“Thanks cost nothing.”--[_Louisiana._]
204. * Metté milâte enhaut choual, li va dî négresse pas so maman.
(Mettez un mulâtre [en haut] sur un cheval--il [va dire] dira qu’une
négresse n’est pas sa maman.)
“Just put a mulatto on horseback, and he’ll tell you his mother wasn’t
a negress.”[84]--[_Louisiana._]
[84] I usually give but one example of a proverb when it occurs in
several dialects; but the Martinique form of this proverb is too
amusing to omit. See Prov. 267.
205. Mié vaut mangé lamori ou, qu’codeinne leszautt. (Il vaut mieux de
manger [de] la morue [qui est] à vous que le coq-d’Inde aux autres.)
“Better to eat one’s own codfish than another person’s
turkey-cock.”--[_Martinique._]
206. Milatt ka batt, cabritt ka mò. (Les mulâtres se battent, ce sont
les cabrits qui meurent.)
“When the mulattoes get to fighting, the goats get
killed.”[85]--[_Martinique._]
[85] The feeling of the black to the mulatto is likewise revealed in
the following dicton:--Nègue pòté maïs dans so lapoche pou volé
poule;--milatt pòté cordon dans so lapoche pou volé choual;--nhomme
blanc pòté larzan dans so lapoche pou trompé fille. (Le nègre porte du
maïs dans sa poche pour voler des poules;--le mulâtre porte un cordon
dans sa poche pour voler des chevaux;--l’homme blanc porte de l’argent
dans sa poche pour tromper les filles.)
“The negro carries corn in his pocket to [help him to] steal chickens;
the mulatto carries a rope in his pocket to steal horses; the white
man carries money in his pocket to deceive girls.”--[Louisiana.]
207. Misè fè macaque mangé piment. (La misère force le macaque à manger
du piment.)
“Misery makes the monkey eat red pepper.”--[_Martinique._]
208. * “Mo bien comm mo yé,” parole rare. (“Je me trouve bien comme je
suis”--ces sont des paroles rares.)
“‘I’m well enough as I am,’ are words one doesn’t often
hear.”--[_Louisiana._]
209. * Mo va pas prêté vous bâton pou cassé mo latête. (Je ne vais vous
prêter un bâton pour me casser la tête.)
“I’m not going to lend you a stick to break my head
with.”--[_Louisiana._]
210. Moin ainmein plis yon balaou jòdi là qu’taza dimain. (J’aime mieux
un balaou aujourd’hui qu’un tazard demain.)
“I’d rather have horn-fish to-day, than mackerel
to-morrow.”[86]--[_Martinique._]
[86] “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” The translation is
not literal. The _tazard_ or _thazard_, although belonging to the
scomber family, is not a true mackerel. _Balaou_ is one Creole name
for _l’aiguillette de mer_, hornfish [?].
211. Moin pas ka prend dithé pou fiève li. (Je ne veux pas prendre du
thé pour sa fièvre.)
“I don’t propose to drink tea for his fever.”[87]--[_Martinique._]
[87] Or better still: “I don’t intend to drink tea just because he has
the fever.” In other words, “I don’t intend to bother myself with
other people’s troubles.”....The tea referred to is one of those old
Creole preparations taken during fevers--the _tisanes_ of the black
nurses: perhaps the cooling sassafras, or orange-leaf tea administered
to sufferers from _dengue_ in New Orleans.
212. Montagnes zamés zoinde, domounde zoinde. (Les montagnes ne se
rencontrent jamais, les hommes se rencontrent.)
“Mountains, only, never meet; men meet.”--We are certain to encounter
friends and enemies under the most unlikely
circumstances.--[_Mauritius._]
213. Mounn ouè défaut les-zautt, yo pas ni zié pou ta yo. (Les gens
voient les défauts des autres, ils n’ont pas d’yeux pour les leurs.)
“Folks see the faults of others; they have no eyes for their
own.”[88]--[_Martinique._]
[88] This proverb, not being of true Creole origin, receives a place
here as an illustration of effective patois. In Louisiana we never say
_ta yo_, but _so quenne_....Were all proverbs used by the
Creole-speaking people included in this collection, it would be
considerably longer. Nearly all familiar English proverbs have
received Creole adoption, with slight modifications; for example,
instead of “putting the cart before the horse,” the Mauritian negro
_mette çarette divant milét_, puts the cart before the _mule_--an
animal with which he is more familiar.
214. Moustique pitit; més lhére li çanté vous zoréye plein. (Le
moustique est petit; mais quand il chante, votre oreille en est pleine.)
“The mosquito is little; but when he sings, your ears are full of
him.”--[_Mauritius._]
215. Napas éna fromaze qui napas trouve so macathia. (Il n’y a pas de
fromage qui ne trouve son pain bis.)
“There’s no cheese but what can find brown bread.”[89]--[_Mauritius._]
[89] That is to say, whoever has a bit of cheese can always find a bit
of brown bread to eat with it. There never was a girl so ugly that she
could not find a husband.