iG MALAY PROVERBS. 



77 aJU ^1/ *-3j\tfj>ji} \$*J. fc** 



Te-lentang ber-isi oyer fe-tiharap ber-isi tanah. 

 ' ; Turned up filled with water, turned down filled with earth." 

 Kl. 173. 



Favre has quite misunderstood this phrase, which is not a proverb, but an 

 imprecation. The context would be something- of this sort: — "If I fail in my 

 " engagement may my fate be that of the cocoa-nut shell (saperti tamp tiro ng 

 " iring), may I hold water when turned up and earth when turned down," that 

 is "may I never have any luck, but live in misery." 



Similar imprecations are : — 



Ka-gunong ta'dapat ang'in ha-lurah ta'dapat agar. "May I (or he) ascend 

 "mountains and get no wind, and descend into the valleys and get no water.' " 

 And— 



Saperti sapohon kayu di-hawah tiada oer-altar di-atas tiada ot>r-puclwl< di- 

 tengalt-tengali di-gerck kinnoang. " May I (or he) be like a tree with no roots be- 

 "low and no shoots above and of which the trunk has been bored into by insects 

 "(/. <?., an orphan, childless and diseased).*' 



This recalls the fearful curse in the Psalms : " May his children be father- 

 less and his wife a widow,'' etc. 



Tehinjuk men-clnicJiuk mate. 

 "The fore-finger pierces the eye." Kl. 14. 

 One from whom help was expected turns against us. 

 See Pagar maltav padi. M. 115. 



79 y\, Jj 



Telan batit. 

 " To swallow stones." 



An idiom, not a proverb. 



To keep a thing dark, e. //., to find something which a person has dropped 

 and to hold one's tongue about it. 



Favre translates this idiom by "Filer doux*' to "give in" or^" sing small." 



Cf. Telan bara. "To swallow red-hot embers. " 



Said of a person who is not particular what he cats — the clean or the un- 

 clean. 



TemboJc leering. 

 "A dry wall." 



Said of a grasping, avaricious man. (Favre.) 



Xot a proverb. The idiom is not known to me, but Ichihnig hiring is a 

 common expression. See M. 134, 



