Routledge Revivals

Wit and Wisdom in Morocco

First published in 1930, this is the final of Edward Westermarck's

trilogy of titles that explore the society, culture and customs of Mor-
occo. Compiled from years of personal research and interviews con-
ducted with local people, this collection of native proverbs addresses
such cultural and ideological concepts as marriage and family, hospi-
tality, goodness and arrogance, as well as sayings relating to certain
periods, agriculture and weather. With a detailed introductory essay
from Westermarck, this is a fascinating work that will provide invalu-
able insight for students and those with a general interest in Moroccan
and North African history and anthropology.
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Wit and Wisdom in Morocco
A Study of Native Proverbs

Edward Westermarck
ROUTLEDGE

Routledge
R Taylor & Francis Group
EV S
IV AL
First published in 1930
by George Routledge & Sons
This edition first published in 2014 by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 1930 Edward Westermarck

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic! mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 31010905

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-72612-2 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-85611-7 (ebk)
 I dedicate this book to
SIR JAMES G. FRAZER,
as a token of my admiration for his genius and learning,
of my gratitude for all I have learned from him, and
of my affection for him as a friend.
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WIT AND WISDOM
IN MOROCCO
A Study of Native Proverbs

BY
EDWARD WESTERMARCK
Ph.D., Hon. LL.D. (Glasgow and Aberdeen)

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF

SHEREEF 'ABD-ES-SALAM EL-BAQQALI

LOXDOX
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE : 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.
1930
 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., HERTFORD.
 PREFACE
Tms book completes my trilogy on the customs and ideas
of the Moors, which is based on nine years' experience among
them in the course of more than three decades, the earlier parts
being Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco (1914) and Ritual and
Belief in Morocco (1926), published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co.
During all those years I have had as my constant companion
my Moorish friend Sheree£ 'Abd-es-Salam el-Baqqali, who has
rendered me invaluable assistance in many ways. For the
present work in particular I am also greatly indebted to the
Sheree£ Siyid el-J:Iaddj 'Abd-Allah el-Baqqali, a resident of
Tangier, and to the scribe Si 'Abd-es-Saliim ben A}_tmed ben
Sliman from Andjra.
I beg to express my sincere thanks to Miss Agnes Dawson
for kindly reading over the English text and improving its
style by various suggestions, as also to Professor Rolf Pipping
for stimulating discussions on certain points of a theoretical
character.
In the Introductory Essay I have embodied the main part
of the Frazer lecture on " The Study of Popular Sayings ",
. which was delivered by me on the invitation of the University
of Glasgow and formed at the same time one of the two Evening
Discourses at the British Association's meeting in 1928.
E.W.
VILLA TUSCULUM,
OUTSIDE TANGIER.
3rd July, 1950.

v
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 SYSTEM OF TRANSLITERATIPN
._) = b.
=t 8
, pronounced ts; or, when immediately preceding a
.._r, ..;, or if, and in Dukkala always, t. A doubled
.:_., = tts .
.:, = [,pronounced as th in thing.
(, =J, pronounced as the French j; or in Andjra often aj,
pronounced as the English j 1 ; or sometimes g, pro-
nounced as g in "grand". A doubled (_ = aaj or
(when resulting from an assimilation of the article)
d-aj, pronounced ddj ; see infra, p. 35.
c_=C. A doubled c = tc.
t=b
t=b .
.)=d.
= ff, pronounced as th in " this " .
.)=r.
j =Z.

<.)"= s.
..; = 8.2
if= f.
LJo = g..
= t.
1,
t=q.
'--'

'--'
.
"'-'=f.
1
= dj in the word "Andjra ". In Tangier this word is pronounced "Anjra ".
2
= th in some names in the English text. -
vii
viii SYSTEM OF TRANSLITERATION

...J = q; or sometimes g, pronounced as gin" grand".

d = k ; or h. pronounced approximately as ch in the German
ich, and representing a sound that is very frequent in
Andjra.
c..r = g, pronounced as gin" grand".
J= l.
i=m .
.:_.,=n .
• = h.
., when used as a consonant= w, pronounced as win "will".
i.$ when used as a consonant = y, pronounced as yin" yoke".
• (hamza) = ', indicating that there is a slight interruption
in the pronunciation of the two letters between which
it is placed.
The vowels in the transliterated text represent, at least
approximately, the following sounds:
a = the Italian a.
ii = a in "fat ".
g, = a sound between a and a.
a = a sound between a and o.
e = e in " met ".
e = a sound between e and i.
i = i in "this ".
o = o in" not".
o=the Germano.
u = u in "put".
·u =a sound between u and o.
The sign - over a vowel indicates that it is long ; ' that it is
long and accentuated ; " that it is very short ; ' that it is
accentuated.
 CONTENTS
PAGE

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY • 1
I

General characteristics of proverbs, p. 1 sq.-Proverbs

consisting of one or more assert.ive sentences, pp. 2-7.-
Proverbial statements as value-judgments, pp. 2-5.-
Proverbs expressing the consequences of events, pp. 3-5.-
Proverbs that consist of two ot more assertive sentences
expressing the same idea, p. 5.-Proverbs cont.aining two
or more assertive sentences that represent contrasting
ideas expressed by the parallelism of strongly contrasted
words (antithesis), pp. 5-7.-Provcrbs that consist of one
or more sentences conveying a command, advice, or warning,
expressed by an imperative, pp. 7-10.-Proverbs intrinsic-
ally conveying a command, advice, or warning without the
use of the imperative mood, p. 10 sq.-Assertive proverbs
serving as means of compulsion by being used as 'ar, which
intrinsically implies the transference of a conditional curse,
p. 11.-Proverbs containing an ordinary curse, an oath
confirming a promise, or a blessing, p. 11 sq.-Proverbs having
the form of a question, p. 12.-Proverbs having the form of
an exclamation, ibid.-Metaphor, pp. 12-15.-Personifica-
tion, pp. 13-15.-Animals figuring in proverbs, p. 15.-
Simile, p. 15 sq.-Hyperbole, p. 16 sq.-Irony, p. 17 sq.

II
Repetition of words, pp. 18-22.-Parallelism, p. 22.-Play
on words, p. 22 sq.-Rime, pp. 24-27.-Assonance, pp. 27-30.
-Alliteration, p. 30 sq.-Rhythm and pauses, p. 31 sq.-
The shortness of proverbs, p. 32 sq.

III
Differences between the spoken and the literary language,
pp. 33-41.-Changes of consonants in the colloquiallanguage,
pp. 34-38.-0mission of consonants in the pronunciation,
p. 38.-Doubling of consonants, p. 38 sq.-Shortening of long
vowels, p. 39.-Lengthening of short vowels, p. 39 sq.-The
variable length of a vowel in the pronunciation of the same
word, p. 40.-The variable quality of a vowel, p. 40 sq.-
Contractions of vowels belonging to contiguous words, p. 41.-
Differences between the dialect of Andjra and that of
Tangier, p. 41 sq.
ix
x CONTENTS

IV
Different schemes of classifying proverbs, p. 42 sq.-The
interpretation of proverbs, pp. 43-45.-Different methods of
studying proverbs, pp. 45-49.-The contents of proverbs as
a subject of sociological or psychological investigation,
pp. 48-5i.-Contradictory proverbs, pp. 49-51.-The
proverbs of the Moors in many respects reflections of their
Islamic culture, p. 51.-Proverbs can only throw rays of light,
never full light, upon national characteristics, and may very
frequently have to be interpreted in the light of knowledge
which they do not themselves supply, pp. 51-54.

v
The use that the Moors make of their proverbs, most of
which have always been expressive of feelings or opinions or
been intended to influence people's wills and actions,
pp. 54-63.-Their fondness of quoting proverbs in their talk,
p. 54 sq.-Proverbs expressing dissatisfaction, p. 55 sq.-
Proverbs giving hope or consolation, p. 56 sq.-Used as
means of censure, pp. 57-59.-As means of defence, p. 59 sq.
-As means of refusing a request, p. 61 sq.-Conducive to
goodwill and peace, p. 63.

CHAP. PAGE

I. WOMEN (pp. 65-68).-MARRIAGE (pp. 68-80) 65

II. LOVE (pp. 81-83).-SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
(pp.83-88) 81
III. THE FAMILY 89
IV. NEIGHBOURS (pp. 103-105).-FRIENDS (pp. 105-
113).-GooD AND BAD COMPANY (pp. 113-120) . 103
v. OFFICIALS 121
VI. CHRISTIANS (pp. 128-130).-JEws (p. 130 sq.).-
NEGROES (p. 131 sq.).-CERTAIN NATIVES OF
MOROCCO (pp. 132-135) 128
VII. TRAVELLING 136
VIII. WORK 142
IX. COMMERCE 166
X. WEALTH AND POVERTY 177
XI. BEGGING AND CHARITY 190
 CONTENTS x1

CRAP· PAGE
xn. HOSPITALITY . 207
:XIII. ROBBERY 216
XIV. RETRIBUTION AND FORGIVENESS 227
XV. GOODNESS (p. 236 sq.).-CARDINAL DUTIES
(p. 237 sq.).-PATIENCE (pp. 238-240).-
PROPRIETY (pp. 240-248).-COURAGE AND
FEAR(pp. 248-251) 236
XVI. WRONG-DOING (pp. 252-254).-GUILT AND
INNOCENCE (pp. 254-256).-BAD SPEECH
(pp. 257-263) 252
XVII. FALSEHOOD (pp. 264-271).-BOASTING AND
ARROGANCE (pp. 271-274).-lNGRATITUDE
(p. 274 sq.).-ENVY AND MALIGNANT Joy
{pp. 275-279).-VARIOUS VICES (pp. 279-281) 264
XVIII. PRUDENCE (pp. 282-289).-INTELLECTUAL
QUALITIES (pp. 289-294) 282
XIX. MISCELLANEOUS PROVERBS 295
XX. SAYINGS RELATING TO CERTAIN PERIODS,
AGRICULTURE, AND THE WEATHER 301
ARABIC TEXT OF THE PROVERBS 323
INDEX 429
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WIT AND WISDOM IN MOROCCO
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
I
WHAT is meant by a proverb ? A famous definition is that
which was given by James Howell in his book, Paroimiografia,
published in 1659: he said that the chief ingredients which
go to make a true proverb are "sense, shortness, and salt ". 1
He then omitted a most essential, and generally recognized,
characteristic of a proverb, namely, popularity, acceptance,
and adoption on the part of the people. But he was fully aware
of it; for he also says that "proverbs may be called the truest
franklins or free-holders of a country", being traditional sayings,
precepts, and memorandums handed over from one generation
to another. Of course, each of them must have had an author-
we cannot believe in the spontaneous generation of proverbs.
But, as Archbishop Trench observes in his little book on proverbs,
the author may only have clothed in happier form what others
had already felt and uttered. The proverb may have been" the
wit of one and the wisdom of many", as Lord Russell put it;
and its constitutive element is not the utterance on the part of
the one, but the acceptance on the part of the many, whose,.
sanction makes it a proverb. 2 The same may be said of the
accessions which the stock of popular proverbs in the course of
time has received from literary sources.
Another quality that has often been held essential to a proverb
is figurativeness. The Latin proverbium indicates a saying in
which a figurative expression is used in the place of the plain
Word-pro verbo-and there are other terms with a similar
1
James Howell, Paroirniografia, Proverbs, or, old Sayed Sawes and Adages
(London, 1659).
2
L R. C. Trench, Proverbs and their Lessons (edited by A. Smythe Palmer;
ondon, 1905), p. 15 sq.
1 B
2 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

meahing.1 But though some figure of speech may generally

be found in the most popular proverbs, there are many sayings
recognized as proverbs that contain no such ornament at all.
This is admitted by Aristotle, who says in one chapter of his
book on rhetoric that proverbs are "metaphors from species
to species ", 2 but elsewhere also speaks of maxims as proverbs. 3
On the other hand, there are few proverbs that do not in their
form, somehow or other, differ from ordinary speech. The
proverb contains some touch of fancy in the phrasing, it
personifies inanimate objects or abstract conceptions, it is
paradoxical, hyperbolic, pointed and pungent, pithy and
epigrammatical, or it makes use of the antithesis or parallelism,
or of rhythm, rime, alliteration, or puns. It is the form that
gives most proverbs their salt.
From these brief preliminary remarks I shall pass to a
discussion of the proverbs presented in this book. A large
number of them are sentences conveying a statement of a more
or less general character which is either literally or metaphorically
applicable to individual cases; but the statement of some
particular event, real or imaginary, may also be a proverb,
though only on condition that it may be figuratively applied
to other events reminiscent of it. Proverbs have become
proverbs only by being used in definite concrete situations.
For example, the assertions that there is a resemblance between
parents and children (p. 98 sqq.) are not proverbs in the mere
capacity of being theoretical truths; and the saying, " Muham-
med 1-Qaisi's descendants have been scattered" (441) would
not be a proverb if it were simply meant to represent a
historical fact.
The proverbial statements are expressive of all sorts of
observations, opinions, and feelings, but an instructive tendency
is common to most of them. 4 They are very often, either
See F. Seiler, Deutsche Sprichw6rterkunde (Miinchen, 1922), p. 5 sq.
1

Aristotle, Rhetorica, iii, 11, 14.

