My son is my son till he's got him a wife;
My daughter's my daughter all the days of her life.
This is a woman's calculation. She knows that a son-in-law will submit to her sway more tamely than a daughter-in-law.
Little pitchers have long ears.
"What the child hears at the fire is soon known at the minster" (French).[126]
Children and fools tell truth.
And tell it when it were better left untold. "These terrible children!" (French.)[127]
Children and fools have merry lives.
They quickly forget past sorrows, and are careless of the future.
Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.