1895.] 
C. Mitra— Indian Bobber Folk-Lore. 29 
of doing a certain act and gets it at last, it is said of him cor cay bhdrjga 
herd ‘ a thief seeks for a broken fencing.’ A thief may elude detec¬ 
tion for some time, but he is sure to be caught one day. This has given 
rise to the popular saying cover pac din, sadher ek din, or a thief may 
escape scot-free for five days, but the good man of the house will catch 
him one day. Thieves are always artful dodgers, and, in allusion to 
their artfulness, the Bengalis say corbidya bar a bidyd, jadi ndpare dhard or 
that the profession of stealing is a paying one, so long as the thief is not 
caught. A person who steals trifles is spoken of as being a chine'ke cor. 
If sound advice is given to a person, but he does not act up to it, the pro¬ 
verb cord nd gune dharmmer kdhinl (preach the gospel to the devil, and he 
will not hear you) is applied to him. A thief cannot be detected except 
with the assistance of a thief. Hence the proverb corer sandhan. jdsu, or 
‘ set a thief to catch a thief.’ A servant or any other menial, who is 
notorious for his thievish propensities, is often spoken of as being a corer 
sarddr, or ‘ chief among thieves ’ or ‘arch-thief.’ If a person, without 
making any attempt at concealment, deprives another of a thing or 
otherwise defrauds him, the former is said to commit dine ddkatl, 
or ‘robbery by broad daylight.’ A Bengali bridegroom is often likened 
to a thief bar nd cor because the former has to put up patiently 
with all sorts of liberties which the female members of the bride’s 
family take with him on the day of his marriage, just as a thief, when 
caught, patiently suffers the maltreatment which he receives at the hands 
of his captors. Or this saying may refer to the form of marriage by 
capture prevailing in primitive communities, whereby a person has to 5 
steal or carry away by force a woman before he can marry her. The say¬ 
ing cor ke bale curl kar'te, grhastha ke bale sdbadhdn hate is often applied 
to a person who blows hot and cold in the same breath, that is to say, 
who tells a person to do a certain act with respect to another person, 
and, at the same time, tells the latter to beware of the former. 
