Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/563

This page needs to be proofread.
ORIENTAL PROVERBS AND SAYINGS.

"Masal i mârūf pirāyah-e-zabānhā."


"A proverb is an ornament to language."


"Har chi bādābād-i-mā kishte dar āb āndākhtem."


No. 1. "Let the result be what it may, I have launched my boat."

i. e. The die is cast. The bolt is shot.


"Ghosh kh'ābānīh."


2. Lit.—"He put his ears to sleep."


"Tu marā dil dih o dilīrī bīn.
Rubah-e-kh'esh kh'ān o shere bīn."


3. "Encourage me, and then behold my bravery:—call me your own fox, and then you will see me perform the exploits of a lion!"


"Chi bāk az mauj-i-bahr ānrā ki bāshad Nauh kishtibān."


4. "What fear need he have of the waves of the sea, who has Noah for his pilot?"


i. e. He is safe who has a powerful protector.


"Kalandar har-chi goyad dīdah goyad."


5. "Whatever the wandering traveller says, he does so from having seen that of which he speaks."


"Unt dāgh hote the makrā abhī dāgh hone ko āyā."


6. "The camels were being branded (with hot irons for the public service), and the spider came to be marked also."


"Mekke gaye na Medine gaye bīch hī bīch hājjī the."


7. "He neither went to Mekka nor Medina, but was a pilgrim nevertheless."