because of their unusual choice or arrangement of words. Sometimes the saying was in the form of an alliteration, as, for example, "Providence provides for the prudent" and "As fit as a fritter for a friar's mouth"; sometimes it was a mere catch expression, as when the English said, "In a shoulder of veal there are twenty and two good bits," meaning that though there are twenty bits in a shoulder of veal, there are only two that are good; or when the natives of Hindustan declared that "One and one make eleven," or when the modern Greeks ask, "Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, whom had they for a father?" Sometimes it was a play on words, as when in Scotland it was said that "May-be's are na aye honey bees, in Wales that "The butter is in the cow's horns,” and in America that "Sherry cobblers mend no shoes."

There are many forms of whimsical proverbs, but nearly all are based on some unusual arrangement of words or are of the nature of puns and riddles and are of a humorous nature.

PROVERBS AS TRAVELLERS

Proverbs are often carried from one land to another by emigrants, tradesmen, and seamen.

tourists, missionaries, When appropriated by

natives they take a form adapted to their new surroundings. As changes of clothing do not alter men's characters, so modifications in form.

do not affect the intent of a proverb. The English saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," has the same significance as the Scotch, "A bird in the hand's worth twa fleein' by," the Italian, "A bird in the cage is worth a hundred at large," the Persian, "A sparrow in the hand is better than a crane in the air," the Arabian, "A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist," and the French and Irish, "Better a wren in the hand than a crane in the air."

The tendency of proverbs to travel from one land to another has rendered it impossible to tell whence many familiar sayings came and every attempt to ascertain their origin has proved unavailing. Not a few attributed to the old Greeks and Romans and the sages of Persia and India may have been quoted by them from the aphorisms of the market-places; yet there remain a multitude of unfamiliar "ways of speaking," that can easily be traced to the place from which they sprang by their formation and the peculiar conditions of life to which they refer.

No attempt has been made in this book to add another collection of proverbs to the large number that have been prepared by students of antiquity, but rather to take advantage of their researches and select and classify a sufficient number of authenticated adages, maxims, aphor

isms, phrases, and other popular dicta, to show the forms and grouping to which the common sayings of men are liable, and to add thereto such explanations, notes, and quotations as may be useful or interesting.

The original rendering of the various proverbial quotations has not been given, as by doing so the size of the volume would be greatly enlarged without increasing its value to the general reader; but care has been taken to use only such translations as have been approved by collectors whose competency is beyond question.

Sayings that belong to several of the classes enumerated have generally been given but once to avoid repetition. The language or dialect indicated in parentheses after each proverb is not intended to show its exclusive use but rather to show its most pronounced national affiliation. While many of the sayings are spoken in no other tongue than that indicated, others are used by many people in many lands.

It is hoped that the book will be found interesting and suggestive, and that through it the reader may become better acquainted with the life and purposes of men in other lands and other ages than his own.

"In whatever language it may be written, every line, every word is welcome, that bears the impress of the early days of mankind."— MAX MÜLLER.

PROVERBS ABOUT PROVERBS

A good maxim is never out of season. (English).

A man because of his own likeness should learn this saying: "As rain to the parched field, so is meat to one oppressed with hunger." (Sanskrit).

Used in the Hitopadesa to enforce the truth as taught in the fable of "The Traveller and the Tiger."

A man's life is often builded on a proverb. (Hebrew). "There is hardly a mistake which in the course of our lives we have committed but some proverb, had we known and attended to its lesson, might have saved us from it."—Archbishop Trench.

A proverb deceives not; the heavens fall not. (German). "The people's voice the voice of God we call; And what are proverbs but the people's voice? Coined first, and current made by common choice? Then sure they must have weight and truth withal."—Anonymous.

A proverb is an ornament to language.

(Persian).

"Proverbs serve not only for ornament and delight, but also for active and civil use; as being the edge tools of speech which cut and penetrate the knots of business and affairs."-Bacon.

"Proverbs are mental gems gathered in the diamond -W. R. Alger.

fields of the mind.

A proverb is the horse of conversation; when the conversation is lost (i.e., flags), a proverb revives it. Proverbs and conversation follow each other. (YorubaWest African).