Proverb in the local language
يَازِيطْ نَتْسمُورثْ إينُو وَلاَ أسْكورْثْ أَمِدَنْ (Yaziṭ ntsmurṯ inu ula asekkurṯ n medden).
My small chicken is better than your big…
Proverb's direct translation
Better a chicken from my land than a partridge from someone else's.
Proverb's meaning
What is mine, however modest, is more valuable to me than somebody else's riches.
Equivalent proverb
Chinua Achebe wrote in No Longer at Ease that "what is ours is ours but what is mine is mine".
From: Amazigh in Algeria and Morocco.
General comments
The Amazigh (or Amazighen in plural) are also known as the Berber. Found chiefly in Algeria and Morocco, they are also found in Libya, Egypt, Niger, Mauritania and Mali. A partridge is generally considered more valuable and exotic than a chicken by the Amazigh.
