INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The following common saws and proverbs were collected, chiefly from dervishes and professional story- 

 tellers, during a two years' residence in Southern Persia. Every saw or proverb was submitted to the 

 criticism of at least three educated Persians in Persia, and those not receiving corroboration were struck out 

 of the list. The residue has been revised by Muhammad Kazim Shirazi, Persian Instructor to the Board of 

 Examiners, who has further compared it with Roebuck 1 and erased all proverbs found in the collection of 

 the latter. Some sayings that have their origin in well-known writings, but which do not occur in Roebuck, 

 have been allowed to stand. 



It is not to be supposed that the whole of these proverbs are current in any one district. Still every professional 

 story-teller has a stock of two or three hundred. The story-tellers are, in most cases, illiterate men, and 

 like most illiterate but intelligent people they have excellent and well-stored memories. 



The list here given is perhaps only a small portion of the proverbs in common use to-day, in different districts. 



i. " The ass's colt through its assinity, keeps ahead of its mother." (Said to a 

 vulgar man that pushes himself forward.) Cf. ' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' 



2. " By the time the calf becomes a cow, its master's patience is exhausted." 

 (Said to one with a troublesome child.) 



3. "Only a dog of Mazenderan can catch a Mazenderan jackal." Cf. 'Seta 

 thief to catch a thief.' Vide No. 191. 



4. " By the time I 've made you a man, I shall have become a donkey." (Said 

 by a master to a boy or by a father to a son.) 



5. " The winter has passed but the charcoal-seller's face is as black as ever " ; {i.e., 

 ' Thanks, the necessity no longer exists, but the shame of not having helped me still 

 remains with you'). 



6. " An old horse trained for a race is useful for the Day of Judgment." (Said 

 to anyone who, late in life, starts learning a new subject.) 



7. "I was born before my father was married" 2 ; (i.e., I'm an old hand and 

 need no teaching ; I know a thing or two). Cf. None can teach this dog tricks. 



8. " He's learned without having troubled to read." (A taunt to a quack.) 



{i.e., ' You tal of the gain but say nothing of the pain ' 8 ). 



10. " I prefer the trickling stream to the river torrent that rushes once in the year 

 and remains dry the remainder." (I prefer profits small and sure to profits large and 

 risky.) 



11. "A hundred sparrows with their chirpings are half a mann :* kill an ox whose 

 one thigh is thirty mann" (Advice of Vazir to Governor not to loot small fry.) 



12. "A swift horse trips." Cf. ' The more haste the less speed : slow and sure.' 



13. "A snapped rope may be tied but the knot remains" ; (i.e., a quarrel may be 

 made up but a soreness remains ; a wound may be healed but the scar remains). 



1 " A Collection of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases in the Persian and Hindustani Languages" by Thomas Roebuck, 

 Calcutta, 1824. 



2 This implies not ' bastard ' but ' wide awake.' 3 Lkli. **«£? t** 0j^> tt(7*l*V \f&i\ f'j* 

 4 Seven Indian seers go to I Tabrizi mann. 



