PROVERBS.
The Irish delighted in sententious maxims and apt illustrations compressed
into the fewest possible words. Many of their proverbs were evolved in the
Irish language, of which a collection with translations by John O'Donovan
may be seen in the 'Dublin Penny Journal,' I. 258; another in the Rev.
Ulick Bourke's Irish Grammar; and still another in the Ulster Journ. of
Archaeology (old series) by Mr. Robert MacAdam, the Editor. The same
tendency continued when the people adopted the English language. Those that
I give here in collected form were taken from the living lips of the people
during the last thirty or forty years.
'Be first in a wood and last in a bog.' If two persons are making their
way, one behind the other, through a wood, the hinder man gets slashed in
the face by the springy boughs pushed aside by the first: if through a bog,
the man behind can always avoid the dangerous holes by seeing the first
sink into them. This proverb preserves the memory of a time when there were
more woods and bogs than there are now: it is translated from Irish.
In some cases a small amount added on or taken off makes a great difference
in the result: 'An inch is a great deal in a man's nose.' In the Crimean
war an officer happened to be walking past an Irish soldier on duty, who
raised hand to cap to salute. {106} But the hand was only half way when a
stray bullet whizzed by and knocked off the cap without doing any injury.
Whereupon Paddy, perfectly unmoved, stooped down, replaced the cap and
completed the salute. The officer, admiring his coolness, said 'That was a
narrow shave my man!' 'Yes your honour: an inch is as good as a mile.' This
is one of our commonest sayings.
A person is reproved for some trifling harmless liberty, and replies:--'Oh
a cat can look at a king.' (A translation from Irish.)
A person who fails to get what he was striving after is often glad to
accept something very inferior: 'When all fruit fails welcome haws.'
When a person shows no sign of gratitude for a good turn as if it passed
completely from his memory, people say 'Eaten bread is soon forgotten.'
A person is sent upon some dangerous mission, as when the persons he is
going to are his deadly enemies:--that is 'Sending the goose on a message
to the fox's den.'
If a dishonest avaricious man is put in a position of authority over people
from whom he has the power to extort money; that is 'putting the fox to
mind the geese.'
'You have as many kinds of potatoes on the table as if you took them from a
beggarman's bag': referring to the good old time when beggarmen went about
and usually got a _lyre_ of potatoes in each house.
'No one can tell what he is able to do till he tries,' as the duck said
when she swallowed a dead kitten. {107}
You say to a man who is suffering under some continued hardship:--'This
distress is only temporary: have patience and things will come round soon
again.' 'O yes indeed; _Live horse till you get grass_.'
A person in your employment is not giving satisfaction; and yet you are
loth to part with him for another: 'Better is the devil you know than the
devil you don't know.'
'Least said, soonest mended.'
'You spoke too late,' as the fool said when he swallowed a bad egg, and
heard the chicken chirp going down his throat.
'Good soles bad uppers.' Applied to a person raised from a low to a high
station, who did well enough while low, but in his present position is
overbearing and offensive.
I have done a person some service: and now he ill-naturedly refuses some
reasonable request. I say: 'Oh wait: _apples will grow again_.' He
answers--'Yes _if the trees baint cut_'--a defiant and ungrateful answer,
as much as to say--you may not have the opportunity to serve me, or I may
not want it.
Turf or peat was scarce in Kilmallock (Co. Limerick): whence the proverb,
'A Kilmallock fire--two sods and a _kyraun_' (a bit broken _off of_ a sod).
People are often punished even in this world for their misdeeds: 'God
Almighty often pays debts without money.' (Wicklow.)
I advise you not to do so without the master's permission:--'Leave is
light.' A very general saying. {108}
When a person gives much civil talk, makes plausible excuses or fair
promises, the remark is made 'Soft words butter no parsnips.' Sometimes
also 'Talk is cheap.'
