Don’t Strike A Flea On A Tiger’s Head

Proverbs are short statements which express the wisdom and traditional norms based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. I find them great fun, especially the ones that use animals as a way to express a larger truth. What is amazing is that countries as diverse as England and Vietnam have the same proverbs in their own languages – I supposed the experiences of people are the same, no matter where they are. This week I am going to list the proverbs from across the world that I like (this is difficult because I have a list that runs into 35 pages):

Give a dog a bad name and hang him: people who continue to be accused on the basis of a presumed error in the past.

Dogs with short legs bark all the time -(Italian) : It could mean to get noticed – people with little to say, talk the most.  But it is true of short dogs. It could also mean the Napoleonic complex- shorter men make more noise, want more and achieve more.

Even a dog can look like a bishop –(Italian).

When one wants to get rid of their dog, any excuse is a good excuse –(Italian)

Those who kill cats and dogs never do anything that’s good –(Italian)

Who does not keep dogs, keeps thieves –(Italian)

A fine cage won’t feed the bird –(American)

A coconut shell full of water is an ocean to an ant –(American)

No matter how high a bird flies, it has to come down for water –(American)

Use your enemy’s hand to catch a snake –(Persian)

Hunger will lead a fox out of the forest –(Polish)

If there were no elephants in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal –(Ghanaian)

Cats don’t catch mice to please God –(Afghan)

Only when you have crossed the river can you say the crocodile has a lump on his snout –(Ghanaian)

Those who dislike cats will be carried to the cemetery in the rain –(Dutch)

A smart mouse has more than one hole – (American)

When the mouse laughs at the cat there’s a hole nearby –(Nigerian)

Don’t think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm –(Malayan)

Every animal knows more than you do –(Native American)

No one sees a fly on a trotting horse. (Meaning: Don’t go crazy about details because people won’t notice them in the big scheme of things) –(Polish)

Don’t call alligator long mouth till you pass him –(Jamaican)

Trust in Allah, but tie your camel –(Islamic)

Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet –(Chinese)

No need to teach an eagle to fly –(Greek)

Never try to catch two frogs with one hand –(Chinese)

Judge not the horse by his saddle –(Chinese)

One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him –(Chinese)

When elephants fight, the grass dies –(African)

Books and cats and fair-haired little girls make the best furnishings for a room –(French)

If a girl treads on a cat’s tail, she will not find a husband before a year is out –(French)

You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats –(Colonial American)

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song –(Chinese)

Never scratch a tiger with a short stick –(Chinese)

You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair –(Chinese)

Even monkeys sometimes fall from trees –(Japanese)

Beware of people who dislike cats –(Irish)

A roaring lion kills no game –(African)

Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you will have a fine pig and a bad child –(Danish)

Don’t strike a flea on a tiger’s head –(Chinese)

At high tide the fish eat ants; at low tide the ants eat fish –(Thai)

After eating a hundred mice, the cat embarks on Haj pilgrimage (pretence of repentance, of nobility after being wicked) – (Indian)

It’s a brave bird that makes its nest in the cat’s ear –(Indian)

Never stand in front of a judge or behind a donkey –(Indian)

Speak like a parrot; meditate like a swan; chew like a goat; and bathe like an elephant –(Indian)

You may lock up the cock, but the sun will still rise –(Indian)

It is easy to threaten a bull from the window –(Italian)

It is bad for puppies to play with bear cubs –(Danish)

The heron’s a saint when there are no fish in sight –(Bengali)

A house without a dog, a cat, or a child is a house without love or affection –(Irish)

Love is a donkey freed of all tethers –(Cameroon)

Having seen as much as I have of history being made, and seeing how written records are so far from the truth of what actually happened, this is my favourite proverb:

Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter –(African)

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