We have in the adage, "Truly the sword inspires dread even in its scabbard," a further suggestion of the fear inspired by those in authority; while the depth of misery, of callous brutality, is seen in "Thou takest from the sore-footed his sandal," the man is hopelessly crippled. Double-dealing and the evil of a sham friendship inspires the idea in "He said to the thief, steal, and to the householder, take care of thy goods"; while the selfish man is warned that in the day of trouble he need look for no assistance from others, for "He who eats alone chokes alone." "Three," another proverb tells us, "if they unite against a town, will ruin it," for while "Union is strength" for good, it is no less powerful for harm.
A quaint and delightful humour, as we have said, is a frequent attribute of these Arab utterances; thus the generosity of those who only give away what they have no need for is very happily satirised in the saying that "The dogs had enough, and then made presents to each other out of their leavings." How pithily, too, the braggart is brought before us in the saying, "If they had not dragged me from underneath him I should have killed him!" The sense of supreme self-importance is capitally illustrated in the saying, "They came to shoe the pacha's horses, and the beetle stretched out his leg." The liberties that some people venture on with impunity when they think it safe are very happily brought home to us in the saying, "The captain loves thee, wipe thy hand on the sail." There is a good deal of quiet humour, too, in this, "He fled from the rain and sat down beneath the waterspout," a case of what in England we should call "Out of the frying-pan into the fire." How true, again, the proverb, "The camel has his schemes, and the camel-driver has his schemes," the interests of the driven and the driver being ordinarily very different; or this again, "The barber learns his art on the orphan's face," on the poor and the friendless who cannot resent an indignity or adequately protect themselves from maltreatment.[117:A] Of people who receive a piece of good fortune that they neither desire nor appreciate, the proverb, "A rose fell to the share of the monkey," holds good. It is also a warning against a thoughtless distribution of good things without heed to their appropriateness.
The picturesque expression, "Hunting dogs have scratched faces," is a wholesome recognition of the honour of the scars gained in honest labour; while the adage, "He walks on top of the wall and says I trust in God," is a reproof to those who needlessly and deliberately place themselves in positions of peril or temptation and then expect providence to step in and save them from the consequences of their folly. "God grant us no neighbour with two eyes" is the cry of the knave who would prefer that those around him should be a little blind to his proceedings.
"If they call thee reaper, whet thy scythe"; endeavour so far as may be to rise to the position, and show the title deserved. Inculcating the lesson of gratitude, we read, "A well from which thou drinkest, throw not a stone into it." Our proverb that declares that "The shoemaker's wife is the worst shod" has its Arab counterpart in the adage, "She went to sleep hungry, though her husband is a baker." The mischief done by careless speech in the land of the scimitar is enforced in the saying, "The tongue is the neck's enemy." "A single grain makes the balance heavier," and when two courses of action seem of almost equal importance, a very slight difference will turn the scale in favour of one or the other. The lesson of interdependence, the power of the small to assist the great, is indicated in "The date-stone props up the water-jar." "He left off sinning but never asked forgiveness" very graphically describes those who think reformation sufficient, and take no heed of bygone days, make no atonement for the old wrongs, solicit no pardon from those they have injured. "It is a fire, to-morrow it will be ashes," the fierce heat of passion will have subsided, the glowing sense of wrong will have burnt itself out, and calm or apathy will take its place. The stronger the emotion the less likely is it to be lasting.
The delight in stories is a very marked feature of the Arab, and many of their proverbs are the pith and point of some narrative that their use at once recalls. Thus, when they say "Dust is good for the eyes of the wolf," it recalls the hypocrisy of the wolf who was asked why he was following after those poor sheep? He explained that he had found that the cloud of dust they created was good for his poor eyes! When a business is found to be somewhat risky they tell how one said to the mouse, "Take these two pounds of sugar and go carry this letter to the cat." "The fee is good enough," she replied, "but the business is tiresome." The wisdom of keeping one's own counsel is seen in the dialogue between master and servant. The former said, "O slave, I have bought thee." "That is thy business," he replied. "Wilt thou run away?" "That is my business," he answered—a policy of non-committal.
