Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-05
PROVERBS THE WORLD OVER.
Forms In Which Many Familiar to Us
Annaan Ia nxhas Honnkriaa

The VIII and wisdom or proverbs are
clad in different garb in different
countries, but they are all very much
the same. Identical ideas arising in
dependently in widely separated ma
tions are not necessarily expressed in
intertranslatable forms. They usually
derive, says the London Globe, a GER
tain quaintness from the manners and
customs Of the people who use them.
Thus. the old Greek proverb, "The
masters eye makes the horse fat" has
many different renderings. The Hay
tians express 1t with local coloring,
''The garden far (from the masters
house), the gumbo spoils." Again,
the familiar idea which we set for
ward in the following way, you can't
get blood from a stone or from beet,
or breeks from a Highlander" is rem
dered in the West Indies as "The
pumpkin vine does not yield the Gala
BASH" Even in regard to the matter
Of "going before the beak" the East
Indian and the West Indian have par
ailel expressions, for where the for
mer says of friend that he was
''pinched," the latter observes that
they pressed his tail"
In order to establish the sisterhood
Of proverbs 1t Is only necessary to
take few touches Of nature which
make the whole world kin and regard
them from the various national as
poets. The classical but homely truth,
Drive out nature with a pitchfork,
and she will return" crops out in
many negro tribe in quaint forms,
such as the following: "a man that
keeps the birds away keeps them
away, but a pretty face cannot be
kept away" The idea conveyed by
He needs must go whom the devil
drives" Is universally recognized.
Some tribes put 1t, "The stomach has
no ears" others, "The empty bag cam
not stand upright"
The idea we express In the words,
"Only the wearer knows where the
shoe pinches," is conveyed quite as
aptly by the Swahili In his proverb.
"only the dead man knows where the
grave is too narrow" Seafaring tribes
say "The bottom Of the ship knows
best how the sea presses" Our IA
miliar sayings about running after
two hares" and falling between two
stools" are again paralleled and cap
ped by the zambesi proverb ''The
rider of two horses splits asunder."
This quaintness of setting forth often
"goes one better on our homely prov
erbs. Our saying Don't do as ] do, do
as I tell you" Is good; but the Dutch
THE monk breaches against thieves
with the goose in his larder." or the
American when the lawyer gets the
fowl stealer acquitted he Is paid in
fowls" is better, but the Spanish paral-
lei is quaintest of all. "The friar con-
demns the thief with the pudding up his
sleeve" Where we say IF you want
a thing done do It yourself the West
Indian gets shade ahead Of US with
the advice "Send dog. and the dog
will send his TAIL"
The same advice Is given In a still
better form by the Armenian who OBJ
serves, "If you send a messenger on
an errand go with him." And the
astute unbelieving Chinaman who,
like his proverbial image maker, puts
no faith either in the gods or the mes
sengers of the gods, ''for he knows
what they are made Of" sums up the
situation in a way that is perhaps as
correct as it is sweeping. "If you
want a thing DONE" he says, "go
yourself; II not, send"
There Is probably no better proverb
In the English language than "Still
waters run Deep" No other nation
"goes one better" than this, though
many come near 1t. The Turk says,
"Distrust the water that does not
warble, and the bird that does not
chirp." This lacks the element OF
paradox which occurs in our English
rendering. The African parallel has
more of that element. Beware OF
the silent man." 1t runs; "he has
brass band in his mouth; and more
southern tribe puts the idea equally
well in the shape Of "Silence hath
mighty noise"
On the subject of woman 1t goes
without saying that all the nations OF
the earth formed the same opinion OF
the fair sex long. long ago. and up to
the present none Of them have seen
any reason to alter that opinion, but
whether the opinion In which they all
concur Is concealed or revealed In
proverbs, it would be an insult to the
readers reason and common sense to
state. AS for the proverbs, which can
readily be distinguished at sight as
true or false by the clever student OF
feminine human nature, they yield
good harvest of parallels.
"A woman, a dog and a walnut tree
the more you beat them the better
they be-" Is a remark upon which no
two sane persons can hold dinerent
opinions; and the.s same may be claim
ed for the Central African saying, "A
man is not obeyed by his wife In his
own house, nor does she consider him
her husband unless he beats her
thwack!"; or for the Corsican's asser-
ton that Just as a good horse and
a bad horse both need the spur,Sso
good woman and a bad woman both
need the stick"
The Spaniard says, Were woman
as little as she Is good, a pease pod
would make her a gown and hood;
the Italian leaves off killing his kings
to whisper, IF a man loses a woman
and a farthing he will miss the farth-
ing: the Frenchman pauses between
his absinthes to remark, "A woman OF
gold Is worth a man Of straw; the
negro medicine man swears to his
tribe, "Women are words. deeds are
men,: the Persian asserts that "Wom-
en- and dragons are best out OF the
world: the German contends that
wherever there is mischief brewing,
a woman and a priest are at the bot
tom of it,; and that There are only
two good women in the world: one Is
aaoa oad tho othar ia missing