A person who is too complaisant--over anxious to please everyone--is 'like
Lanna Mochree's dog--he will go a part of the road with everyone.' (Moran
Carlow.) (A witness said this of a policeman in the Celbridge
courthouse--Kildare--last year, showing that it is still alive.)
'The first drop of the broth is the hottest': the first step in any
enterprise is usually the hardest. (Westmeath.)
The light, consisting of a single candle, or the jug of punch from which
the company fill their tumblers, ought always to be placed on the middle of
the table when people are sitting round it:--'Put the priest in the middle
of the parish.'
'After a gathering comes a scattering.' 'A narrow gathering, a broad
scattering.' Both allude to the case of a thrifty man who gathers up a
fortune during a lifetime, and is succeeded by a spendthrift son who soon
_makes ducks and drakes_ of the property.
No matter how old a man is he can get a wife if he wants one: 'There never
was an old slipper but there was an old stocking to match it.' (Carlow.)
'You might as well go to hell with a load as with a _pahil_': 'You might as
well hang for a sheep as for a lamb': both explain themselves. A _pahil_ or
_paghil_ is a bundle of anything. (Derry.)
If a man treats you badly in any way, you threaten to pay him back in his
own coin by saying, 'The cat hasn't eaten the year yet.' (Carlow.) {109}
'A fool and his money are easily parted.'
'A dumb priest never got a parish,' as much as to say if a man wants a
thing he must ask and strive for it.
'A slip of the tongue is no fault of the mind.' (Munster.)
You merely hint at something requiring no further explanation:--'A nod is
as good as a wink to a blind horse.' (Sam Lover: but heard everywhere.)
A very wise proverb often heard among us is:--'Let well enough alone.'
'When a man is down, down with him': a bitter allusion to the tendency of
the world to trample down the unfortunate and helpless.
'The friend that can be bought is not worth buying.' (Moran: Carlow.)
'The life of an old hat is to cock it.' To cock an old hat is to set it
jauntingly on the head with the leaf turned up at one side. (S. E.
counties.)
'The man that wears the shoe knows where it pinches.' It is only the person
holding any position that knows the troubles connected with it.
'Enough and no waste is as good as a _faist_.'
'There are more ways of killing a dog than by choking him with butter.'
Applied when some insidious cunning attempt that looks innocent is made to
injure another.
'Well James are you quite recovered now?' 'Oh yes, I'm _on the baker's
list_ again': i.e., I am well and have recovered my appetite.
'An Irishman before answering a question always asks another': he wants to
know why he is asked.
Dan O'Loghlin, a working man, drove up to our {110} house one day on an
outside car. It was a sixpenny drive, but rather a long one; and the carman
began to grumble. Whereupon Dan, in the utmost good humour, replied:--'Oh
you must take the little potato with the big potato.' A very apt maxim in
many of life's affairs, and often heard in and around Dublin.
'Good goods are tied up in small parcels': said of a little man or a little
woman, in praise or mitigation. (Moran: Carlow.)
'Easy with the hay, there are boys on the ladder.' When a man is on the top
of the stack forking down hay, he is warned to look out and be careful if
other _boys_ are mounting up the ladder, lest he may pitch it on their
heads. The proverb is uttered when a person is incautiously giving
expression to words likely to offend some one present. (Moran: Carlow.)
Be cautious about believing the words of a man speaking ill of another
against whom he has a grudge: 'Spite never spoke well.' (Moran: Carlow.)
Don't encroach too much on a privilege or it may be withdrawn: don't ask
too much or you may get nothing at all:--'Covetousness bursts the bag.'
Three things not to be trusted--a cow's horn, a dog's tooth, and a horse's
hoof.
Three disagreeable things at home:--a scolding wife; a squalling child; and
a smoky chimney.
Three good things to have. I heard this given as a toast exactly as I give
it here, by a fine old gentleman of the old times:--'Here's that we may
always have a _clane_ shirt; a _clane_ conscience; and a guinea in our
pocket.' {111}
Here is another toast. A happy little family party round the farmer's fire
with a big jug on the table (a jug of what, do you think?) The old blind
piper is the happiest of all, and holding up his glass says:--'Here's, if
this be war may we never have peace.' (Edw. Walsh.)
