“Wherever there are bones, there are dogs.” Meaning that when one is
rich, one has plenty of friends.--[_Martinique._]
225. Ou faché avec gan chemin, que côté ou va passé? (Vous vous fachez
avec le grand chemin, de quel côté irez-vouz?)
“If you get angry with the high road, what way will you
go?”--[_Hayti._]
226. Ou fait semblant mourir, moin fait semblant enterrer ou. (Faites
semblant de mourir, et moi je ferai semblant de vous enterrer.)
“You pretend to die; and I’ll pretend to bury you.”[93]--[_Hayti._]
[93] Said to those who relate improbable stories of woe.
227. Ou sauté, ou tombé la menme. (Vous sautez, vouz tombez tout de
même.)
“You jump, but you come down all the same.”[94]--[_Martinique._]
[94] Just so high as you jump, so great the fall. The higher our
ambition, the greater the peril of failure.
228. * Où y’en a charogne, y’en a carencro. (Où il a charogne, il y a
des busards.)
“Wherever there’s carrion, there are buzzards.”[95]--[_Louisiana._]
[95] This is one of several instances of the Creole adoption of
English words. The name “carrion-crow” has been applied to the buzzard
in Louisiana from an early period of its American history.
229. Ous pôncor travesser läivïèr;--pas jirez maman caïman. (Vous n’avez
pas encore traversé la rivière--ne jurez [maudissez] pas la maman du
caïman.)
“You haven’t crossed the river yet; don’t curse at the crocodile’s
mother.”[96]--[_Trinidad._]
[96] “Don’t halloo till you’re out of the wood!”