A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut-tree,
The more you whip them the better they be.
And also in this quatrain:
Three things by beating better prove,
A nut, an ass, a woman;
The cudgel from their back remove,
And they'll be good for no man.
[THE ASH.]
Burn ash-wood green,
'Tis a fire for a queen:
Burn ash-wood sear,
'Twill make a man swear.
Ash, when green, makes good fire-wood, and, contrary perhaps to all other sorts of wood, is bad for that purpose when sear, or dry, withered. The old Anglo-Saxon term sear is well illustrated by this homely proverb. The reader will remember Macbeth:
I have lived long enough:
My way of life is fallen into the sear and yellow leaf.
[PEAS.]
Children get the pods of a pea, and flinging them at each other, cry
Pea-pod hucks,
Twenty for a pin;
If you don't like them,
I'll take them agin.