Post No. 15,006
Date uploaded in London – 20 September 2025
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.
this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
xxxx
The iron is struck only while it is hot.
A man who sees that he is being robbed does not try to catch the robber, but when he meets him takes him to the sheikh. The robber denies the charge, no witness can be produced, and the sheikh dismisses the case with this saying.
***
The jackal said ‘Eat and Measure’
From the story of a hedgehog and jackal who went into a garden through a whole in the fence. After eating a large quantity of grapes, the hedgehog went back to the opening to try if he still could get through, saying to the jackal, ‘Eat and Measure’, this the jackal failed to do, and was caught by the owner of the garden.
–Moorish proverb
***
Too much confidence lost the frog his tail
The origin of this proverb is a tale. The grand mothe of all frogs was giving out tails and one youngster said to himself, “it will be alright, grannie is sure to keep me one, I will go in the morning.” When he went the tails were all gone; whence comes the race of tailless frogs we see today.
–Uganda proverb
***
Half naked, but carrying the scales
Miserable but still laying claim to the habits of the wealthy merchants, who carry a small balance in their wide sleeves to weigh the sequins and gold coins which they receive in payment.
***
Three things will make a man feel subdued
A woman if she were balm;
A debt of even a drachm;
A question, even if it be only to know the road.
–Arabic proverbs
***
The starlings have hidden the pigeons
Starlings are allowed by the natives to stay in the crops as they eat worms and insects only, whereas the pigeons are chased away, as hey destroy crops. Sometimes you think only starlings are in the field and you do not chase the birds, whereas you have left the pigeons in the field. The meaning of this proverb is that pretexts hide the true facts ad it is used when a man in a court conceals the truth and leads the judges on the wrong track
–Somali proverb
***
Don’t you see the dead?
They lie together in their separate clothes; they cover their heads to go nowhere.
They get not up in the morning.
They warm not themselves in the evening; red earth is over their breasts and stone work at their sides.
Malagasy proverbs
***
The blacksmith’s sheep dies by suffocation
By Mohammedan custom every animal slaughtered for food must have its throat cut; blacksmiths in Sudan are the manufacturers of slaughtering knives – the blacksmith is too busy making these knives to slaughter his own sheep, so leaves it to die a natural death.
–Sudanese proverb
In the wedding of the sickle, the song of the hoe
Refers to a time when it was the custom to hold marriages of agricultural implements; this custom of wedding inanimate objects is still extant in regard to groves, wells, tanks etc which are formally married on being opened
–Bihari proverb
***
By black and by red it is finished
When commoner and chief work together the task is done. In olden days chiefs used to anoint their faces with shark oil and red ochre.
–Maori proverb, New Zealand
***
The bird that imagines itself on a level with the turkey buzzard will soon find itself on the grille.
The turkey buzzard is the scavenger of all food offered as sacrifice. Nobody is allowed to kill or molest it, and the general immunity renders it quite indifferent to the nearness of approach of human beings. For another bird to do this would be nothing short of suicide.
–Yoruba proverb
In Tamil also we have a similar proverb- Kaana Mayil Aadak kandu Vaan kozi polalach sirakinai viriththaar pola. கான மயில் ஆடக் கண்டிருந்த வான் கோழி தானும் அதுவாகப் பாவித்துத் தானுந் தன் பொல்லாச் சிறகை விரித்தாடினார் போலுமே கல்லாதான் கற்ற கவி” The verse composed by an illiterate is similar to the turkey that spreads its wings thinking that it is a peacock in the forest.
–Subham—
Tags- Proverbs, Stories, Part 2, turkey, peacock, iron, hot, Maori, frog tail
Tamil and Vedas 