Even amongst the savage tribes of Africa the proverb is greatly esteemed, and many of the maxims in common use are abundantly shrewd, while not a few of them have a very homely ring in them. Our English experience that "Fine words butter no parsnips" runs on all-fours with the West African savage's discovery that "The best words give no food"; while our bad exchange from the frying-pan to the fire is paralleled in the saying, "He fled from the sword and hid in the scabbard." The desirability of not too hastily trusting plausible strangers is very effectively taught in "Make not friends by the way, lest you lose your knife."
Over 2000 of these popular proverbs were collected by Richard Burton and given to the world as "Wit and Wisdom from West Africa," and a very interesting collection it is. Another good store will be found in the "Dahomey and the Dahomans" by Commander Forbes, R.N., and various missionaries have added to our fund of knowledge,[119:A] so that even stay-at-home people have abundance of interesting material brought within their ken.
That unreachable date of classic folk-lore, the Greek Calends, has its quaint counterpart in the African saying, "I will pay thee when the fowls cut their teeth." A lesson on the importance of keeping up one's dignity, even in Yoruba circles, is given in the hint, "If thou husketh corn with the fowl it will not esteem thee." The animal life all around the village is naturally pressed into the service and made to contribute its share of proverb-lore. How quaintly happy, for instance, is this, "If stretching were wealth, the cat would be rich." How many a man in West Africa and elsewhere would be well content to find so easy a road to affluence. How equally happy this, "If there were no elephant in the jungle the buffalo would be a great animal"; or this, "One who has elephant's flesh does not search for crickets." What a shrewd humour again in the statement that "When the mouse laughs at the cat there is a hole near." By continuous effort much may be accomplished,[120:A] for "String added to string will bind a leopard"—a lesson taught again in this saying, "By going and coming the bird builds its nest."[120:B] How true again the statement that "One cannot deceive a baboon by tricks"; in all such he is more than one's match, and the trickster must be foiled by quite other methods. To try and outwit a knave is a hopeless task and is, moreover, bad for one's self-respect. It is well to see some return for one's outlay; it is bad enough to "buy," in English parlance, "a pig in a poke," but in Africa they carry the idea yet further and declare that "It is not well to buy the foot-prints of a bullock," while another caution as to the disposal of one's property is very aptly given in the reminder that "No one gives his pig to the hyena to keep," this keeping being in such case all too thoroughly seen to.
The Akra-man tells us that "The thread follows the needle"; in other words, certain consequences will naturally follow certain actions, and these results, good or bad, may be confidently anticipated when we have once set the machinery to work. He tells us, too, that "Food you will not eat you do not boil"; people will not willingly work at any task unless in some way or other they see their advantage in it. Another illustration of consequences following upon a certain line of action is seen in the proverb, "A stick that goes into the fire begins to burn"; a deliberate entry into any temptation will scarcely leave one unscathed. Another quaint little piece of worldly wisdom is that "If you lay your snare in company you go in company to look at it"—if you avail yourself of the help of others, they in turn will expect a share of any resulting good fortune.
The Yoruba-man warns you that "When a man says he will give you a gun, ask his name"—that is to say, when a stranger displays a quite unexpected interest in you, and develops a quite unlooked-for generosity, it would be well before you accept his gift to find out something about him, and what his motive may be for this sudden friendship. "Lay on, lay on, makes a load," a fact that the man or beast that has to carry it realises sooner than the person packing. The repeated addition of small things soon mounts into a considerable burden. "A canoe is paddled on both sides,"—no half-measures, no want of unanimity, will suffice when some joint task has to be formed; it must be "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether," if any good is to come of it. We see the sudden impulse, the overmastering temptation, forcibly expressed in this, "When gold comes near you it glistens"; the eye and the desire are strained and dazzled, the desire to possess it is overmastering and "opportunity makes the thief." Another very characteristic utterance is that "A slave does not show the timber." This at first sight is enigmatical, but Burton in his comment on it explains clearly enough that if the slave points out suitable trees that he knows of in the dense forest, his only return would be that on him would fall the labour of felling them and dragging them to where they were wanted; he therefore maintains a discreet silence. Another woodman proverb is that "The split tree still grows," calamity is not so crushing but that much good may yet be done in the life.