Three things no person ever saw:--a highlander's kneebuckle, a dead ass, a
tinker's funeral.
'Take care to lay by for the sore foot': i.e., Provide against accidents,
against adversity or want; against the rainy day.
When you impute another person's actions to evil or unworthy motives: that
is 'measuring other people's corn in your own bushel.'
A person has taken some unwise step: another expresses his intention to do
a similar thing, and you say:--'One fool is enough in a parish.'
In the middle of last century, the people of Carlow and its neighbourhood
prided themselves on being able to give, on the spur of the moment, toasts
suitable to the occasion. Here is one such: 'Here's to the herring that
never took a bait'; a toast reflecting on some person present who had been
made a fool of in some transaction. (Moran: Carlow.)
'A man cannot grow rich without his wife's leave': as much as to say, a
farmer's wife must co-operate to ensure success and prosperity. (Moran:
Carlow.)
When something is said that has a meaning under the surface the remark is
made 'There's gravel in that.'
'Pity people barefoot in cold frosty weather,
But don't make them boots with other people's leather.'
{112} That is to say: don't be generous at other people's expense. Many
years ago this proverb was quoted by the late Serjeant Armstrong in
addressing a jury in Wicklow.
'A wet night: a dry morning': said to a man who is _craw-sick_--thirsty and
sick--after a night's boozing. (Moran: Carlow.)
This last reminds me of an invitation I once got from a country gentleman
to go on a visit, holding out as an inducement that he would give me 'a dry
bed and a wet bottle.'
'If he's not fishing he's mending his nets': said of a man who always makes
careful preparations and lays down plans for any enterprise he may have in
view.
'If he had a shilling in his pocket it would burn a hole through it': said
of a man who cannot keep his money together--a spendthrift.
'A bird with one wing can't fly': said to a person to make him take a
second glass. (Moran: Carlow.)
Protect your rights: 'Don't let your bone go with the dog.'
'An old dog for a hard road': said in commendation of a wary person who has
overcome some difficulty. _Hard_ in this proverb means 'difficult.' (Moran:
Carlow.)
'No use sending a boy on a man's errand': Don't be satisfied with
inadequate steps when undertaking a difficult work: employ a sure person to
carry out a hard task.
Oh however he may have acted towards you he has been a good friend to me at
any rate; and I go by the old saying, 'Praise the ford as you find it.'
This {113} proverb is a translation from the Irish. It refers to a time
when bridges were less general than now; and rivers were commonly crossed
by fords--which were sometimes safe, sometimes dangerous, according to the
weather.
'Threatened dogs live long.' Abuses often go on for a long time, though
people are constantly complaining and threatening to correct them.
(Ulster.)
He who expects a legacy when another man dies thinks the time long. 'It is
long waiting for a dead man's boots.' (Moran: Carlow.)
A person waiting impatiently for something to come on always thinks the
time longer than usual:--'A watched pot never boils.'
'A poor man must have a poor wedding': people must live according to their
means.
'I could carry my wet finger to him': i.e. he is here present, but I won't
name him.
'Oh that's all _as I roved out_': to express unbelief in what someone says
as quite unworthy of credit. In allusion to songs beginning 'As I roved
out,' which are generally fictitious.
'Your father was a bad glazier': said to a person who is standing in one's
light.
'As the old cock crows the young cock learns': generally applied to a son
who follows the evil example of his father.
A person remarks that the precautions you are taking in regard to a certain
matter are unnecessary or excessive, and you reply 'Better be sure than
sorry.'