2 3 Ibid., i, 15, 14. Cf. ibid., ii, 21, 12.
Tn his excellent work, Deutsche Sprichw6rterkunde (p. 2), Seiler defines
4

proverbs as " im Volksmund nmlaufende, in sich geschlossene Spriiche van

!ehrhafter Tcndenz und gehobener Form ".
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 3

implicitly or explicitly, value-judgments. The proverb which

says that " the beauty of the man is in his intelligence, and the
intelligence of the woman is in her beauty" (3) is surely not
a mere statement of the opinion that intelligence is a characteristic
of men and beauty of women, but the essence of it is rather to
emphasize the intellectual inferiority of the latter. Other
proverbs are more directly derogatory to the female sex :
"Women are defective in understanding and religion" (1);
"Women have been omitted by God from his mercy" (2);
" When a woman becomes old, nothing remains in her but
poison and the colour of sulphur" (17). A typical form of
valuation is to say that one thing is better than another : "Work
for the sake of the children is better than pilgrimage and the
holy war " (17 4) ; " Learning is better than goods " (17 50) ;
"Propriety of behaviour is better than origin" (246) ; "A
strange grave is better than an empty bag" (517). Proverbs
of this type often make use of antithesis : " Your friend who
is near is better than your brother who is far away" (282) ;
" The tar of respect is better than the honey of quietness "
(1024); "The supposition of the wise man is better than the
certainty of the ignorant" (1747). In other cases, though less
frequent, one thing is said to be worse than another : " An old
woman is worse than the devil " (20) ; " Fright is worse than
a blow" (1428); "The wound caused by words is worse than
the wound of bodies" (1469).
A valuation is also implied in those very numerous proverbs
that speak of the consequences of certain events : " Obedience
to women makes one enter hell" (83) ; "A marriage without
children does not last long for men" (160) ; "Patience is the
key of all well-being" (1318). Such proverbs may consist of a
complex sentence with a subordinate clause that is either
relative, conditional, or temporal : " He who does not travel
will not know the value of men" (513) ; " He who has been
bitten by a snake starts at a rope " (1422) ; " If he increases the
number of his friends, he will remain without a friend" (343);
4 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

" If the face disappears, no respect is left for the nape of the
neck" (453); "When the cow falls down, the daggers are
many " (1163). Instead of the subordinate clause there may be
a second assertive sentence preceding the other one : " vVe
played with the dogs, in the morning they became our cousins "
(1439); "Eye does not see, heart does not suffer" (132) ; "I
went to hunt, they hunted me " (1257). Or there may be a
second sentence which has an imperative as its predicate ; and
if the imperative is affirmative the other sentence expresses
certain consequences of its observance : " Do good, you will
find good" (1225); "Live humbly, you will die old" (1483) ;
" Say no from the first, you will have rest" (1716). On the
other hand, if the imperative is negative, conveying a prohibition
or warning, the other sentence expresses consequences of its
non-observance: "Don't take a wife who has money, she will
treat you with arrogance and say to you, Fetch water" (37) ;
" Don't marry a tall woman, she will embarass you in regard
to clothes and drawers " (57) ; "Don't speak badly about
people, [if you do,] evil must overtake you or your children "
(1496). In all these instances the sentence beginning with an
imperative is, of course, by no means a mere substitute for a
conditional clause ; but there are cases in which it is nothing
else : " Boil the water, you will find the foam " (1185) ; " Plant
him, he will pull you up" (744); "Catch him [and] he will
make you sad, release him [and] he will annoy you" (198).
Sometimes the sentence containing an imperative is equivalent
to a concessive clause : "Feed him (i.e. although you feed him)
for a year, he will not give you dinner for a day" (624).
The consequences of events may also be expressed in proverbs
containing two sentences which are logically related to each
other in the same way as if they were joined together either
by " for " or by " hence " : " In work there is utility, it heals
the wounds" (570); "[OJ people, everything will satisfy you
except money, as much as you have so much [more] you want"
(890) ; "What has passed has died, it will be repeated no more "
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 5

(1396). Here again one of the sentences may be imperative:

" Go with people without [doing them] harm, he who opens
a door will have to close it himself" (1235) ; "Be upon your
guard against it before it happens, and if it happens you are
gone" (197); "Every one afar is a great deceiver, may he who
makes a friend make a friend of his neighbour" (542).
When a proverb contains two or more assertive sentences
they may express the same idea, one directly and the other or
others figuratively, or both or all figuratively: "An enemy will
not become a friend, and bran will not become flour" (353);
" People know people, and horses know their riders " (258) ;
"Honey is not fat, and besna (an inferior kind of sorghum)
is not food, and Shell;ta is not a language" (503); "Shaving
embellishes the face, and the turban embellishes the head "
(1307); "He who is dressed in other people's belongings is
naked, and he who is made satisfied by other people's belongings
is hungry" (1061) ; "Only your own foot makes you go, and
only your own nail scratches you, and only your own eyelash
weeps for you" (214). Much more frequently, however, the
different sentences represent ideas which are not only different,
but distinctly opposite to each other. Indeed, the predilection
for the antithesis, or contrast of ideas expressed by the parallelism
of strongly contrasted words, is one of the main characteristics
of our proverbs.
The strongly contrasted words may be restricted to the predi-
cates of the sentences. These may be contradictories : " The
white hair lies, and the wrinkles do not lie " (51) ; " He who
rises gets tired, and the open mouth does not get tired" (625);
"I know you, and my horse does not know you" (1043). Or
the predicates may be merely contraries, even though they may
be popularly looked upon as contradictories : " The cunning of
women is strong, and the cunning of the devil is weak " (12) ;
" The funeral is great, and the dead one is a mouse " (1830) ;
" One day is in favour of you, and another day against you "
(1797) ; " The beggar begs, and his wife gives alms " (945).
6 INTHODUCTORY ESSAY

In such cases the sentences may have the same subject: " The
camel does not see his own hmnp, he sees only the hump of his
brother " (1510) ; " He who has a big appetite takes it all or
leaves it all" (766); "He lived [and] acquired nothing, he died
[and] left nothing" (179).
It may also be that the contrasted words arc restricted to the
subjects of the sentences : " He who keeps his faith is a bringer
of profit, and the faithless one is disgraced " (1556) ; " He who
loves you wearies you, he who hates you kills you" (435). In
such cases the predicates may be identical: "Much of it makes
one blind, and little of it makes one blind" (121); " The
afiliction does not last, nor will the enjoyment last" (1801).
Here the antithesis is purely formal.
Much more frequently the contrasted words include both the
subjects or their attributes and the predicates. The latter are
sometimes contradictories : " He who has been broken by his
parents will not be repaired by the saints, and he who has been
broken by the saints will be repaired by his parents" (204);
" The empty river will not take you away, and the full one will
not leave you" (1421). But generally the predicates are, like
the subjects, contraries:" Slowness comes from Godand quickness
from the devil" (1325); "The unlucky one is [always] unlucky,
and the lucky one is [always] well" (1685); "Every one who
ascends will descend, and every one who descends will ascend "
(1799); "He who hates you will speak badly about you, and
he who loves you will wish you good" (1499); "The words of
an enemy make one laugh, and the words of a friend make one
weep" (308); "The heart of the fool is in his mouth, and the
mouth of the wise man is in his heart " (1776). Sometimes the
contrasted words arc both the predicates and the objects of the
sentences : " That which you like you will not find, and that
which you do not like you will find" (1790). Or they may be
the predicates and some adverbials: "He eats with the jackal
and weeps with the shepherd" (1168) ; "A man killed a lion in
the wilds, and a man was killed by a mouse in the house" (1585).
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 7

If the proverb consists of two complex sentences there may be

antithesis between corresponding parts of the subordinate clauses
as well as of the principal ones : " As soon as the woman slave
of the judge dies, all the people go [with her to the grave], and
as soon as the judge dies, no one goes with him" (454) ; "If a
rich man asks for children dollars come to him, and if a poor
roan asks for dollars children come to him" (168); "If a wealthy
roan steals they say that he forgot, and if a poor man forgets
they say that he stole " (866).
In proverbs containing two co-ordinate statements one of
them has sometimes the significance of a concessivc clause :
" Riding on the donkey, and he seeks for him " (1816) ; " We
taught them and had trouble with them" (1612) ; "A butcher,
and he sups on intestines" (955); "The work is the black
woman's, and the fame belongs to her mistress" (419); "He
remained fasting for a year and breakfasted on snails" (24) ;
" [She is] foolish, and they said to her, Trill the zgar"it" (13).
Besides proverbs consisting of one or more assertive sentences
there is another large group of proverbs, consisting of one or
more sentences conveying a command, advice, or warning,
expressed by an imperative. If there are two or more imperatives,
both or all may be affirmative, or both or all negative, or one
affirmative and another negative. I shall consider these different
classes separately and begin with the first.
The affirmative imperatives may express alternatives : " Do
as your neighbour does, or move from him" (525) ; "Believe
him or leave him" (806); "Despise him who despises you,
or throw him away from you" (1253). They may be co-ordinate
injunctions referring to the same situation: " Give your mitzfma,
and await your turn" (769); "If you meet a jackal in the
morning, go back and sleep and say, 0 Approver, save me from
the omen of the jackal " (1687). Such injunctions may also
occur in pairs in the same proverb: "Try him and bring him
near, try him and put him to flight" (702); "Stretch out your
hand and follow it, draw it in and sit close to it" (1042). The
8 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

imperative sentences may be parallel injunctions referring to

different situations : " Know how to meet, and know how to
part" (760); "Give it for the sake 0£ God, and give it [even]
to him who does not believe in God" (994); "May a friend not
be covetous, and may a neighbour not let [his neighbour]
starve" (264). In such cases each imperative may be preceded
by a conditional clause : " l£ they get up, get up with them,
and if they sit, sit with them " (593) ; " If you see, say that
you did not see, and if you find, say thitt you did not find"
(1706) ; " If you have much give from your wealth, and if you
have little give from your heart" (1045). The imperative
sentences may be contrasting injunctions referring to different
situations : " Face your friend, and turn your side to your
enemy " (307) ; " Lend him at the opening of the fence, catch
him in the open yard" (1078) ; "Settle accounts with me as if
I were your enemy, and entertain me as your brother" (348).
And here again each imperative may be preceded by a conditional
clause : " If men swear to do you harm spend your night
sleeping, and if women swear to do you harm spend your night
awake" (5) ; "If you are a peg endure the knocking, and if
you are a mallet strike " (719); "If he is hard upon you
be hard upon him, and if he is fond of you be fond of him "
(1248). One of the two imperative sentences in a proverb may
have the meaning of a conditional clause subordinate to the
other: "Repose trust [in God], and sleep with a snake" (1221);
"Speak to me kindly, and eat me" (731). One of the sentences
may express the motive for the other: " Shut up the house,
and have mercy upon the carpenter" (1143). Sometimes one
of them has a concessive meaning : " Marry a woman of noble
origin, and sleep on a mat" (35).
Much less frequent than proverbs that contain only affirmative
imperatives are those that contain only negative ones: "Don't
teach your daughter the signs [of beauty], and don't lodge her
in the loft" (190) ; "Don't belittle him who is not small, don't
magnify him who is not great" (1457); "Don't swear, don't
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 9

rnake [anybody] swear, don't be present when anybody swears"

