Proverb Lore Part 14

A "bull in a china shop" calls up a picture of tremendous uproar and devastation. The ancient Greeks subst.i.tuted "An a.s.s peeping." Menander, three hundred years before the Christian era, refers to it, as do Lucian and others. The story upon which it is founded is, that an a.s.s, being driven along the road, put its head into the shop of a potter. This potter was a great lover of birds, and had many of them in his shop, and the sudden appearance of the a.s.s's great head frightened them and led to a big smas.h.i.+ng up of the crockery. The moral may be found in another ancient saying--"A mad beast must have a sober driver." The Latin "Bovem in lingua habet"--"He has an ox on his tongue"--is a hint that the man has been bribed to silence or false speech, an ox being a favourite device on the coins. Another saying of like significance is that, "The man has a bone in his mouth." A valuable lesson to the discontented, a warning that necessary troubles must be endured, that duties may not be s.h.i.+rked, is this--"To what place can the ox go where he will not plough?"

That the malicious cannot do all the harm they would is happily suggested in the adage, "Curst cows have curt horns." This proverb is centuries old, and is merely a translation from an ancient Latin[175:A]

original--if indeed it be safe to suggest any date when this proverb sprung into birth--for it is quite possible that Noah quoted it as a bit of the good old wisdom of his forefathers.

It is scarcely necessary to remind our readers of, and much less to expound for their benefit, so familiar a saying as, "A regular John Bull."

The goose appears in several adages, one rather severe one being, that "If all fools wore white we should look a flock of geese." One could readily acquiesce in this if the adage said "they"; it is the "we" that is so painful. It is held that the goose is a foolish bird,[175:B] but how much more foolish was he who, having a goose that laid him a golden egg each day, cut the bird open to get at once the whole store. "Much would have more, and so lost all." The man who cannot say "Bo! to a goose" is rightly regarded as a poor creature. A very sarcastic adage is that which satirises the man who, having gained great wealth by dubious means, endeavours to buy over Heaven and his own conscience by a little cheap almsgiving in the words--"He steals a goose and gives away the giblets to the poor." We must not overlook, either, the great charter of freedom and equality enshrined in "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." "To shoe the goose" is now quite obsolete as a saying, though it was at one time very popular as a suggestion to those people, fussy busybodies, who will keep meddling in other people's affairs. It was a task that would take them, at all events, some little time, give their energies something to work on, and was no more useless than many of their toils. In the "Parliament of Byrdes," written about 1650, we read that he "Who wyll smatter what euery man doos maye go helpe to shoo the goose." There is a useful word of warning in the following:--"A goose-quill may be more dangerous than a lion's claw" to one attacked by it.

There is homely wisdom in the hint that "If you would have a hen lay you must bear with the cackling"; and, of course, the need or otherwise of teaching one's grandmother to suck eggs must not be forgotten. The Greeks phrased the idea as "Teaching a dolphin to swim," while the French say: "The goslings want to drive the geese to pasture." Two useful proverbs in this connection are that "There is reason in roasting eggs," a right and a wrong way for almost everything, and "Don't carry all your eggs in one basket."

A crotchety, fanciful individual, regarded by most people as a little peculiar, has, in English proverbial phrase, "A bee in his bonnet," or "Is bitten by a maggot," while the French say, "He has a rat in his head," and the Dutchmen account for his eccentricities by crediting him with a mouse's nest in his brains.

The Italians say: "Si prendono piu mosche col miele che coll'

aceto"--"More flies are caught by honey than by vinegar." To arrive at any desired result, sweetness of manner will carry matters on much more efficaciously than the reverse.

"Where there are industrious persons there is wealth," and "Where bees are there is honey." Steady industry must reap a reward. On the other hand, we find a proverb, "To poke one's hand into a hornet's nest," and receive the painful reward of indiscreet meddling thereby.

An old English proverb hath it that "It is an ill bird that bewrays its own nest." Skelton, writing in 1520, declares how

"Rede and lerne ye may, Howe olde prouerbys say That byrd ys not honest That fylyth hys owne nest."

While Heywood gives it as: "It is a foule byrde that fyleth his owne nest." As a member of a family, of a trade or profession, as the citizen, or the denizen of any country, each should bear in mind this adage, and beware of bringing reproach on himself or his surroundings.