'She has a good many nicks in her horn': said of a girl who is becoming an
old maid. A cow is said to have a nick in her horn for every year. {114}
A man of property gets into hopeless debt and difficulty by neglecting his
business, and his creditors sell him out. 'Well, how did he get out of it?'
asks a neighbour. 'Oh, he got out of it just by a break-up, _as Katty got
out of the pot_.' This is how Katty got out of the pot. One day at dinner
in the kitchen Katty Murphy the servant girl sat down on a big pot (as I
often saw women do)--for seats were scarce; and in the middle of the
dinner, through some incautious movement, down she went. She struggled to
get up, but failed. Then the others came to help her, and tugged and pulled
and tried in every way, but had to give it up; till at last one of them
brought a heavy hammer, and with one blow made smithereens of the pot.
'Putting a thing on the long finger' means postponing it.
On the evil of procrastination:--'_Time enough_ lost the ducks.' The ducks
should have been secured at once as it was known that a fox was prowling
about. But they were not, and----
'_Will you_ was never a good fellow.' The bad fellow says 'Will you have
some lunch?' (while there is as yet nothing on the table), on the chance
that the visitor will say 'No, thank you.' The good hospitable man asks no
questions, but has the food brought up and placed before the guest.
'Cut the _gad_ next the throat': that is to say, attend to the most urgent
need first. You find a man hanging by a _gad_ (withe), and you cut him down
to save him. Cutting the _gad_ next the throat explains itself.
When a work must be done slowly:--'I will do {115} it by degrees as lawyers
go to heaven.' (Moran: Carlow.)
'That's not a good fit,' as the serpent said when he swallowed a buck goat,
horns and all.
Time and patience would bring a snail to America.
'The cold stone leaves the water on St. Patrick's Day.' About the 17th
March (St. Patrick's Day), the winter's cold is nearly gone, and the
weather generally takes a milder turn.
'There are more turners than dishmakers'; meaning, there may be many
members of a profession, but only few of them excel in it: usually pointed
at some particular professional man, who is considered not clever. It is
only the most skilful turners that can make wooden dishes.
A person who talks too much cannot escape saying things now and then that
would be better left unsaid:--'The mill that is always going grinds coarse
and fine.'
'If you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas': if you keep company
with bad people you will contract their evil habits. (Moran: Carlow.)
If you do a kindness don't mar it by any unpleasant drawback: in other
words do a kind act graciously:--'If you give away an old coat don't cut
off the buttons.'
Two good things:--A young man courting, an old man smoking: Two bad
things:--An old man courting, a young man smoking. (MacCall: Wexford.)
What is the world to a man when his wife is a widow.
Giving help where it is needed is 'helping the lame dog over the stile.'
{116}
'Leave him to God': meaning don't you attempt to punish him for the injury
he has done you: let God deal with him. Often carried too far among us.
A hard man at driving a bargain:--'He always wants an egg in the
penn'orth.' (Kildare.)
A satirical expression regarding a close-fisted ungenerous man:--'If he had
only an egg he'd give you the shell.' (Kildare.)
A man wishes to say to another that they are both of about the same age;
and this is how he expresses it:--'When I die of old age you may quake with
fear.' (Kildare.)
Speaking of a man with more resources than one:--'It wasn't on one leg St.
Patrick came to Ireland.'
When there is a prospect of a good harvest, or any mark of
prosperity:--'That's no sign of small potatoes.' (Kildare.)
Your friend is in your pocket. (Kildare.)
[As a safe general principle]:--'If anybody asks you, say you don't know.'
'A good run is better than a bad stand.' When it becomes obvious that you
cannot defend your position (whatever it is), better yield than encounter
certain defeat by continuing to resist. (Queenstown.)
A man depending for success on a very uncertain contingency:--'God give you
better meat than a running hare.' (Tyrone.)
To express the impossibility of doing two inconsistent things at the same
time:--'You can't whistle and chaw meal.' {117}
A man who has an excess of smooth plausible talk is 'too sweet to be
wholesome.'
'The fox has a good name in his own parish.' They say that a fox does not
prey on the fowls in his own neighbourhood. Often said of a rogue whose
friends are trying to _whitewash_ him.
'A black hen lays white eggs.' A man with rough manners often has a gentle
heart and does kindly actions.