(1571). One of the imperatives may merely serve as a figurative
illustration of the other: "Don't put the breast-harness [on
your horse] until you bridle [him], and don't speak until you
think" (1777).
The proverbs that contain two imperative sentences one of
which is affirmative and the other one negative are very numerous.
The two sentences may actually mean the same thing: "Don't
:make your dog satisfied, leave him hungry, he will follow you"
(634); "Leave your brother with his reputation, don't disgrace
him before the sons of his quarter" (1487). The equivalent
sentences may also be figurative : " Make a strong knot, don't
be careless, or you will be disgraced" (653) ; "Run in the
morning, don't louse yourself in the morning" (637). In other
cases the affirmative sentence enjoins an alternative mode of
conduct which strongly contrasts with the prohibited one :
" Associate with him who is better than you, don't associate
with him who is inferior to you " (357) ; " Follow people in
good, and don't follow them in evil" (411); "Sow wheat, don't
sow thorns " (1338). But all emphasis may also be laid on the
prohibition, while the other sentence, in spite of its formally
imperative character, only contrasts with the forbidden thing a
course of conduct to which no objection can be made: "Beg of
[good] people, and don't accept a favour of the niggard" (1055);
"Consult them, don't follow their advice " (1728) ; " Com-
pete, don't envy" (1620). The emphasis laid on the prohibition
becomes particularly strong when the other sentence also
expresses something that is objectionable, though less so than
the forbidden act : " Sell the new garment, and don't give up
the old one" (341); "Bear him unlucky, don't bear him lazy"
(621); "Be a lion and eat me, don't be a dog and worry me"
(446). In such cases the whole proverb with its two imperatives
may be rendered by a statement in which one course of conduct
is said to be " better " than the other : " To make friends with
a wild beast is better than to make friends with an inquisitive
10 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

person" (1708). In some proverbs the two sentences are

connected in such a manner that the negative one gives the
motive for the positive injunction: " When you travel, travel
with provisions, don't apply to anybody [for food] " (521) ;
" Buy and cook, don't eat at the market, even though it is
given for nothing" (1683) ; "Don't trust him whose grave is
new, 'leave his head and come to his feet" (1694) ; "Don't meet
[as the first person] in the morning one with reddish hair, [if
you do,] go back and sleep that day" (1688). A proverb may
contain two pairs of imperative sentences, of which one is
affirmative and the other negative : " Sleep in the beds of
Christians [but] don't eat their food, cat the food of J cws [but]
don't sleep in their beds" (467).
The tendency to shortness which characterizes proverbs
may lead to the suppression of the imperative in the beginning
of a command : " A hand for the sake of God that the load
may be lifted [on to the pack-animal]" (31); "The crate, may
God spare me the grapes" (1367) ; " Compliance with destiny "
(1335). But the largest number of proverbs intrinsically con-
veying a command, advice, or warning without the use of the
imperative mood consist of sentences that have the form of an
assertion. One of the chief aims of proverbs is to influence
people's conduct, and for this purpose a statement may be as
effective as a command, and at the same time more polite.
There is not much difference between the proverbs " Marry a
young woman, even though you will eat bread made without
yeast" (47), and," He who marries a young woman gets welfare
and a treasure" (46); and between the proverbs," Don't marry
an old woman, even though you will eat with her young pigeons
and lamb's meat" (48), and, "He who has an old woman [for
wife] has a plague" (49). The same proverb may even, from.
the formal point of view, owing to the poverty of language, be
either a statement or a comm.and. Thus the proverbs which
I have translated" A friend should not flee in adversity nor stay
away" (295), and "A friend should not absent himself in [the
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 11

time of] hunger" (296), might also mean, "A friend does not
flee in adversity nor stay away," and, "A friend does not absent
himself in [the time of] hunger."
But a proverbial sentence of assertion may not only take the
place of a command: it may even serve as a means of com-
pulsion by being used as 'ar, that is, an act which intrinsically
implies the transference of a conditional curse for the purpose
of compelling somebody to grant a request. 1 Sayings of this
kind are: "May the 'ar of a neighbour be on his neighbour,
and may the good man's 'ar not pass by" (270); "Only he
who is very patient attends to the 'ar" (1281). But the word 'ar
need not be mentioned at all : " I complain of him to the great
Sultan, the judge who has no vizier " (1455). When a person
has committed an offence against another, a third party very
frequently intervenes on behalf of the culprit by casting 'ar on
the offended person in order to appease him ; and in such cases
the following proverbs may be used: "A full-sized garment
does not call to account " (if the offended party is a highbred
man ; 1282) ; " Beat the dog, and respect him for the sake of
his master" (if the offender is a man of family; 1283). When
a man is in love with a woman who has not yielded to his advances,
he may try to coerce her by saying, likewise as a kind or 'ifr:
"In front of your house I weep and let my tears drop" (107).
There are also ordinary, unconditional curses among the
proverbs : " May God curse him who trusts neither enemy nor
friend" (330); "May God close the door for him who has only
one " (717) ; " The curse of God be on the golden cup, if there
is bile in it" (736). Others have an optative form without
containing an invocation of God : " May that which a woman
neighbour wishes her woman neighbour fall on her own belly
in the morning " (277) ; " May he not grow old, may he pass
away young " (1359). But there are also proverbial curses that
lack the form of a wish : " I left to you the food and neighbour-
ship " (269) ; " There remains no baralca in the wheat for lack
1 See E. Westermarck, Ritual and Belief in Morocco, i (London, 1926),
p. 518 sqq.
12 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

of good faith and deceit " (1178). A proverb may contain an

oath confirming a promise: "May he who does it again scratch
my face" (701); "My feet have done it to me, and if I do
it again, may you do it again to me" (400). Various proverbs
contain blessings: "May God be with you, 0 stranger" (544);
"May God betray the betrayer, and may God increase the good
of him who is good" (1557).
Not a few proverbs have taken the form of a question. In
most of them the question has the significance of a negative
statement containing the expected answer to the question : " Is
shame seen in the face of an oven-boy" (1346) ? "What is
death going to take from an empty house " (1056) ? " Who
look at you, 0 woman with blackened eyes, in the dark " ?
(1613); "The sun rises and sets, and if a brother dies, where
will you find [another one]" (210) ? The question may be
ironical, ridiculing the eventual answer " nothing " : " By what
did the stork live until the locusts came" (1591); "What has
the bald woman to feed on" (1593) ? Certain questions point
out the unreasonableness of a particular mode of behaviour:
"What took you to the bees till you got into a scrape" (390) ?
" What makes you count a month for which you receive no hire"
(594) ? "The life has its fixed limit, and why the fear" (1153) ?
There are jocular or sarcastic proverbs containing both a question
and its answer : " From where comes the splinter ? From the
little piece of wood " (130) ; " What do you want, 0 naked one ?
He said to him, Rings, 0 my lord" (929); "He said to him,
How do you know God ? He said to him, By the change of the
hours" (1766). Sarcastic proverbs may also have the form of
an exclamation: "0 how beautiful is the hoe in the hand of other
people" (677); "What a pity that the Jew has his eyes"
(202) ; " 0 doctor for others, 0 he who is at a loss with regard
to himself" (1765).
As appears from numerous examples quoted above, our
proverbs, like proverbs generally, have a strong tendency to
make use of figurative language. They abound in metaphors.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 13

This figure may be restricted to what is said of the subject,

which is itself used in its literal sense : " Your neighbour is
your saw " (said of a bad neighbour; 272) ; " The wealthy
man's speech is pure silver, and the poor one's is coated with
dung" (869); "When the Jew is destitute, he remembers
his father's buttons " (i.e. his father's old friends ; 972). The
metaphor may be restricted to the subject: " Only copper
returns, and silver does not return" (i.e. he who does not return
from the pilgrimage to Mecca, but dies during it, is particularly
blessed; 1315) ; "If a man has no trouble, his she-ass (i.e. his
wife) will cause it to him" (89); "The falcon (i.e. a guest)
praises his lodging" (1115). In the following proverb there
is a curious inversion of words, the metaphors being formally
subjects but logically complements of the predicates : " The
falcon (representing bravery) is a man from the Bni Messara,
and the tame pigeon (representing timidity) is a woman from
the JJmas" (506).
Most frequently, however, the whole sentence is a metaphorical
expression of the idea for which it stands. A few other instances
of this may be added to those given before: "He who is riding
on a camel is not afraid lest the dogs should bite him " (257) ;
"Every lion is roaring in his own forest" (528) ; " There is no
rest below the top of the hill " (he who commences a task should
go on with it until it is finished; 659); "The fire leaves only
ashes, and the rain leaves only roses" (children will be like their
parents ; 232) ; " Go across the murmuring stream, don't go
across the silent one" (trust a rash and noisy person rather than
a quiet and silent one; 1710).
The metaphor may be a personification of something which
is directly, not figuratively, expressed by the subject of the
proverb, as will be seen in some instances quoted below ; but
more frequently personifications are found in proverbs that
are metaphorical throughout. Action, speech, or feeling is
ascribed to inanimate objects and abstract conceptions: "The
nails of the table are watching the place where the people are
14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

sitting " (1125) ; " The lump of dry dung is seeking her sister
for forty days" (409); "The pumpkin gives birth, and the
fence has the trouble" (207) ; "A curse without causes does
not pass through the door" (1493); "When the understanding
travels, there is no courier like it" (17 44) ; " The water said,
I [was] in the sky [and] fell down and stayed on earth and
burned myself with the wood I made alive" (1611); "Every-
thing which you find you should keep until time says to you,
Give it" (951); "The almond-trees lie, and the apricots speak
the truth" (1182); "The net scolds the sieve" (1467); "The
joke swore that she would become enmity" (1631); "The
granary covets the corn sack" (1005) ; " The work of the
night is a wonder to the day" (643); "The sky takes no notice
of the barking of dogs" (1463) ; "The oil-lamp gives light to
the people and burns itself" (1201). Things or abstractions
are addressed as persons: "Now I shall water you, 0 cummin-
plant" (1080); " I shall not eat you, 0 my supper, I shall not
give you to my enemies" (113); "Beat me, 0 my pieces of
bread, and they are in my bosom" (1608) ; " Work, 0 my youth,
for my old age " (579). Things thus addressed may also give
answers to the questions put to them : " They said to the baking-
oven, How did the fire enter you ? She said, Through my
mouth" (1515); "What are you like, 0 twig? She said, Like that
plant " (241) ; " Who is your enemy ? The bean said to him,
He who is with me in the skin-sack " (1200). Bodily organs are
directly or indirectly attributed to inanimate things or abstract
conceptions : " She (representing a sum of money) raised her
eye to me, how beautiful, with a smile" (924); "The day has
its eyes, and the night has its ears " (1542) ; "A benefit returns
with stomach-ache" (1082). Abstractions are personified as
human beings or represented as standing in human relationship
to each other : " Hunger is a Christian, and the killer [of it]
is a Moslem" (460); "Abundance is a friendly fellow, he is
loved by big and small" (833); "Haste is the sister of
repentance" (1323). Parts of the body are spoken to, or otherwise
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 15

dealt with, as if they were persons : " 0 my head, 0 stranger,

there remains in the world no friend" (331); "0 my head,
work and go away, lest you have to weep and wail" (368);
"O my head, give alms and be merciful, where are the people of
yore" (1035) ; "When I need you, 0 my face, the cats have
scratched you" (302) ; " 0 my heart, have no affection for
him who has no pity on you" (1251) ; " There you are, 0
stomach of the poor one " (780) ; " The feet betrayed me, until
I met with misfortune" (401); "The foot said to the pubes,
I am in the cold and you are in the warmth" (223). Sometimes
abstractions are represented as animals : " Truth is a lion, ·
and lies are a hyena " (1521) ; " Lies are a stinking dead
worm, and truth is a clean thing " (1522) ; " Theft is a worm,
it does not die either by abuse or by a hatchet" (1209).
More frequently animals figure in the proverbs, not as a meta-
phorical complement to the predicate, but as the subject of a
sentence : " There remained among the birds no Moslem, even
the sparrow-hawk was said to be a Christian" (1489); "The
fantail-warbler cuts the sinew of the camel's ham " (1825). In
most cases the animal is represented as saying something:
"The high-bred horse says, Feed me as your brother and ride
on me as your enemy " (738) ; " The cat said, I shall not miss
the mouse, even though he enters a hundred houses" (610);
" The mouse said, I will not make the cat my friend, even if
he makes himself wings and is going to flap" (323); "The bird
in the sky says, Livelihood is secured [by God] and why the
toil " (644) ? " The snake said in her speech, Burning by fire
is better than leaving the nest" (549). Other sayings are
attributed to the mare (176), the lion (1539), the jackal (790),
the ring-dove (372), and the fish (234); and there is a dialogue
between a snake and a hedgehog (1823). At least some of these
proverbs arc connected with tales about animals.
Related to the metaphor is the simile : both are tropes based
on likeness or resemblance. But while the metaphor is the
application of a name or descriptive term to an object to which
16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

it is not literally applicable, the simile is the introduction of

an object or scene or action with which the one in question is
professedly compared, not identified, and usually connected by
a comparative conjunction such as " as ". At the same time
it is unlike an ordinary comparison in this, that the things
compared differ in kind, and attention is called to some
resemblance that they possess in spite of the difference. The
simile is also frequent in the proverbs, though not so frequent
as the metaphor, which has the advantage of being shorter
and less explicit-a condensed simile in fact: "A man without
children is like a horse without a tether" (159) ; "He who swears
in good faith is like him who visits a shrine" (1573) ; "A horse-
man without arms is like a bird without wings " (1827) ; " By
God and run fast as the dog runs fast barefoot, [yet] you will
receive nothing but that which God has destined for you" (650).
A trope that is particularly congenial to the nature of proverbs
is the hyperbole, that is, an exaggerated statement not meant
to be taken literally. It conduces to shortness, definiteness,
and impressiveness ; and proverbs are essentially sparing of
words, categorical in their pronouncements, forcible in their
expressions. They avoid modifying adverbs, like often, some-
times, seldom, mostly, scarcely ; they state as a universal truth
what is true on the whole or even what is true in exceptional
cases ; and they exaggerate not only the frequency of events
but their quality and, generally, anything they are intended
to express. In doing so they make use of the hyperbole. The
following sayings may serve as instances in addition to others
already quoted, especially in connection with those that contain
an antithesis-a form of thought which finds its most forcible
mode of expression in the hyperbole : " Everybody who is
respected will be despised " (452) ; " Wine is the key of all
evil" (1653); "I£ people have eaten [with you] they betray
you, and if a dog has eaten [with you] he loves you" (1128);
" What the devil does in a year an old woman does in an hour "
(21); "The death is nearer than the twinkling of the eye" (957);
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 17

