has an opportunity," except by presuming that the Malay author of the proverb alludes to the female tiger!
- 40. Tidak hujan lagi bichak inikan pula hujan.
"Muddy enough when there is no rain, but now it is raining." Said of a thing difficult to perform at any time without the addition of an aggravating circumstance.
- 41. Ta' tumboh ta' melata
- Ta' sunggoh orang ta' kata.
"A plant must sprout before it climbs; if it were not true people would not say it." "No smoke without fire."
- 42. Tiada bahan batu di galas.
"For want of a load a stone is carried on the back." To give one's self needless trouble.
- 43. Tolak tangga ber-âyun kaki.
"Kick away the ladder and the legs are left swinging." To be in an unpleasant position in consequence of a blunder of one's own.
Sometimes another line is added.
- Pelok tuboh mengâjar diri.
"Then you fold your arms and think what a fool you're been" (lit, to hug the body and lecture one's self).
This phrase is common in Malay pantun, e. g. the following allusion to the bad management of a Malay lover who abandoned a dark beauty for a fair one and got neither;
- "Itam lepas puteh ta' dapat.
- Tolak tangga ber-âyun kaki.”
Klinkert has this proverb in his collection but gives it as "Tolak-kan tangga kaki berayun."
- 44. Ta sunggoh salurang me-laut balik iya ka tepi juga.
"The salurang fish does not really go out to sea, it always returns to the bank."
A hit at stay-at-home people who never leave their own villages.
The salurang is a small fresh-water fish, very common in the Perak river.
