickness, old age, found asleep or even found dead from unrelated wounds from some of the battles the lions might have won.
Moral of the story
The moral of this African proverb is that no story is complete until all relevant sides are told. The one who does not have a voice or does not get to speak, and is not represented, is often considered a loser and is intentionally or unintentionally hurt in the process.
The hunters might have enjoyed telling great tales of their hunting and their sophisticated skills but it never stopped the rest of the world to figure out that poaching was wrong and it had to be abolished!
If it hurts to be oppressed or marginalized; if it hurts for your voice to be suppressed or misrepresented; if it hurts to be treated as a loser or insignificant or if it hurts to be bullied or taken advantage of by those who are in power or in position to speak today, then never use your voice and position to hurt others. Freedom of speech and expression matters but it does not mean imposing your opinions on others or using your voice to hurt those who cannot speak for themselves!
Be fair, be impartial and treat others as you would want to be treated.