"The Rifian kills his brother for the sake of an onion" (502) ;
" His size is the size of a bean and his sound the sound of a
gkla" (1580) ; "A hundred drunkards are better than one
gambler" (1655); "A hundred and one knocks [at the door]
are better than one 'Peace be with you' " (1692). There are
rnany proverbs containing hyperboles of the following type :
"Everything is rubbish except wheat and wool" (918); "Every-
thing you plant will be useful to you except a human being, if
you plant him he will root you up " (7 45) ; " Everything is
useful, except that lies and slander bring no profit" (1531) ;
"Nobody is really a man but he who is with other men" (1582).
In these cases the object of the hyperbole is to emphasize the
exception ; whereas in the following proverb the exception
serves to bring the hyperbolic statement into strong relief:
"Nobody is like his father except the jackal with his howl"
(614).
Another trope implying a statement that is not meant to
be taken literally is irony. But while the hyperbole gives vigour
and intensity to the expression by exaggeration, irony does so
by making use of language that in its literal sense is opposite
to the meaning attached to it ; and while the hyperbole is serious
in its purpose-though it may itself unintentionally become
an object of ridicule by degenerating into rant-derision is the
very essence of irony. Our proverbs contain various instances
of this trope : " There is no witness but that of a person from
Marraksh" (who is reputed to be a liar; 499) ; "My lady is
beautiful, and the splendour of the hot bath increased her
beauty" (allusion to an ugly woman who goes to the hot bath
to improve her appearance; 672); "Dress up the little piece of
wood, it will become pretty " (said of an ugly woman who wears
a fine dress ; 118) ; " The girls have supped on starlings "
(which are considered delicious food but are mentioned to
convey the idea of something opposite ; 818) ; " If you see your
brother's beard being shaved, put yours into the shaving-cup"
(said, for example, by a robber who ran away when the sheikh
c
18 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

confiscated his companion's property; 1157) ; " Trust him and

pray behind him" (meaning that you should not trust a person
even though he be the imam behind whom the people pray;
1538); "Generous, except with regard to his own field" (said
when a person who has been invited to a wedding takes with
him several uninvited guests; 1101). Irony often expresses
simulated adoption of another's point of view for the purpose
of ridicule, as in the following instances : " Get what you want,
may God curse your female neighbour" (said of a person who
speaks badly of another who has done him a favour; 1503);
"Get up, 0 my mother, [from the place] where my wife is to
sit" (said by a poor man who is the guest at a feast and is told
by the host to get up and give place to a wealthy man who comes
there ; 875) ; "Will you eat anything, 0 sick one ? " (said to a
person who, instead of supplying his guests with food, asks them
if they want any; 1092); "Decrease the beard and increase
the moustache " (said by a poor man to a rich one who in buying
something from him wants him to give a larger quantity than he
pays for; 809) ; " [I shall have to wait] till the raven becomes
white and the donkey climbs a ladder and the salt blossoms "
(said to a person who has promised another to give him some-
thing, but when reminded of it only makes excuses ; 1565).

II
From tropes, which deal with the expressions themselves, we
come to figures that deal with their relations and arrangement.
Among these are the figures of repetition, which abound in our
proverbs. The repetition of words presents many varieties.
It may be immediate: Z-zra' iefor irJ,or u y¢rjq' ne t-t"6qba de
r-rif "The wheat turns round, turns round and comes back to the
hole of the mill" (551); Urrih urrih w ida 'ma !Jallik, "Show him
show him, and if he is blind let him alone" (1720) ; L-mdsi
r-rif r-rif kun 'qlq bal kun t-t"!Jlif, "Wanderer, a trench a trench,
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 19
be careful with your walking" (558) ; 1)-ij,aif ij,aif dlu yijq'ud
s&swa au §aif, " The guest [is a] guest, even if he stays a winter
or a summer" (1120) ; Qd§§t 8ijk qd§§a wij 0dit 8ek (lditS, "Your
tale [is a] tale, and your talk [is] talk" (1511). In other cases
the identical words, though belonging to the same sentence, are
separated from each other by one or more words : La zein illa
zein l-jq,'l, " There is no beauty but the beauty of action " (34) ;
Uldd 'abd l-wrJ)if}d kullum beauty " The sons of the slave of the
One (i.e. God) are all one" (236); lf ddern walUd a0sen rrifn
h6rra gair walUd, "A fertile negress is better (as a wife) than a
words,woman who is not fertile" (61); Ma ya'raf b !ial l-1n?skin
ger l-1n?skin, "Nobody knows the condition of a poor man but
a poor man" (1036). In such cases the identical words are often
the first and the last word of the same metrical unit or sentence :
Ndsek hUmq, ndsek dlu ikgrhUk t'ejbarhurn f bdsek, '' Your people
are your people ; even though they hate you, you will find them
in your evil" (228); L-Miri be l-Miri u l-bddi akram, "Good for
good, and he who begins is more generous" (1227); Mel'oq
ben mel'oq li l-Miri l-mef/,bO', "Unlucky, son of an unlucky one,
is he who follows a fool" (412) ; Mu§iba kq,dj6rr mu§iba,
"Misfortune draws misfortune in its train" (1436) ; S£.ffar t#
'ala 8£.ffar, " Thief fell in with thief " (1549); lfut 8a kq,t• !Jannez
8-Swdri de 0aqqu, "One fish makes the pannier of fish stink"
(396). The predicate of a subordinate clause may be repeated
as predicate in the principal clause of the same complex sentence,
or vice versa: Li gab gab 0aqqu, "If a person is away, his right is
away " (550) ; Li '4rnluh n'grnluh m'ahurn, " What they do
we should do with them" (1675); Idq, t"abbi 'abbi l-m?skina
dlu djib la ger l-Mbza u s-serdina, "When you take a wife take a
poor one, even though you bring her only a loaf of bread and a
sardine [she will be content]" (36); Ida dd!Jlet 8 r-ra(l0a dd!Jlet 8
8-84Ma, "If rest enters, avarice enters" (1051); 'Jrnel mg,
'mel jarak au r0al 'annu, "Do what your neighbour does, or
lUove away from him" (1676). Or the principal and the sub-
ordinate clause may end with the same word : Md iji l-0bib
20 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

yer(Jab fiya !iatt 8a ikun l-hamm jat8 fiya, " The friend will not
come and intercede for me, until the evil has overtaken and
left me" (309); Ida b(Jit 8i t8enja m¢nnum gles fi5q mf,nnum,
"If you want to escape them, seat yourself above them" (369);
'A!? l-ma dlu t 8kun 'all-ma, "Give water, even though you are
close to water" (999).
If a proverb contains two sentences, a word that occurs in the
first one may be repeated in the second: 'f'-tma' ta'un u Ha'un
kaydqt•el, " Cupidity is a plague, and the plague kills " (895) ;
Z-zein 'f'f,lg, d-defla u d-dijla mhra, "Beauty is on the oleander,
and the oleander is bitter " (117) ; Ifol b sauht 8 ek u lbes b sahwut8
n-nas, " Eat according to your own taste, and dress according
to the taste of others " (794) ; Y f?,'la r-rajel 'fy,att 8 a yf?,'la wii lg,
yf?,'la 'la "!Jl;t 3u u bni 'ammu, "A man may rise ever so high, he
will not rise above his brothers and his father's brother's sons"
(252). There may be two pairs of short sentences in a proverb,
each of which contains an iteration of this kind: Mekkel li
nmekkel lek qta' li nf'f,qta' lg,k, " Give to me I shall give to you,
cut me I shall cut you" (822). In a proverb containing two or
more sentences each of them may begin with the same word
(not counting particles), which may be either the subject or the
predicate of the sentence : Swai n ritbbi u swai n qalbi, " A little
for God and a little for my own heart" (1016); Sel'dts l-"!J,§dra
wii lg, si!l'dt 8 l-qammara, " Goods bought at a loss, and not
goods bought from gamblers" (1659); J}§art• l-mal wii la "!J,§art
§-§aMb, " The loss of goods, and not the loss of a friend "
(303); S-si mfn S-Si nzdha u S-Si mfn qallet S-Si sjdha, " [To spend]
something out of something is enjoyment, and [to spend]
something out of little is shamelessness " (938) ; J at S-St 3a
jat 8 le-ryd'fy, jat 8 l-hmum kt 8 ira, " Rain came, winds came, a lot
of troubles came " (882) ; Kaisuf r-rbe' mg, isuf l-Mfa, " He sees
the grass, he does not see the precipice" (1614); '4zz rfJhgk
i'<jzzuk n-nas, "Respect yourself, others will respect you"
(1677). There may be two pairs of short sentences in which
the first word of each pair is the same : J arrbU u qarrbU jarrbu
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 21

il Mrrbu, " Try him and bring him near, try him and put him
to flight " (702). In many cases two sentences in the same
proverb ends with the same word : L-qo?t sentences w'l2 lfarr
ylll}t 8all, " The cat uses cunning, and the mouse uses cunning "
(1155) ; '6mmru y¢bra u klijm l-'aib '6mmru 'fl'lq, y¢bra, "The
wound will heal, and shameful talk will never heal" (1498) ;
'6mmru 'alih y¢bra 'alih, "Greet him, seize him" (962) ; Li
b.illqii Mwa y¢bra 'alih u l-'abd ma 'andi/, juhd 'alih, "He who
created him will take pity on him, and the servant [of God] has
no power over him" (1270). The sentences that end with the
same word may both be complex sentences : Li t 8MbbU 'fl'lq,
ijik u lli t 8 kijrhU kull yaum ijik, "He whom you love does not
come to you, and he whom you hate comes to you every day "
(301) ; L-'abd idg, jad ni?n qallet• MsbU w ida bfl,g,l hddak MsbU,
" If the negro is generous it does not belong to his nature, and if
he is stingy, that is his nature" (484); Li kwa n-nas hddak
allah u lli kijrhU n-nas hddak lliih, " He who burns the skin of
others will have his own skin burned by God, and he who makes
others happy will be made happy by God" (1210); Ida qamu
qum m'ahum w ida kijrhU gles m'ahum, "If they get up, get up
with them, and if they sit, sit with them" (593). In the two
last-mentioned proverbs there is not only iteration of the last
word of the first sentence at the end of the second one, but there
is also in each principal clause iteration of the predicate of the
clause subordinate to it.
The repetition: of words is a either of securing emphasis.
It may do so either directly or indirectly. On the one hand it
lays stress on similarities, as in the proverb, "The cat uses
cunning, and the mouse uses cunning" (1155); on the other
hand it. may help to throw contrasts into stronger relief, as in
the proverb, " The cunning of women is strong, and the cunning
of the devil is weak" (12). It is obvious that the contrasted
Words stand out most prominently against a harmonious back-
ground; hence the frequent connection of iteration with antithesis. 1
1
Cf. R. Pipping, Iiommentar till Erikskr6nikan (Helsingfors, 1926), p. 752.
22 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
Both the repetition of words and the use of antithetic words
give strength to the parallelism of successive sentences, which
is one of the most conspicuous features of our proverbs. This
parallelism shows itself in a relation of either similarity or
contrast between the general contents of the passages and
between the position and meaning of corresponding parts. There
may be parallelism not only between sentences, simple or complex,
but also between the principal and the subordinate clause of
the same sentence, as appears from several examples quoted
above to illustrate other peculiarities of the proverbs. We have
further met with cases of parallelism in which parts of one
repeated or clause are repeated in reversed order in the other,
as in the proverbs : " The beauty of the man is in his intelligence,
and the intelligence of the woman is in her beauty" (3) ; "The
heart of the fool is in his mouth, and the mouth of the wise man
is in his heart " (1776) ; " If a rich man asks for children dollars
come to him, and if a poor man asks for dollars children come
to him" (168) ; " If a wealthy man steals they say that he
forgot, and if a poor man forgets they say that he stole " (866).
This is a particularly impressive way of formulating an
antithesis.
A particular kind of iteration, not exclusively of a formal
character, is the play on words, when it consists in using words
of the same sound with different meanings : D-din kiiihdddem
d-din, "A debt (if left unpaid) demolishes religion" (1062) ;
L-'abd ida mg, yijkul si impressive l-(ig,dd ne l-(ig,dd kiiiqftl mg,
b(i9;lu {lg,dd, "If the negro does not taste the stick Sunday after
Sunday, he says that there is nobody like him" (483); N-nsa
nsghum allah{lg,dd, r(iamt"u, "Women have been omitted by God
from his mercy" (play on the words nsa, "women," and nsa,
which means "he forgot", "he omitted"; 2). 1 More often
there is some slight difference in the sounds of the words : R-rjel
qal ne l-'gna qna R l-berd u nt 8in R s-s"/}ana, "The foot said to
the pubes, I am in the cold and you are in the warmth" ('gna
1 Cf. W. l\far9ais, Textes arabes de Tanger (Paris, 1911), p. 172, n.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 23