The Italians say: "Ad ogni uccello suo nido e bello"--every bird thinks its own nest beautiful--and in a very old French book we found the equivalent of this: "A chescun oysel son nye li semble bel." A quaint little adage is this one from Spain: "A little bird must have a little nest"--a lesson in contentment, a warning against pretension and undue importance; while the Turkish saying, "The nest of a blind bird is made by G.o.d," is a beautiful lesson of resignation and faith.

The Italians say: "Better be bird of the wood than bird of the cage."

This is rightly enough the bird's point of view; but the owner of the cage puts things rather differently, and declares: "Better one bird in the hand than ten in the wood." The Italians say that "It is better to have an egg to-day than a hen to-morrow"; but this, surely, is rather overdoing the thing. Even though present gain may outweigh future grander possibilities, the policy may be too narrowly pinched, and does away then with legitimate hope.

Those troublous little robbers, the quarrelsome sparrows, supply the material for some few proverbs. Of these we may instance a couple: "For fear of the sparrows the hemp is not sown"--a saying directed against the over-cautious, for necessary things must be done, even though there be some little risk in the doing; and "Two sparrows on one ear of corn cannot agree," though, if they would only be wise enough to let the other alone, there would be ample provision for both.

The French have a very true saying: "Chacun aime son semblable"--our English equivalent being "Birds of a feather flock together." Hence it is a saying: "Tell me with whom thou goest, and I will tell thee what thou doest." Burchardt, in his collection of Arabic proverbs, gives the following very graphic one: "He who introduces himself between the onion and its peel goes forth with the onion smell"; but, on the other hand, we have in the Spanish, "a.s.sociate with the good and thou shalt be one of them."

When some matter comes unexpectedly and inconveniently to general knowledge, the explanation of the informant as to his or her source of information sometimes takes the form of "A little bird told me." The probable origin of this will be found in the Biblical warning: "Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." Another very familiar saying, and still in use amongst our people, is that "One swallow does not make a summer,"[179:A] and yet another adage, and one equally well known, is the reminder that "Fine feathers make fine birds," almost always quoted disparagingly, but at least a hint that even externals have their value, and are worth consideration.

Another well-known adage is that "An old bird is not to be caught with chaff." The art of the bird-snarer has supplied several other useful contributions to the cosmopolitan ingathering of proverbial wisdom: thus, for instance, we are cautioned that "Drumming is not the way to catch a blackbird," and, again, that "An empty hand is no lure for a hawk"--that is to say, if we are unwilling to risk anything we shall probably also not obtain anything. There is yet again another, the warning voice against temptation and the snare, in this: "The fowler's pipe sounds sweet till the bird be caught." The Arabs declare that "A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist." This, with due allowance for Eastern exaggeration and hyperbole, we recognise as but over again the familiar estimate of the respective values of the so well-known bird in the hand as compared with that of the bird in the bush.

When folks are looking for some special and exceptional interposition of fortune that is going to put everything straight for them, and lead them by a delightfully lazy route to an easy affluence, we may not unfairly remind them that "When the sky falls we shall catch larks ready roasted." Only the little "when," that will call for no labour at all, and then a glorious abundance to at once follow.

The Scotch remind us that "A craw is nae whiter for being washed"; but then, on the other hand, this was.h.i.+ng process seems needless, for another saw tells us that "The crow thinks her young ones the fairest."

Elsewhere, though, we find that "The rook said to the raven, Stand aside, blackamoor"--an ornithological version of the same derisive spirit that led to the jeering pot calling the kettle black. It has been suggested that it would be a happy thing if some power would "the giftie gi'e us, to see oursel's as others see us," but we fancy it would be but a doubtful blessing after all.

An old proverb, with much good sense in it, says that "The woodp.e.c.k.e.r loses itself by its bill," the continuous tapping calling attention to its presence, and making its life depend on the gamekeeper's forbearance. The scream of the jay and the fussy cry of the blackbird often, in like manner, betray their presence in the woodlands, and thus, also, chatterers expose themselves, and are the cause of their own downfall. In many cases it is what other people are saying that works mischief to a man; but in the case of the blatant and thoughtless chatterer he works his own woe--all that other people have to do being to let him do his own summing-up, and be his own executioner. Other bird proverbs are: "One raven will not pluck out another raven's eyes," and "He greatly needs a bird that gives a groat for an owl." We are told, too, and it is a capital saying, that "An eagle does not catch flies";[181:A] that "The hawk is not frighted by the cry of the crane"--greater size being not necessarily greater courage. Yet another true, too true, proverb is, that "If you breed up a crow he will pluck out your eyes"--a lesson to prepare one for the base ingrat.i.tude that may follow great kindness shown, and of the still sadder returning evil for good.

