I'm ower auld a cat to draw a strae [straw] afore my nose.—Scotch.
That is, I am not to be gulled. A kitten will jump at a straw drawn before her, but a cat that knows the world is not to be fooled in that way.
Don't tell new lies to old rogues.
He that cheats me ance, shame fa' him; if he cheats me twice, shame fa' me.—Scotch.
It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.
The French have a humorous equivalent for this proverb, growing out of the following story:—A young rustic told his priest at confession that he had broken down a neighbour's hedge to get at a blackbird's nest. The priest asked if he had taken away the young birds. "No," said he, "they were hardly grown enough. I will let them alone until Saturday evening." No more was said on the subject, but when Saturday evening came, the young fellow found the nest empty, and readily guessed who it was that had forestalled him. The next time he went to confession he had to tell something in which a young girl was partly concerned. "Oh!" said his ghostly father; "how old is she?" "Seventeen." "Good-looking?" "The prettiest girl in the village." "What is her name? Where does she live?" the confessor hastily inquired; and then he got for answer the phrase which has passed into a proverb, "À d'autres, dénicheur de merles!" which may be paraphrased, "Try that upon somebody else, Mr. filcher of blackbirds."
When an old dog barks look out.
"An old dog does not bark for nothing" (Italian).[565] "There is no hunting but with old hounds" (French).[566]
Live and learn.
The langer we live the mair ferlies [wonders] we see.—Scotch.
"Wind in the face makes a man wise" (French).[567]
A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner.
It is hard to halt before a cripple.
It is hard to counterfeit lameness successfully in presence of a real cripple. "He who is of the craft can discourse about it." (Italian).[568] "Don't talk Latin before clerks" (French),[569] or "Arabic in the Moor's house" (Spanish).[570]