J1leaning "pubes" and ina "I " ; 223); La tt'eq b wuld l-'4ma
dlit ikun 'd,ma, " Don't trust the son of a negro wife (legal
concubine), even though he is blind" ('qma meaning "negro
wife" and 'gma "blind" ; 485) ; R-rdzza bla W;yajarrajqallet 8
jarraj "A turban without a beard comes from lack of modesty"
(1345); 'Ammgk yr)/mik it !Jalgk yd,!Jlik u ba"adjarraj dlmmek
lq y¢blik, "Your father's brother will make you blind, and your
mother's brother will make you destitute, and keep away from
your blood, [then] it will not afflict you" (45); Li y¢bda
l-wulda l-lUliya be ljarj jarraj allah 'alih, "He whose first child
is one with a vulva was gladdened by God " (jarj meaning
"vulva", and farraj "he gladdened"; 163); La t8dmen R
blad l-'dman "Don't trust [even] a country of safety" (541);
Men bga yf[slem mg; farraj m?slem, "He who wants to remain
safe and sound should not associate with a [wicked] Moslem "
(386); Li #rrqak b !Jai? rj,drrqu nt•in b "f:iait, "He who shelters
himself from you with a thread, shelter yourself from him with
a wall" (321) ; 'Ammar lu nt•in yf!nsa li ljdlqu, "Fill his throat,
he will forget him who created him" (1606). In the following
proverb there is a pun consisting of the humorous use of one
word to suggest different meanings: Idq djiiwujt 8i "fy,auuu<J,
l-ml.a"f:i t 8 ert 8d"/y,, "When you marry surround [yourself] with a
ditch of salt (i.e. salt water), you will be at rest" (84). This
implies that a married man should say "good" (mle"f:i) to any-
thing his family ask of him, without thinking of doing it, because
of the similarity in sound between mla"f:i " salt ", and mla"/y,,
which is the plural of mle"f:i "good". It must be admitted
that when there are two words of nearly the same sound and
with different meanings, it may be difficult to say whether we
have to do with a play on words or only with the riming of one
word with another. The rime is a rime independently of the
meaning of the riming words, whereas the pun implies that the
maker of it purposely combines similarity of sound with double-
ness of meaning; and it may be a mere conjecture on our part
that he actually docs so.
24 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

The rime plays a very prominent part in the proverbs. I use

the term in its usual sense, for identity of sound between words
extending from the end to the last accented vowel and not
further, but I do so with a reserve : the word "identity " must
in the case of the vowel sounds be interpreted in a broader sense
than is permitted by our own rules of prosody. The Arabic
alphabet has three letters that are used as vowels, all of which
are long, while there are three vowel-marks to express the
corresponding short vowels ; in transliteration the former arc
generally written a, i"i, i, and the latter a, u, i. But each of
those letters and vowel-marks represents a group of sounds
which vary, mainly owing to the influence of preceding or
following consonants, and do not fit in. with our ideas of rime.
The a-group comprises sounds which are in this book expressed
by a (if accentuated, by a), {j (($), or a (d); the a-group is repre-
sented by a, a, g,, a, and e; the u-group by u (u), J, (a), o (6),
and 8 (b) ; the u-group by u, u, o, and 6 ; the i-group by i (i), (P,),
and e (e); the i-group by i, !3, and e. If a vowel is very short it
·has the sign v above it. Now, when speaking of rime in the
proverbs I extend the notion of " identity " of sound to all
vowels belonging to the same group. Thus, for example, the
words in the following combinations rime with each other :
iddm-¢,'am-klqm (503), §aji-wiiji (176), Mda-a·ajaja (575) ;
§-§arya-d·djdrya (106), lg,unu-'aunu (195), d-demm-l-ltiimm
(222); (irafu-t8ufu (109), ht'uf-§-§of (918), l-'o§ol-iq-6,l (33) ;
l-djinna--1n,fnna (57), kbira-§gera (48), l-'o§ol-iq-6,l (1452);
l-djinna--1n,fnna (88), d-dj¢mla-n-nemla (153). :Moreover, a
word with a long vowel may rime to one with a short vowel
belonging to the group of corresponding quality ; and this may
be the case even when the short vowel is followed by a doubled
consonant: s-8arr-l-aif,rar (376), d-dj¢mla-n-nemla (863), l-ihUd-
sudd (472), ljumm--rn{j'dum (1047).
The riming words may immediately succeed each other in
the beginning of the proverb or be separated only by a particle :
ljyar n-nhiir bUkrah (638) ; T'ub it 8ub 'alilr alkih (1139) ; Li
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 25

fats rnats ma bdqi y?ts'auwud (1396). In such cases there may

in addition be a third rime at the end of the proverb : L-hdiya
bliya w ida taNW M l-2·wad irurJi!ilha irurJi!ilha (1027); "J)rab u
Jirab i"t gat?i be t-t rab (1634); Jarrbu u qarrbu jarrbu u Mrrbu
8

(702). Or the riming words that follow each other may be the
last words of the proverb : Ma ef,annit 8 l-[ibib i"!Jib (324) ; Yiddin
l-Mrra f<J (-?a'arn iddrn (62). In many cases the first and the
la.st word in a short proverb rime with each other : B-8auf m!J
iMrred d-djavj (1817) ; L-'ar 8atr m?n n-nar (1137) ; T-ta' am
'ala qadd l-'arn (1088); Frj;!y,ma u t•wukMlni 8-Sd(tma (64);
FlUsek i"!Jslu kejfusek (859); N-n'ijs R l-!whs wa la ujuh n-n'!y,as
(381) ; L-'!y,bib mg, ihrab 'and 8-sedda w igib (295); Djg,' li mg, fih
nfa/ (699); $-§deq Mwa y?n'araf f zdman if,-(1,eq (292); L-"!Jla"IJ<Jl
i/, l-"!Jwa Mwaddb<Jl (1597). There are other less regular cases of
riming: 4. mg, sdjet• l-'ain u bdt 8et• ng/sa (914); 4na mrit u
mejro0 z0 u §abftni Vl-'da idfnuni be r-ro0 (1259); L-Garb bqa
aat• bla ra§ m?n Mt 8r<Jt 8 l-kdub u qlub n-n'!y,as (1529); L-ihUd R
s-seffiid u n-n§draR §-§anndra u l-mselmin R§-§anndra (465). The
two first substantives in the last-mentioned proverb do not rime
with each other according to the definition of rime given above,
because the identity 0£ sound in l-ihUd does not extend to the
last accented vowel in s-seffiid ; but in a case like this there
might also be good reason for us to modify the ordinary definition
of rime, on account of the great variability of the accent in
Arabic words. S-seffud might, under the influence of the
rhythm, be changed into s-se.JJUd, just as in the following proverb
the accent in the two riming words has moved from the last
syllable but one to the last : Idg, '!y,abb allah ya'tek (instead of
ya'tek) m?n fumm l-medfq,' l-medfq,' (instead ofl-medfq,' 920).
In the large majority of proverbs the rime immediately
precedes a pause, and the last rime the chief pause, which is
furnished by the end of the proverb. Even in those short
proverbs in which the first and the last word rime with each
other the first one is frequently followed by a pause ; but the
general rule is that the first rime precedes a pause within the
26 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

proverb, usually about the middle of it: L-mra t8ahrab m~n

s-sib kif n-na'ja m~n d-dib (15); J-jwaj blg, niya b~g,l l-Mrrad blg,
siniya (78) ; f.lraq qabr<J!s, y¢nshar "!J,abrrJ}s- (445). When the
proverb contains more pauses than one the words immediately
preceding the pauses may all rime with each other: Jiij
imrirr?u S-Sbab jwaj bnat 8 l-klab u n-n'gs R a-aj~llab (32); L-mgkla
WU 9-9ret ~att 8g si mg, iset m)f,n ger n-n'gs t"g!it 8 l-~et (909) ;
Bellrigts lek slami w1i qbel kldmi idg, kunt 8i gddmi (408). Or there
may be two pairs of rimes: Idg fat"ek Ha' am qul sbg't• w idg,
fat"ek l-klam qul smg't" (1380).
The rime is an important means of giving a proverb currency
among people. It affords delight to the ear by its musical
accord, it makes the rhythm stand out more distinctly and knits
together rhythmic units, it gives stability to the form of the
proverb, it impresses it more powerfully on people's memory.
At the same time its influence has not been altogether salutary :
not infrequently it has led to artificiality in expression and
superficiality in thought, indeed many a proverb has come into
existence chiefly for the sake of its rime (see e.g. p. 88). The
predilection for rimed proverbs has sometimes caused slips in
grammar. It is responsible for a predicate in the plural
where it should be in the singular: $an'&t• buk lg, igillbuk
(instead of t"gelbek; 611). Or for a wrong pronoun: L-war(j,a
m~n s-suk u t-t•rabi m~n mmitk u bitk, " A rose comes from
thorns, and a well-bred boy from your (instead of his) mother
and father" (233). In other proverbs the same tendency has
led to the use of 'ari instead of 'ar($ya (279), of the singular
n-nemla instead of n-nmel (153), of the masculine q9er instead
of the feminine q9era (58), of the feminine nt•iya instead of the
masculine nt'ina (777). The rime may also interfere with the
logical sequence of words. It is said: ldg jg n-naum n'g,s u suikl
m~n l-qaum, " If sleepiness comes, sleep and shut the door
against the people" (1095)-although it is more natural to shut
the door first and sleep afterwards. Another proverb runs :
Sri u "f!,abbi srab u 9&,_ffi daim m' ($fl, " Buy and hide, drink and
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 27

clear [the water, then] you are always Wt)ll" (1632)-although

the drinking of the water cannot precede the clearing of it.
On the other hand there are cases in which a rime has been
allowed to drop. In one proverb the colloquial men'ul is
used instead of the original mel'un, which rimes to the word
i"!Jun in the same proverb (268) ; but in other proverbs the
original form has been preserved (439, 1406). In Andjra the
proverb, Be l-mhall layint 5Ml l-bUddjan (73) has lost the rime
it has in Tangier, where it is said: Be l-mhal y~nt 8 kel bdinjal
(or bu denjal; 1331).
Even more prevalent in our proverbs than the rime is the
assonance, if by this term is understood resemblance of sound
not merely between vowels but also between consonants, and
between combinations of vowels and consonants of a less exacting
character than the ordinary rime. In the resemblance between
vowels there is the same latitude as is admitted in the case
of the rime. Thus defined, assonances must be so exceedingly
frequent that they cannot possibly be assumed to be intentional
unless there is some special indication that they really are so.
This I take to be the case when they regularly appear immediately
before a pause, that is, under the same circumstances in which
we usually find the rime. It is on such cases alone that I base
my analysis of the various kinds of assonance in the proverbs.
The assonance may consist merely in the resemblance of
sound in the final vowel of the words concerned. The following
instances are chosen from the a- and a-groups, the sounds of
which, as in the case of the rime, are interchangeable: 'arjar--
geiza (53), l-lUla-t 8£njda (773), l-"!JObza-m~nna (602), l-mra-
l-'gma (119), s-sma-r-rrf{tba (985), l-'asya-jg,hliha (605). Some
of these cases show that no notice is taken of the grammatical
termination ;;, which is only found in writing ; hence the
assonance in words like l{~ula-wrf{tda (458), l-qamla-hdima
(1419), sdrja-naqima (49), also falls within the present type.
In the assonance between sounds of the u-group, the letter o of
the written language is likewise left out of account, as in ~nnu-
28 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

