“When somebody gives you a donkey, you musn’t examine the bridle.”—Never look a gift-horse in the mouth.—[Mauritius.]
259. Quand femme léve so robe diabe guétte so lazambe. (Quand une femme relève sa robe le diable regarde sa jambe.)
“When a woman lifts her dress, the devil looks at her leg.”—[Mauritius.]
260. Quand gagne larmoire napas quétte côffe. (Quand on a l’armoire on ne regarde pas le coffre.)
“As soon as one gets a clothes-press, one never looks at the trunk.”[109]—[Mauritius.]
[109] A wooden chest or trunk is the first desideratum of the negro housewife. As soon as the family is able to purchase a clothes-press, or (as we call it in Louisiana) “armoire,” it is considered quite a prosperous household by Mauritian colored folk. The chest, Baissac tells us, is the clothes-press of the poor. “After the bed comes the chest, and next the accordeon!”
261. Quand lamôrt vini, vous pense vous lavie. (Quand la mort vient, vous pensez à vôtre vie.)
“It’s when death comes that you think about your life.”—[Mauritius.]
262. Quand lébras trop courte, napas zoinde. (Quand les bras son trop courts, ils ne se rejoignent pas.)