Part 13 (1/2)

and:--

”Those that eat cherries with great persons shall have their eyes squirted out with the stones.”

A man who makes a great show without a corresponding practice is said to be like ”fig-tree fuel, much smoke and little fire,” and another adage says:--

”Peel a fig for your friend, and a peach for your enemy.”

This proverb, however, is not quite clear when applied to this country.

”To peel a fig, so far as we are concerned,” writes Mr. Hazlitt[2], ”can have no significance, except that we should not regard it as a friendly service; but, in fact, the proverb is merely a translation from the Spanish, and in that language and country the phrase carries a very full meaning, as no one would probably like to eat a fig without being sure that the fruit had not been tampered with. The whole saying is, however, rather unintelligible. 'Peeling a peach' would be treated anywhere as a dubious attention.”

Of the many proverbs connected with thorns, there is the true one which tells us how,

”He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns,”

The meaning of which is self-evident, and the person who lives in a chronic state of uneasiness is said to, ”sit on thorns.” Then there is the oft-quoted adage:--

”While thy shoe is on thy foot, tread upon the thorns.”

On the other hand, that no position in life is exempt from trouble of some kind is embodied in this proverb:--

”Wherever a man dwells he shall be sure to have a thorn bush near his door,”

which Ray also explains in its literal sense, remarking that there ”are few places in England where a man can dwell, but he shall have one near him.” Then, again, thorns are commonly said to ”make the greatest crackling,” and ”the thorn comes forth with its point forward.”

Many a great man has wished himself poor and obscure in his hours of adversity, a sentiment contained in the following proverb:--

”The pine wishes herself a shrub when the axe is at her root.”

A quaint phrase applied to those who expect events to take an unnatural turn is:--

”Would you have potatoes grow by the pot-side?”

Amongst some of the other numerous proverbs may be mentioned a few relating to the apple; one of these reminding us that,

”An apple, an egg, and a nut, You may eat after a s.l.u.t.”

Selfishness in giving is thus expressed:--

”To give an apple where there is an orchard.”

And the idea of worthlessness is often referred to as when it is said that ”There is small choice in rotten apples,” with which may be compared another which warns us of the contagious effects of bad influence:--

”The rotten apple injures its neighbour.”

The utter dissimilarity which often exists between two persons, or things, is jocularly enjoined in the familiar adage:--

”As like as an apple is to a lobster,”

And the folly of taking what one knows is paltry or bad has given rise to an instructive proverb:--