kllllt'l (71), jru-Mimt"u (215); and so also in t§JJ_ibu--demmi/,

(349), yidclu-tar U't (715), 'f.iaqqu-'ainu (456). Assonance
between i-sounds is folL-rid, for example, in yf,bgi-d-djri (26),
ker8i-rd~i (1025), s-sejli-ljoqi (1378), 'J.irjjt•i-mf,t 8 li (667).
But besides the assonance in the final vowel of the words there
is often, in addition, assonance in the vowel preceding the
separating consonant or consonants: blddi-sndni (535), msrara-
ff,na (104), 'iief(j,a-gadda (941), t"abbi--tffyilli (943), l-!Jil4rna-
s-s'aya (70), qdbli't---janbU (307), 'aqba-yf,?la' la (612), s-susi-
7ca1:nq,'su si (497), l-"!J6bza-niii§fha (896), '6sba-n-n6qla (241),
jiya-t•ebsirna (924).
The assonance may consist merely in the resemblance of sound
in the final consonant: l-mjarrab-t-tbw (14), glat---rnezlOt (867),
lja(j,l-l-weil (1009),ful-l-keil (1681), lj"il-l-rnal (917), kt"em-
ljumm (1633), l-mf,slem-l-yaum (469). Together with the
assonance in the last consonant there may be another in a vowel
that, at least in one of the two words, does not immediately
precede it: l-'f.irar-s-8a'r (8), [email protected] (411, 1010), lsas-
l-[igbs (763), ibqwun---rngabben (585), n-nfiiq-8-sarq (1570),
l-bo'd-shUd (267), doq-l-'onq (789), §-§i5q-l-'onq (1142). When
the consonant at the end of the word is, in one or both of the
words, preceded by a very short vowel sound, as is often the
case, the assonance is at any rate mainly, if not exclusively,
between the consonants: qaddek---rnft"lek (360), yf,ft 8 el-l-'djel
(940), l-'dsel-n-n~al (72), t•!µimmi1,m-t•endem (788)_ In such
cases there may at the same time be assonance between other
vowels within the words : 'ainif/s-gdire"fs, (75), fjemme"fs,-
in~ggse"fs, (44), 'aqal---jahel (314), t"'J.irjzzem-fahem (682). In
other cases the vowel sound immediately preceding the final
consonant participates more effectively in the assonance :
l-bnat•-l-'f.iinkat• (6), S-Sdrjat•-s-sibat• (7), 'usran-'udyan (339),
l-"f!,iyar-l-kibar (358), §araq-~maq (199), tfedclaq-kaifellaq
(193), ~dbbuk----il&~quk (888), (j,-if,?ibor-n-nonor (145), rdzqum-
'ainum (910), y4'm"ik-y4~l"ik (219).
The assonance may be in the last syllable consisting of a final
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 29

vowel and the preceding consonant: ktmnii-§brff;,na (325),

aX/yirna--auwiinna (913), 'allemha--w¢ldha (189), S-Sdrja-
r-~·1'tffa (50), §-§dmra-§-§(ifra (52), dUda-[1.dida (1209), §dbrii-
Mfru (986), a§l11-f4'lu (238), j¢ddu---w¢ldu (235), ri1hbi-qdlbi
(721), rn~dbbt8i-kulftsi (284), Mjt 5 i---jart•i (276). Sometimes
two preceding consonants are involved : hbnmt 5u-~aiunt•u
(1487). The assonance may also be in the whole last syllable
if it contains two consonants separated by a vowel : §-§ribyan-
n-nlsyan (148), a-dj¢dyan-Miyan (188), l-'rin§ar-t 8 'ci.§§ar
(926), y~8rat-ifarrat (1109), "/J§~mlik-rr&mf!k (377), 'abdek-
sq'dek (250).
In the cases we have hitherto considered the last sound in the
words is always assonant ; but in words ending in a consonant
the assonance is often restricted to the last vowel : 'am--nhar
(624), n-nfg,'-le-jra~ (570), l-'abd-k~0l (482), l-klif:m-l-bdan
(1469), l-mal--l-'insan (887), l-lsan-l-'iddm (1046), juj-8-shiid
(1454), s-s0ur-t 8qill (383), mli0bUb-mi!dmum (835), md~bub­
met'r6k (652), mel'6q-l-me(jb6' (412), kt•ir--dl'il (640). In some
cases, however, only one of the words ends in a consonant, while
the other word ends in the assonant vowel: §-§fa-zar (1573),
sra'---Oi!rd'a (30), Mni-'alih (425). In such cases there is some-
times also assonance in sounds preceding the vowel : bi"t !ylnnu-
l-qdnnut (447). Finally we have to notice the assonance in the
first vowel of the words: tt 8 ldqa-tt8Jaraq (760), l-baqrar--8-sfari
(1163), nadak-kdfer (1342), jay~r-fdsda (459), tjaibt5u-l-"!Jaiba
(557). Many other instances of such assonance are found
above (p. 28 sq.).
In all the cases quoted the assonance occurs in words
immediately preceding a pause, and in nearly every case one
of these words is the last in the proverb while the other one is
about the middle of it. But assonance is also frequently found
in other circumstances similar to those in which rime is used,
and this gives us reason to suppose that in these instances also
it is not a mere accident. It may appear in the first and the
last word of the proverb: L-'ddab afij,al rn{ln n-ndsab (246);
30 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

FlUsek igattiu hmumek (860); T-tMb mg, ikun !inin (1524). Or

it may occur in the last two words, not counting particles:
Lg, tsb¢ddel l-0dif.,ar be l-gdib (601) ; [Idem ya §6gri n kitbri (579).
In various proverbs the number of assonant sounds seems to
be too great to be accidental, even apart from those which belong
to words preceding pauses or words that rime with each other:
Mg, imiSsilc ger rejlek u mg, i[nikk lek <jer ijdjrak u mg,
y~bki Zele ger Mfrak (214); W¢ldelc u 'abdek 'ala qaijr s(t;'delc (250);
Ida t'gadda t•gmddda w ida t 8 ff'as8at8({m(t;S8a(647); M~nba'dl-'d§ar
ma bqa ma tt"'a§f}ar (646) ; Ii},a 'as l-'d<Jpm ilaqqa0 l-l0g,m (1206);
Qatta'ha habra t•abrd (1261). It is presumably for the purpose of
obtaining assonance and rhythm that two words have been
changed in the proverb : J.Iart 8 a (instead of 0art 8 ) u wart•a
(instead of wart•) wa lg, sir 0dtt 8a (768). Like the rime, the
assonance may also interfere with the logical sequence of words:
Sri u doq 'andek t"<jraq 0att 8 a ne l-'onq, "Buy and taste (instead
of ' taste and buy'), lest you be drowned to the neck" (789)-
which implies that before buying a thing you should examine
it carefully in order not to be cheated.
Alliteration consisting in the commencement of closely
connected words with the same consonant is fairly common
in our proverbs, even apart from consonantal prefixes, and there
can be no doubt that at least in some of these cases it is inten-
tional-alliteration is found in Arabic prose as well as poetry.
When the alliterative words are next to each other they may
be at the end of the proverb : [?4imt•u !Jlgha (92), !Jabba' bQbzt €"/S
8

(llOO), l-0bib 0dura (1286), jlm'lit 8 jleila (1375). Or they may

occur in the beginning: if.,-ijamdna ij.,dmngt• (761), '/}alla ljlijt•u
(161). Or they may be within the proverb: 'amldt"u l-'am8a
(1389), l-kedddb kais<jaru (1536), y~dfen ytmmah (1388). The
whole proverb may consist of alliterative words (particles
excepted): L-<jnib grib (531); Sujuni s~nnu J suni (1595) ;
L-'gm(t;s wii lg, l-'ljmiya (581 ). In the following proverbs also the
alliteration is hardly accidental: {I(t;iru Mwn !Jla§u (1615);
Li mn §bar le §hot mg, irf,far b f}ii) (1322) ; Ida b<jit•i t8jra0 t•rak
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 31

qal u qil tsert 8d~ (1699) ; $ba(i t 5ljri la t§bali t·l(l,jli (637) ; L-!Jld!Jr~l
i't l-!Jwa mljn da!Jijl (1597) ; Sillem 'alih shriif 'alih (962).
Rhythm is a very general characteristic of the proverbs ;
indeed, though often defective, it is seldom completely lacking.
In the transliterated text it is indicated by the accentuation
of the words, which on the whole corresponds to the way in
which they are generally pronounced in ordinary speech. Yet
there are exceptions to the rule. The word-accent, which is by
no means invariable even in common parlance, may therefore
all the more easily be modified for rhythmical purposes. In
some of the proverbs it is thus thrown on the final syllable of
a disyllabic noun that generally has it on the penultimate :
L-gar§a bl,g, dzr'ib b!igl l-kelb bl,g, dennib (1030) ; lflgut~ l-lsan u
qallet• l-'iddm (1046); $artan bla medgan (1651); M§ibt• metydr
jels wiilla ml}§mar (1791); L-b'id kullu gaddar li y¢§0ab yl}§0ab
a-apir (542); R-ra'i u l-!Jammds kaii/i/,arbu 'ala razq n-nas (1464).
But in other cases, when a corresponding change would have
produced a similar effect, it has nevertheless been refrained from :
ldg srit 8i sri be l-flus mg tsmg' rn,fnnu la qarriin wii 'lg m~ngus
(820); Kull §araq mljskdk u kull mljjrdb lidkkak (1441); R-r!Ja
i~¢bbuh n-nas b~gl d·djnan be l-'assijs (834).
Most proverbs contain one or more pauses. Very frequently
a rhythmical pause is at the same time a pause in the sense,
like the pauses in the proverb: Mul l-jlus i0¢bbuh Idlu ikun qbe0 I
l-m4skin ibdgijuh Ialu ikun mle~, "He who has money is loved,
even though he is bad, the poor one is hated, even though he is
good" (864). The same is very frequently the case with the
pause which in the majority of cases is found about the middle
of the proverb, in English prosody called the caesura: Sal
l-mjarrab j la tsal Hb'ib, "Ask the experienced one, don't ask
the doctor" (14); N-nsa sfina mljn l-'u~lu r-rdkebf~ha mijqu~,
"Women are a vessel of wood, and he who travels in it is lost"
(27); Ida dd!Jlet• r-ra~0a Idd!Jlet' S-840~a, "If rest enters, avarice
enters" (1051). But there may also be a rhythmical pause
Where there is no logical pause. In many of the proverbs the
32 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

subject of a sentence is often separated from the predicate by

a slight pause: l;Jyor l-bnat 3 IR l-Mn [}lat", "The houses of girls
arc soon empty" (165); Juj [mus Img, it 8 ldqau R l-gar, "Two
male snakes do not meet in one den" (410); Lejtor Mkri Ibe
d-dhiib mi!sri, " The early breakfast is bought with gold" (639).
Yet even in such cases the pause may, by laying emphasis on
the word or words preceding it, produce an effect that is not
exclusively rhythmical. In most proverbs the pauses are
sufficiently indicated by the rhythm, and very often also by the
rime or assonance in the words immediately preceding them.
Like the rime and assonance, the rhythm is an important
means of securing popularity to a proverb. Combined with
either of them, or even alone, the rhythm makes the proverb a
little poem, pleasing to the ear and easy to remember. But the
poem must be a very short one ; this is indispensable; because
without shortness no utterance could be sufficiently fixed in
the minds of the people to become a proverb. And the shortness
docs not merely imply avoidance of lengthy sentences. In our
Arabic proverbs the article preceding a noun is frequently left
out in violation of grammatical rules ; and instead of complete
sentences they may be fragments lacking the predicate or the
subject or some other essential part. We have proverbs like
these: "Every day [has its] food" (935); "A white man [is
made to obey] with a wink, a negro with a blow" (481); "A
barber with his cupping-instruments" (1548); "Cauterization
and a mudd of barley" (1174); "Bellowing and no goring"
(1423) ; "Rings round the ankles and emptiness inside" (1597);
"A blind man's catch in the dark " (805) ; "An abject life and
then death" (883) ; "Eaten and blamed" (1187) ; "From the
dunghill to the taifi5r " (a low table used at eating and tea-
drinking; 256); "Even though it flew [it was] a goat" (1551).
We have previously (p. 10) noticed the occasional omission
of the imperative in the beginning of a command. Sometimes
there is a subordinate clause while the principal clause has been
left out: " [I shall have to wait] till the raven becomes white
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 33

and the donkey climbs a ladder and the salt blossoms" (1565) ;
"[Wait] till he is born, and call him 'Abdrrzzaq" (1599). Or,
while the principal clause is fairly complete, the subordinate
one is reduced to the mere conjunction : " Ploughing and
inheriting are better than to go [and wait] till [you gain by
buying and selling]" (768).
I have included within brackets words that have no equivalents
in the Arabic text, though the notions they express may be
taken to be implied in it. Otherwise I have, in my rendering of
the proverbs into English, in the first place aimed at literal
accuracy, without trying to do justice to the formal beauty of
the original. Any such attempt would inevitably be a failure.
As Erasmus, the great humanist and student of proverbs
remarked, "most proverbs have this peculiarity that they
sound best in their native tongue, but if they are translated into
another language they lose much of their beauty ; just as some
wines cannot stand exportation, and only give their proper
delicacy of flavour in the places where they are produced."