Much in the same sense:--'A crabtree has a sweet blossom.'
A person who has smooth words and kind professions for others, but never
acts up to them, 'has a hand for everybody but a heart for nobody.'
(Munster.)
A person readily finds a lost article when it is missed, and is suspected
to have hidden it himself:--'What the Pooka writes he can read.' (Munster.)
A man is making no improvement in his character or circumstances but rather
the reverse as he advances in life:--'A year older and a year worse.'
'A shut mouth catches no flies.' Much the same as the English 'Speech is
silvern, silence is golden.'
To the same effect is 'Hear and see and say nothing.'
A fool and his money are easily parted.
Oh I see you expect that Jack (a false friend) will stand at your back.
Yes, indeed, 'he'll stand at your back while your nose is breaking.'
'You wouldn't do that to your match' as Mick Sheedy said to the fox. Mick
Sheedy the gamekeeper had a hut in the woods where he often took {118}
shelter and rested and smoked. One day when he had arrived at the doorway
he saw a fox sitting at the little fire warming himself. Mick instantly
spread himself out in the doorway to prevent escape. And so they continued
to look at each other. At last Reynard, perceiving that some master-stroke
was necessary, took up in his mouth one of a fine pair of shoes that were
lying in a corner, brought it over, and deliberately placed it on the top
of the fire. We know the rest! (Limerick.)
'There's a hole in the house'; meant to convey that there is a tell-tale
listening. (Meath.)
We are inclined to magnify distant or only half known things: 'Cows far off
have long horns.'
'He'll make Dungarvan shake': meaning he will do great things, cut a great
figure. Now generally said in ridicule. (Munster.)
A man is told something extraordinary:--'That takes the coal off my pipe';
i.e. it surpasses all I have seen or heard.
A man fails to obtain something he was looking after--a house or a farm to
rent--a cow to buy--a girl he wished to marry, &c.--and consoles himself by
reflecting or saying:--'There's as good fish in the _say_ as ever was
caught.'
Well, you were at the dance yesterday--who were there? Oh 'all the world
and Garrett Reilly' were there. (Wicklow and Waterford.)
When a fellow puts on empty airs of great consequence, you say to him, 'Why
you're _as grand as Mat Flanagan with the cat_': always said
contemptuously. Mat Flanagan went to London one time. After two years he
came home on a visit; but he was {119} now transformed into such a mass of
grandeur that he did not recognise any of the old surroundings. He didn't
know what the old cat was. 'Hallo, mother,' said he with a lofty air and a
killing Cockney accent, 'What's yon long-tailed fellow in yon _cawner_?'
A person reproaching another for something wrong says:--'The back of my
hand to you,' as much as to say 'I refuse to shake hands with you.'
To a person hesitating to enter on a doubtful enterprise which looks fairly
hopeful, another says:--Go on Jack, try your fortune: 'faint heart never
won fair lady.'
A person who is about to make a third and determined attempt at anything
exclaims (in assonantal rhyme):--
'First and second go alike:
The third throw takes the bite.'
I express myself confident of outwitting or circumventing a certain man who
is notoriously cautious and wide-awake, and the listener says to me:--'Oh,
what a chance you have--_catch a weasel asleep_' (general).
In connexion with this may be given another proverb: of a notoriously
wide-awake cautious man, it is said:--'He sleeps a hare's sleep--with one
eye open.' For it was said one time that weasels were in the habit of
sucking the blood of hares in their sleep; and as weasels had much
increased, the hares took to the plan of sleeping with one eye at a time;
'and when that's rested and _slep_ enough, they open it and shut the
other.' (From 'The Building of Mourne,' by Dr. Robert Dwyer Joyce.) {120}
This last perpetuates a legend as old as our literature. In one of the
ancient Irish classical tales, the story is told of a young lady so
beautiful that all the young chiefs of the territory were in love with her
and laying plans to take her off. So her father, to defeat them, slept with
only one eye at a time.
* * * * *