The cunning of the fox has been a never-failing subject for the writer of fables, and has supplied the material for scores of popular sayings.

Of these we need quote but a few as samples of the many, since they are almost all constructed on the same lines, the subject being nearly always more or less of admiration for successful trickery. Not a very good moral this, we may say, yet if, in its outcome, it teaches to beware of putting oneself in the power of such particularly artful and s.h.i.+fty characters, it will not be without its use.

Absolutely the only proverb that we can recall that takes up entirely different ground is one of jubilation on the final downfall of this arch-trickster, and, curiously enough, it is of wide appreciation. In Italy, it is: "Tutte le volpi si trouvano in pellicaria." In France it is: "En fin les renards se trouvent chez le pelletier"--the fox at last finds his way to the furrier's.

When he would conceal the real object in view, "We are going for a little music, said the fox." We are told, too, that "An old fox needs not to be taught tricks," and that "He would cheat the fox must be an early riser." The Germans say: "Wenn der Fuchs Richter ist gewinnt schwerlich eine Gans den Process"--if the fox be judge the goose is hardly likely to win the case.[182:A] "Wenn der Fuchs sie todt stellt so sind die Huhner in Gefahr"--when the fox feigns death the poultry are in danger.

The wolf is often introduced in proverb-wisdom, but he is, as his nature is, always a cruel, cheerless beast, quite wanting in the debonair attractiveness of the fox--who is as big a rascal really as he is. "To put one's head into the wolf's mouth" is to needlessly court great risks. The proverb is based on the old fable of the crane putting its head down the wolf's throat to extract a bone that had stuck there. The operation was entirely successful, and, on asking for his reward, the wolf told him that it was reward sufficient to have safely withdrawn his head. "To keep the wolf from the door" is to keep starvation at bay, and "To eat like a wolf" is to eat ravenously.

The Italians say that "Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl." Deliberate a.s.sociation with evil characters will make one as bad as those they a.s.sociate with.[182:B] "Though the wolf may lose his teeth he does not lose his inclinations"--he is at heart as wolfish as ever.

The Persians give the caution: "Keep the dogs near when thou suppest with the wolf," while the Romans had a saying, "Auribus lupum teneo."

This having the wolf by the ears is a most dangerous position to be in, for the furious creature is so difficult to hold, and yet one dare not let go on any consideration. Thus do unfortunates at times get entangled in some bad business--the beginnings of a lawsuit, or the like--where advance or retreat seem equally alarming. The "Wolf in sheep's clothing" is a still more objectionable beast than the wolf _in propria persona_, since he thereby adds treachery to all his other evil qualities:

"And by these guileful means he more prevail'd Than had he open enmity profest.

The wolf more safely wounds when in sheep's clothing drest."

The bear has not so distinctive an individuality in fabledom as the fox or wolf. The best proverb that we have met with in which he figures is the declaration that "A man without restraint is a bear without a ring;"

and then there is, of course, the well-known caution to the over-sanguine, "Sell not the bear's skin before you have caught him,"

or, as it is also phrased, "Spending your Michaelmas rent at Midsummer noon," not consider what may arise to mock your present confidence.

In our list of wild beasts it is a considerable drop from the wolf and bear to the mouse; but the mouse claims his place on our list, and is a much better known wild beast in England than the wolf, and therefore more in evidence in our proverbs. "The mouse that hath but one hole is easily caught," says an old adage, and we meet with it again in Chaucer's "Wife of Bath," in the couplet,

"The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole Can never be a mouse of any soul";

or, at all events, of any great enterprise.

A very true and impressive proverb is that "A mouse may stir what a man cannot stay"--a very small commencement may lead to an incalculable ending; a momentary slip unarrested may hurl half-a-dozen mountaineers over a precipice; a little trickle of water unregarded may be the solvent that will melt away all barriers, and sweep all living things to destruction in the swirling torrent as it breaks its bonds.