III
The majority of the proverbs-all those for which no locality
is specially mentioned-are represented as I have heard them
in Tangier ; but a large number also, about 400, are from Andjra,
a mountainous tribal district to the east of Tangier inhabited
by so-called Jbala, and a few from other parts of Morocco. The
proverbs are transliterated in the dialects of the respective
places, while in the Arabic text at the end of the book I have
reproduced them in the usual Moorish writing. A comparison
between the two texts will show considerable differences between
the spoken and the literary language. Apart from those of a
more general character, well known to students of the Arabic
of Morocco, there are others, to which I desire to draw special
attention.
D
34 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

Changes of consonants are exceedingly frequent in the

colloquial language. The most conspicuous are the assimilations
due to the contiguity of two consonants, one of which is absorbed
by the other in such a manner as to cause a doubling of it.
We notice the following instances :-
dt8 > tt 8 : ulett 8 (176), 'awiitt 8 (400).
gd > dd : d deine"ff, (971 ; Andjra).
4ts > as: mratt 8 (960; Andjra; in the spoken language an
assimilation of ~t").
0h > !t0: jam100a (486), traMdim (367).
js > ss: t"barras si (170).
lm >mm: m-msi (727).
in> nn: auwi1nna (913), Mmni (731), nezz£nni (348), w'11Mnni
(738; in Andjra t 8wukk£lni [64]).
ms> ss: ssdnes (979 ; Andjra).
nb > bb : b bent 8 (1293).
nd > dd: 'addu (49; Dukkala).
nh > hh : zeihha (527 ; but also zeinha [3]).
nl > ll: lUbsu (1417; in Andjra nlebsu si [1418]), beil l-Mur
(203), mijl l-g£dwar (254), m(jl l-gar (549), mel la (1251), mijl
la~ydt 8 kitm (1272), m(jl li (176), mijl lj£"if,ra (1138; Andjra), mijl
l-gnem (1418; Andjra), and other cases both from Tangier and
Andjra in which n in mijn has been assimilated with a
following l.
nr > rr: r ra§u (1394), m(jr raqq (1044), mijr riizq (1785),
mijr rba0 (1077), mijr re0t"u (1309), m)jr riJjla (1215), m,ijr
r0amt 8u (2).
nt• > tt 8 : lg,yitt 8h{jl (418 ; Andjra).
nt > ?t: ttduwlil, (1399 ; in Andjra ntduwli'th [1258]).
§t > §§ : Yf§§d4 (1543).
SJ. > jj: qj jqb (259, 1376).
St'> ss: SS!ca (1460).
t 8 d > dd: dddblu (1635), kgdda"!Jbal (83; but l 8db.itl [1383]
or t 8edb/J,l [1341]), kgddqwi (570), yijddgwa (1773), t"edd11wiid
(1303) ; t 8 edduweg (1186; Andjra).
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 35

t8i],, > dd: kaddub (1494; in the spoken language an assimila-

tion of t'd).
t'ef > 44: kai44arbU (1464), efefi5r (188; in the written
language t'd).
ts> ss: yfas¢mma (537), t'ess?mma (1183) (Andjra; in
Tangier y9ts?mma [915]).
t'! > tt" : tt'awit' (1611 ; in the spoken language· a doubling
of t').
t'? > ?? : WI~ (1287), kattla' (210 ; also kat•tla' [925]), kattdllal
(916), ?tra (197); but in Andjra lat"?e~ (1163), t•te'u (732),
t•etma' (1005; also said in Tangier).
W > tt•: "/}dliitt"ih (1715) ; 'aiyett• (1067 ; Andjra).
The doubling of j (j-j) as an assimilation of the article with
a following j is found in Tangier and Andjra only when the j is
originally a z which in the spoken language has been changed
into j (see infra) : j-jwaj (30, 160); j-juja (710; Andjra).
Otherwise the pronunciation of the article together with a
following j or dj, and of a doubled j or dj generally, is in Tangier
and Andjra ddj 1 (in the former case written d-rlj, otherwise ddj).
But in several cases the article has retained its l before
j or dj: lef-jbdl (706), lef-jdud (87 4, 1044), le-jrd~ (570), l?-jwad,
l~-jw&d, or l-Jwad (742, 1027, 1039, 1285, 1604); z-aHddin
(608), l-dJinna (88) (Andjra).
The contiguity of two consonants is the cause of yet some
other changes:-
t] > dj: dJdra (1598), dji (1860), kddji (927), djib (36), dj?lled
(495), lcgdj6rr (1436), d}ri (682), dj£rri (650), dji"il (510), djuwuj
(33; in the written language t•z). On the other hand:
t"e}bar or t 8ljbar (1225, 1537); t•£jw9j (1149,Andjra; in the written
language t•z).
t•z >dz: dzdrrab (1781), dzrib (1030), dza'ra? (990), dzid (607),
dziynek (606), dziyin (1307), dzr17/ (1338; but also t 8ezr4' [1212]),
1
According to M. W. 1\far<,mis (Textes arabes de Tanger [Paris, 1911],
p. xiii), the doubled j is at Tangier pronouced dj, that is, without a doubling of
d ; but this is not in agreement with my own experience, and is expressly denied
by my native informants.
36 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

kadzuwel (17 49) ; zayidzl)nnen (972), dzitj, (645), dzul (694)

(Andjra).
The change of a consonant may be due to the influence of
another consonant in the same word, even though they are
separated by other sounds :-
s-j or dj > 8-j or dj: sej¢n (1262), me8ejun (763), tslrrej
(1778) ; 8Pndja (759, Andjra; in Tangier8Pnja).
8-s > 8-8 : 8?m8 (210).
z--:j > j-j: juj (32), jwijat 8 (1440), jwaj (160), djuwuj (33);
juj (458), t 8ejw?j (1149) (Andjra).
There are many other changes of consonants, which in some
cases but not in all are due to the immediate or more distant
proximity of another consonant :-
b > f: f~q,l (Andjra, passim). The same pronunciation is
also common in Tangier, side by side with b~q,l.
b > m: mndg,em (327; Andjra).
d > tj,. This change is exceedingly frequent in Andjra ; but
when d is doubled there is no such change.
d > ij: (jar (262), ijdrrqak (321), ief6r (1146), meftlwar (560),
(j,abor (145), y#fJdiJ (1226), ~af}f}ai}u (1211), ruijij (825; not in
Andjra), qefart• (1081; not in Andjra [1981] ), yeq§di/ (959), §iii/
(1257), fJ'iiJ (1322), §iaefa (1586), fJaefdjt• (401), warrf, (232); (jar
(1196), farij (884; in Tangier ford [1997] ), keiijar (448) (Andjra).
d > i/:: luigra (106), f}aiyai/: (1172) (Andjra).
d > t : §hat (1322) ; t"!J,al (7 4), tab{f,l (645) (Andjra).
r;J > d. This change is universal in Tangier, where if., does
not occur at all. In Andjra it is found in certain words in spite
of the opposite tendency to change d into g,: mejdam (200),
yifs:deb (51), t 8erdell (372); and the doubled tJ invariably
becomes dd.
g, > ij: ijra (1938; Andjra).
iJ > d : med<jan (1651 ).
ij > 4: lai4Ciuwi (1201), a4rrfb (1478), f4fJli (1173), ~a4ra
(1091), Ma (1141), mrii/: (1092), m'li<f,a' (40), nai/:u (1289), q<f,a
(1141), layU 8qa<f,a (595) (Andjra).
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 37

if, > t : byat (1218), mbiy(i:t (128), rjolt (1662), 0amat (1621 ),
mart (124; but the plural maraif, [1874]), mrit (1259), muta'hum
(354), n&rta' (1026), qdbtu (198), yfnqbat (1415), t0ak (470), i¢0-
hak (308; but if,a0k [1404]), t 8 ra(u (85), 'arta (1134), 'aratngh
(1123), ma'rdta (796), 'art (1327 ; in Andjra 'aif,if, [72]) ; irjammat
(456), qabt (946), t0a"fs, (1482) (Andjra).
~ > d: dfer (1390; also in Andjra).
~ > if,. This change is the rule in Tangier, where 0 does not
occur: iif,far (1322), i/,djrak (214, 666), if,farak (1113), if,ahar
(1346), kat•ij,Mr (563), if,all (855), mif,all (855), if,ulm (436), ij,dlma
(123), mijif,liim (1456), ij,dnn (1747), if,rifa (151), rjaiif, (1714),
i0afif,ak (476), nif,ar (1834), nif,or (238), ndij,ra (115), nif,ifa (1522),
'aij,am (217 ; also 'atam [1255]).
0> t: 0antdll (1796), tahru (630), 'a{am (1255 ; also 'aif,am
[217]).
rj > a: i"!Jslu (859), "!J<isla (1660), "!Jsil (1661 ).
} > k: kr;ara (1354).
} > s: s?efjfu (1289; Andjra).
m > n : nb<irrqa (1364), nbdtt u (1114), nif,i (792).
8

n > l: leisan (1981 ; Andjra).

q > a: Jftyafl, (302) ; safl,si (1034 ; Andjra).
s > r; : yfbr;at (708), if,drr;a (1815), gair; (1517), t 8ger; (1780),
g£r;r;ar (712), gar§ (1679), yefl,§ar (1319), b~ara (461), kr;ara (1354),
mar$ (1679), ~r;mar (1791), m§amar (1125), qe§ (790), qya$
(1646), q§dm (1353), r~ (689), rr;ftmijk (377), t'a'§er (317), r;dbbaq
(1350; also sebMq [1716]), $dbbat (599), §afar (521), §a"/Jfl,ar
(627), $6"/J,ra (626; in Andjra safl,fl,ar, s6"f!:ra), r;afl,awa (1048; not
inAndjra), §'liltan (259), ir;allat (1663), r;ulli{u (1427; not in Andjra),
§maim (1892), §annara (465), §or (1193), §oq (520; not in Andjra),
§'lirba (1304), §ret (909), §raq (866), §araq (199 ; in Andjra sraq
[1197], sdraq [1584]), §6ror (1672), §art&,n (1651), §arw?f,l (493),
§at (676), ?ta0 (24 7) ; gar§ (1074), irjar§em (1680), fl,r;ara (202),
i§ar (1064), marr; (1074), yfntrar; (1465), layit 8qqiy~$ (1152),
YCq§a0 (1485), rar; (69), r;or (425), r;arwal (1332), §arya (106 ; in
Tangier sdrya [1479]), r;ta0 (133), r;ett&,s (23), r;wari (907) (Andjra).
38 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

The change of s into §, as also of d into ~' is due to the influence

of some emphatic consonant in the same word. 1
~ > s: sbiga (87 ; not in Tangier), sM.ri (907 ; but $a0ra
(1107]), sa!Jsi (1034) (Andjra).
s > s: §ga' (1647 ; Dukkala).
ts > t: st4ffi°t (1289), y£svJ.qu (757; in Tangier mljst8aq [915])
(Andjra).
us> tt: ?ettas (23), f£tt£s (590), Mtffis (590), 0dtt8a (444)
(Andjra).
t > ts. This change is well nigh universal in Tangier, where t
is not found at all, and the rule in Andjra: ngauwtsu (1102),
t"ult'din (1158), tsimma (1823), t 8riij, (67), t•aub (201), tsaur (95).
T, however, is not unknown there: Mtrqt• (946), ktir, ktar.
t > t: ?niiS (1943).
Consonants found in the literary language are often omitted
in the pronunciation. This is invariably the case with the h in
the feminine termination ah and in the suffixed pronoun hu and
frequently in the suffixed pronouns ha and hum. But sometimes
the h at the end of a word is left out even when it belongs to the
stem : tsba (241 ; but also tsbah [1344]) ; t•£sba or t•esbd (242,
244), u,y"a (70, 1506) (Andjra). There is also miii (943), instead of
mq, hi (673; Andjra). In Andjra n is sometimes dropped: na
for nna (661), sku for skun (878), "f!,ut 8 for "f!,unt• (457); in the
last-mentioned case the omission of the n causes a lengthening
of the preceding vowel. In the word mart'rj,in (1150 ; Andjra)
the doubling of r has disappeared.
On the other hand consonants are also doubled, which,
however, does not appear from a comparison between the trans-
literated and the Arabic text because the seddah, or mark of
doubling a letter, has been omitted in the latter, in conformity
with Moorish usage: demm (222 ; also in Andjra [44]), 00dd
(22; also in Andjra [76]), 0ant&ll (1796), nbdtt 8u (1114) for
mbdt 8it, ra!i0a (733 ; also in Andjra (659]) for ra0a. A similar
1
Cf. W. Mar9ais, Le dialecte arabe parle a '1.'lemcen (Publications del'Ecole
es lettres d'Alger. Bulletin de corre8pondance africainc, vol. xx vi; Paris,
1902), p. 31.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 39

doubling of consonants is particularly frequent in Andjra :

