“Doing favors gives one the back-ache.”--[_Martinique._]
282. * Ratte mangé canne, zanzoli mouri innocent. (Le rat mange la
canne-[à-sucre], le lézard en meurt.)
“’Tis the rat eats the cane; but the lizard dies for
it.”[118]--[_Louisiana._]
[118] This proverb is certainly of West Indian origin, though I first
obtained it from a Louisianian. In consequence of the depredations
committed by rats in the West-Indian cane-fields, it is customary
after the crop has been taken off, to fire the dry cane tops and
leaves. The blaze, spreading over the fields, destroys many rats, but
also a variety of harmless lizards and other creatures.
283. Ravett pas janmain asséz fou pou li allé lapòte pouleillé. (Le
ravet n’est jamais assez fou pour aller à la porte du poulailler.)
“The cockroach is never silly enough to approach the door of the
hen-house.”--[_Martinique._]
284. * Ravette pas jamain tini raison douvant poule. (Le ravet n’a
jamais raison devant la poule.)
“Cockroach is never in the right where the fowl is concerned”--(lit.:
_before the fowl_.)[119]--[_Trinidad._]
[119] I find this proverb in every dialect I have been able to study.
In Martinique Creole the words vary slightly: “_Douvant poule ravett
pas ni raison._”