There is a note of caution in the picturesque statement, "I gave the mouse a hole, and she has become my heir." The Spanish, "Give me where I may sit down and I will make a place for myself to lie down" is like unto it, showing in each case that if we "Give an inch, they will take an ell," and that we may, too late, repent of our first a.s.sistance when it has led in the end to our effacement.

The Chinese say, with quaint common-sense, "A mouse can drink no more than its fill from a river." Beyond a certain point that is soon reached all else is needless superfluity.

The strained relations between the cat and the mouse form the subject of divers popular adages. How good is the Scottish, "Weel kens the mouse when the cat's oot o' the house," paralleled in our English version, "When the cat's away the mice will play," or in the French, "Les rats se promenent a l'aise la ou il n'y a point des chats," and there is a pleasant vein of truth and humour in the a.s.sertion that "Mice care not to play with kittens."

In the "Order of Foles," a ma.n.u.script of about the year 1450, we find the graphic declaration that "It is a hardy mouse that is bold to breede in cattis eeris"; and Skelton writes, in 1520, "It is a wyly mouse that can build his dwellinge house within the cattes eare."[184:A] Heywood and other later writers also refer to this proverb in their various works.

The query, "Who shall bell the cat?" may be called a fable abridged, for it contains the point of one. The mice held a consultation how to secure themselves from the too marked attentions of the cat, and someone suggested that it would be an excellent plan to hang a bell round her neck, so as to give warning of her approach. The idea was taken up warmly, but then the point arose--Who shall do it?

"Quoth one mouse unto the rest, Which of us all dare be so stout To hang the bell cat's neck about: If here be any let him speake.

Then all replide, We are too weake; The stoutest mouse and tallest rat Doe tremble at a grim-fac'd cat."

The above is from "Diogenes Lanthorne," issued in the year 1607. Heywood writes:

"Who shall ty the bell about the cat's necke low?

Not I (quoth the mouse) for a thing that I know."

To "smell a rat" is to have one's suspicions aroused as to something concealed, and is suggested by the eagerness of dog or cat to follow scent. The saying will be found in Ben Jonson's "Tale of a Tub," in Butler's "Hudibras," and elsewhere.

The art of the fisherman supplies material for some few wisdom-chips.

"All is fysshe that cometh to net" we read in "Colyn Cloute" and other old sources of information.[185:A] "To swallow a gudgeon" is to be caught by some designing schemer's bait, some lying prospectus of the "All-England Aerated Soap Company, Limited," in which it is shown that the profits must necessarily warrant a dividend of sixty-five per cent.

after six hundred thousand pounds have been set aside for working expenses. "To throw away a sprat to catch a herring" is a popular adage and of much good sense. "All fish are not caught with flies" is a useful hint too--all people that we would influence are not open to the same considerations. "It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait." To err is human, and to be once entrapped may easily happen, but it is mere folly not to profit by bitter experience. The French say, "C'est la sauce qui fait le poisson," and the way in which a thing is presented to one is often of great importance. The use of proper means to effect our purpose is enforced in the warning that "Fish are not to be caught with a bird-call."

It is excellent advice to "Never offer to teach monkeys to climb up trees"--another variant on instruction in ovisuction. It is very true, too, that "Monkeys are never more beasts than when they wear men's clothes" and "ape" humanity.

The laborious ant has not escaped the notice of the moralist, fabulist, and adage-employer. That they store up a ma.s.s of grain for winter service is entirely untrue, but it was at all events thought that they did; hence Juvenal writes, "Some men, instructed by the labouring ant, provide against the extremities of want," while Ovid declares that "Ants go not to an empty granary." The Arabs say that "If G.o.d wills the destruction of an ant He allows her wings," a hint that sudden elevation above the capacity and beyond the experience of anyone will very probably cause their downfall. Another Arab proverb is, "The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother." Whatever the rest of the world may think, maternal affection is all-embracing. The French adage, "Faire d'une mouche un elephant," is a needed caution, equivalent to our reproof of those who would "make a mountain out of a mole-hill." Such exaggeration is most profitless; it is soon detected, and thenceforth even true statements are subjected by the hearers to a liberal discount.