The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1904-11-24
NATIONS Proverbs
VARY But LITTLE
Similar Ideas in Different Words
Serve in Many Peoples
Languages.
WHERE SOME ORIGINATED
Prophesy a Slave Once Made to ths
King of Samos Is Heard Every
Day-"Fortune Favors Fools"
With Variations.

london Globe: Many proverbs have
come down to us from remote ages and
are common to all nations.
1t Is said that a king Of Samos
worked his slave nearly to death in
making a vineyard; this provoked one
Of them to prophesy that his master
would never drink the wine. The king,
being told of this, when the first grapes
were produced o a handful, and,
pressing the juice into a cup in the
presepce of the slaves. derided him as
a false prophet. Many things happen
between the cup and the lip" the slave
replied.
lust then a shout was raised that a
wild boa had broken into the vineyard.
The king, without tasting, set down the
cup ran to meet it, and was killed in
the encounter. Henceforth the words
OF the slave passed into a proverb.
From this Greek original came two
French proverbs, Between the hand
and the mouth the soup is often split"
and Wine poured out is not swal-
lowed" Neither is so near the original
as our English There's many a slip
'twiXt cup and lip"
Similar Ideas Differently Expressed.
1t is curious to trace how similar
ideas have taken root in different Ian
guages and the various modes of illus
trating the same thought. To take, for
instance, n or two familiar proverbs
in our own language.
We say, "A bird in the hand is worth
two III the bush" The same idea Is
expressed by Italians when they say,
Better an egg today than a pullet to-
morrow" and the French proverb is
still more significant, "One here-it-is Is
better than two you-shall-have-its."
Better a leveret in the kitchen than a
wild boar IN the forest" Is the Livonian
saying conveying the same meaning.
TNha p ri n ~ 1,,rlF. ~
and expressive in all languages. In
English we say, TT Is better to be born
lucky tina rich" The Arabs convey
the same idea in the apt proverb,
Throw him into the Nile and he will
come up with a fish in his mouth"
while the Germans say, IF he flung a
penny on the roof a dollar would come
back to him."
Fortune and Fools.
A Spanish proverb says, God sent
you luck, my son, and little wit will
serve you" There is a Latin adage,
Fortune favors FOOLS" and it is to
this Tombstone alludes in his reply to
Jacques. Call me not fool TIL heaven
hath sent me fortune
Some unlucky Englishman is respon-
sible for the saying; IF my father
had made me a halter, men would have
been born without heads" but this can
scarcely be called original, as an I'M
fortunate Arab, years ago declared. IF
L were to trade in winding sheets no
one would die.
"Misfcrtunes seldom come singly"
has many equivalents in all languages.
h Spaniards say, welcome, misfor-
tune, If thou contest alone,' and
whittier goes thou, misfortune? To
where there is more?"
This same applies also to good for
tune, 1T never rains, but 1t pours,'' or
as the Arabs saw, 'If the wind hIous r.
enters at every crevice."
Counterpart in All Countries.
III that Is down, down with him."
has its counterpart in all countries. He
that fails all the world runs over" IL
the German mode of saying 1t, and the
Portuguese proverb runs, "All bite the
bitten dog" while a French equivalent
Is, When a dog is~.drowning everybody
brings him drink"
But there is a Spanish proverb we
shall do well to remember; they say OF
a tedious writer, He leaves no Ink in
his inkpot.