More Old Folk Wisdom

I finally found my students' files and here are the rest of my ethnic group's proverbs, translated in English.

1."Leaning crocodile, don't keep on leaning,because when the boatman arrives, you'll drown yourself."

- This was often said by women to men who don't propose early. The crocodile here is the reluctant suitor himself, and the boatman is perhaps the one who will get to marry the woman in question.


2. "A blue butterfly wishes to be adored, but who is going to adore her when she's always flying around?"

- Now this is another way of saying, "out of sight, out of mind."


3. "Scattered raindrops, when pooled together, make a great flood."

- There's strength in unity.


4. "Scattered clods of soil will make a mountain if gathered."

- Big things can come from small things.


5. "It is better to die than to have a second name."

- This saying suggests that saving one's reputation is of importance. In Asia, saving face is one trait that can often be seen, and shame is one thing that an individual cannot live through life with,which explains for actions like the Japanese hara-kiri. "Having a second name" refers to the judgments that society will pass on a person once he is reported or proven to have done disgraceful things to himself or to his family.


6. "What is soft is difficult to break; what is hard easily gets broken."

- A proverb that is about personality, this suggests that people who are adaptable (soft, therefore they can bend) survive or get along with others better than those who are not (and therefore brittle or easily broken).


Ok let's have a challenge here. Let's see if you can figure out the meaning of this one:

"No knife can never be blunt."