Jarr (1105 ; in Tangier far [323]), yd~t 8all (1155), mall (1079 ;
in Tangier mal [303]), mhall (73; in Tangier mhal [1331]),
m488a (968) for mgsya, if}&ldfu (1172) for i§fUfu, assri (787),
nes8riwah (1821), 'amm (24; in Tangier 'am [21]). As appears
from several of these instances the doubling of the consonant
is combined with the shortening of a preceding long vowel. In
Tangier the fifth form of certain derivative verbs has the prefixed
t8 doubled instead of the second radical letter: ylf,tts£nsa (11) for
ylf,t 8 nlssa, ylf,tt 8ij?(i/am (449) for ylf,t 8(f?(i,"am, ylf,tt 8q'mel lu (1214)
for ylf,t•'qmmel lu, ylf,tt 8ujed (1767) for ylf,t•uddjed.
The shortening of long vowels is one of the most characteristic
features of the spoken language all over Morocco. Vowels that
in the written language are marked as long have a distinct
tendency to be pronounced short in syllables which are not
accented, but even accentuation is in many cases insufficient
to save a long vowel from a similar fate. This is more often the
case in Andjra than in Tangier; hence the reader must not
accuse me of inconsistency if he finds "/}awya in one proverb (516)
and b:{lwya in the next. The shortening of a long vowel at the
end of a monosyllabic word is exceedingly prevalent. On the
other hand, under the influence of the accent, or for some other
reason, a short vowel may also become long: !Jbar (1379), mdun
(1851), sgol (419), a!Jor (692; also in Andjra [76, 1180]), <J,abOr
(145),kdnif (1050), sukkar (1758), ylf,t8wdla(l429), wdli (230; also in
Andjra [63]), 'a§ar (692). In Tangier rajel is often heard side
by side with rajel, or the first vowel is perhaps more often
pronounced semi-long. The same is the case with the vowel in
the accented syllable at the end of many a noun or verb to
which a suffix is appended or a verb followed by si or some other
very short word closely connected with the verb : keswgt•ak
(1937), ~amliit·'u (93), !Jall¢ha (1445), jbart 8ihum (523), sujt•ini
(703), t•gklu si (315), f§fJalt•i la (58). Emphasis may also be a
cause of prolongation: urrih urrih (1720), nkih nkih (1721).
When particular stress is laid on an imperative there is a strong
40 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

tendency to lengthen its vowel or last vowel ; but although for

this reason forms like sir, zid, kul are anything but rare in the
mouths of the people, I have not found, either in Tangier or
Andjra, that general habit of prolonging the vowel in the
imperative of concave verbs which is said to prevail in many
other dialects. 1 The rime is also responsible for the lengthening
of some vowels in the proverbs: alat 5 riming with l-bndt 8 (165),
ukar riming with n-nar (1822), mil riming with yrbril (1928;
Andjra).
Generally speaking, the length of a vowel is a difficult matter,
both because it is so changeable and because it allows of so
many degress ; and it is equally difficult in many cases to
distinguish between the presence or absence of a vowel sound
before a consonant or between two consonants. In these
respects absolute accuracy may, in fact, be impossible without
the aid of phonetical instruments. 2 I have only made use of
the signs -, ~, and " in cases where I have distinctly heard the
sound pronounced either long or very short, but the omission
of any such sign does not eo ipso imply that it might not have
been used, nor does the use of it imply that the vowel is always
pronounced long or very short, or, in the latter case, that a vowel
sound is always present.
Like the quantity of a vowel its quality is often variable.
The pronunciation of vowels is in this respect much influenced
by consonants or by other vowels that precede or succeed them ;
and as this influence is not restricted to sounds belonging to
the same word, the quality of a vowel may in the spoken language
differ when the adjoining word differs. We find variations like
these: bab w8~da (717), bgb ef-i/ifr (500); kan kullu (494), kgn
z-zra' (1870); bla sra' ... blf:? Mrd'a (30), b74 si (758); ma ydqra
(187), mg, iMraqha (192), ma rba~ (191); &lu ikun (349), &lu ij,arat 8
(559) ; R l-~mir (1385), fe l-qfa (18), frJ t-ta'am (62). But the
modifications of vowels in point of quality present many
1
Mar9ais, Le dialecte arabe parle a Tlemcen, pp. 58, 68.
2
Cf. Man;ais, Textes arabes de Tangier, p. xi.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 41

irregularities and may vary even in the mouth of the same

individual, to the annoyance of the student who has to choose
between the alternatives. In defence of probable shortcomings
in my transliteration I can only say that I have tried to reduce
their number by going through the whole text several times,
making almost exorbitant demands upon the patience of my
informants.
There are many contractions of vowels belonging to contiguous
words: l'i_f}ly,ab (313), l'i~qfll (29), l'i.__,,kun (257), and others of the
same kind, for Zi if}ly,ab, li iqill, etc. ; s'i~tely, (886; Andjra), for
si iteh; la~na (777), for lii gna; g,ng_hli (229), for gng, dhli. Jn
Tangier the final vowel in 'ala is generally dropped before the
article that is affixed to the following word or assimilated with
its initial consonant : 'al l-ly,f}er (35), 'al l-q(hba (1352), '(fl d-djmel
(247), '(fl n-nas (1019), '(fl s-sakut 8i (1710), '(fl 8-S'ib (1356), '(fl
z-z£nda (1177) ; but '(!,lg, d-d£fla (117). A similar curtailment
is not found in any of the proverbs from Andjra.
We have still to notice certain points in which the dialect of
Andjra differs from that of Tangier. To express the present
tense of a verb the syllable la, not ka, is prefixed to the aorist ;
this peculiarity has been preserved in the Arabic text. In the
preterite the termination of the second person singular is
identical with that of the first ; thus, for example, 8ujt• means
both" I saw" and" you saw". The initial I of many impera-
tives is as a rule pronounced. Instead of the relative pronoun
li or lli we invariably find tJ (or d, owing to assimilation with the
following consonant), often with the addition of a very short
vowel, the quality of which depends on the following sound or
sounds. When the relative pronoun precedes the personal
pronoun hftwa or hU, the consonant n is added to it: tjen hftwa
(1166), tjen hU (884, 1200) ; and the same is the case when the
personal pronoun is the third person feminine singular or the
third person dual or plural. 1 Instead of the u in the suffixed
1
The same has been noticed among some other tribes oftheJbala (E. Uvi-
Provern;al, Textes arabes de l'Ouargha LParis, 1922], p. 37).
42 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

pronoun hum or um, there is a very short vowel, the quality of

which is determined by the preceding sound or sounds 1 : m,?nnem
(355), ta'!J,'!Jalndhem ... ljd91Jam ~aqq?f,m (747), t8 'drfqm (416).

IV
From the form of the proverbs I shall now pass to their
contents. But on this point my discussion need not be equally
detailed and dissecting : the method adopted for their arrange-
ment and the attention paid to their meaning, and to the circum-
stances in which they are used, make it unnecessary for me to
add anything more than some remarks of a more general nature,
illustrated by a few examples.
In different collections of proverbs we often find different
schemes of classification. The most convenient one-from the
collector's point of view-is that followed by Count Landberg
in his book of Syrian proverbs, who says that he has published
them in the order in which he jotted them down in his note-
books. 2 Very frequently proverbs have been arranged in
alphabetical order according to the first letters of the first word,
or according to the first word itself, if it consists of one letter
only-as in the case of English proverbs beginning with the
word " A " 3-or according to the first letters of the first
significant word. Alphabetical classification is found, for
instance, in Freytag's 4 and Mohammed ben Cheneb's 5 large
collections of Arabic proverbs. Sometimes proverbs have been
classed under various headings suggested by the person, animal,
object, or anything else round which they arc formally woven,
Cf. ibid., p. 36.
1
C. Landberg, Proverbes et di'.ctons de la province de Syrie ; Section de $aydd
2

(Leidc and Paris, 1883), p. xviii.

3 Sec, e.g., W. C. Hazlitt, Rngli,,h Proverbs and Prove1·bial Phrases (London,
1907); James Kelly, A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs (London, 1818).
4 G. W. Freytag, Arabum proverbia (Bonnae ad Rhenum, 1838-1843).
5 Mohammed qen Chencb, Proverbes arabes de l'Algerie et du JJ;Iaghreb
(Publications de l'Rcole des lettres d'Alger. Bulletin de correspondance africaine,
vols. xxx-xxxii, Paris, 1905-7).
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 43

as when the Ashanti provcrb,1 " If you strike a lion, your own
head will pain you," is placed under the heading" Wild animals ",
although the proverb is purely metaphorical. Collectors and
compilers of proverbs have obviously been anxious to find
a principle of some sort to put order into their chaotic material ;
but I fail to see that any of these formal methods of arrangement
can be of much practical use. What has been disconnected before
is brought together into a hotchpotch hardly less difficult to
digest; and if anyone wants to know what may be said on
a certain subject in this medley of proverbs he has to find it out
for himself. My experience is that even when trying to discover
if a particular proverb in my own collection has been previously
recorded by somebody else, the alphabetic classification has
given me little help : proverbs are subject to variations, and
the word to look for has often been changed in this process.
A very different method has been followed in this book. The
proverbs which I have collected have been grouped together
according to subjects or situations on which they have a bearing.
These are very often clearly indicated in the proverbs ; but
there are also many proverbs that are applicable in different
situations and may consequently be repeated under different
headings. Even these repetitions may be anything but
exhaustive: I have only recorded the circumstances in which
such proverbs seem to be most frequently applied, or which
most readily occur to the mind of a native informant when he
speaks of them ; but I think that this should generally be sufficient
to reveal the meaning attached to them. To find the intrinsic
meaning of every proverb has been my chief ambition, and in
conveying it to the reader I have preferred concrete instances
to abstract explanations. Many proverbs are of course perfectly
intelligible without any explanation at all. Others are only
apparently so, because they easily suggest an interpretation
which is not the correct one. And others cannot even deceive
us, because they appear as veritable riddles which baffle any
1 R. S. Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs (Oxford, 1916), pp. 8, 61.
44 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

attempt to decipher their meaning. There is a strong tendency

in proverbs to be more or less enigmatic-and in their collectors
only too often a tendency to ignore it. In Mr. Rattray's book
of Ashanti proverbs the writer of the preface feels compelled to
remark that if the saying of the Tshi-speaking natives, "When
a fool is told a proverb the meaning of it has to be explained
to him," is applied to the reader, "few of us, it is to be feared,
will escape conviction of folly." 1 Even the foremost compiler
of English proverbs, Hazlitt, confesses that he has been obliged
to leave without a gloss many proverbs which have defied his
attempt to unriddle their occult meaning. 2 The extremely
cryptic character of many Arabic proverbs has been pointed
out by scholars 3 ; and I may ask the reader of this book how
much of its contents would not be incomprehensible without
commentaries. There are also proverbs that are interpreted
quite differently by different natives. Take, for example,
the saying, "The Jebli (mountaineer), when he settles down
in a town, is like a tambourine when it is provided with a skin "
(495). According to one explanation I have heard, it means
that a J ebli who comes to live in a town by and by loses his
rusticity, whereas the interpretation given by a scribe from Andjra
was that he becomes noisy like a tambourine. 4 Again, the proverb
"The woman flees from white hair as the ewe from the jackal "
(15), means, according to some of my informants, that women arc
much afraid of becoming old, but according to others, that
women dislike old men. 5 Sometimes a proverb may assume
an entirely different meaning through the confusion of one
word with another. Thus the proverb, Kull t•a't•era f~ha
"!JCra (1686), is evidently, in its origin, identical with another
one recorded by M. Brunot, K ul stuMra fiha "!!Ara. 6 But while
1 Sir H. Clifford, in Rattray, op. cit., p. 5.
2 Hazlitt, op. cit., p. xxviii.
3 C. Snouck Hurgronje, JJfekkanische Sprichworter und Redensarten (Haag,
1886), p. 1.
4 Cf. Ben Cheneb, op. cit., nr. 1369 ; L. Brunot, "Proverbes et dictons

arabcs de Rabat," in Hesperis, viii (Paris, 1928), p. 93.

5
Cf. Ben Cheneb, op. cit., nr. 1756. 6 Brunot, Joe. cit., p. 103.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 45

the former proverb means, "In every stumbling there is good"

(because the stumbling serves as a warning : if you stumble
on your way to a place where you intend to do some business
you should not proceed), the latter means, "En toute abstention
se trouve un bien."
The principles I have followed in collecting, classifying, and
expounding my material have been adapted to the chief aim
I had in view when I made Moorish proverbs an object of research.
The proverbs of a people may, apart from their prosody, be
studied under different aspects. Their study has been the
pursuit of philologists who have been mainly interested in the
linguistic side of the subject. Various eminent scholars have
made use of proverbs for their study of modern Arabic dialects,
well aware, of course, of the caution necessary in such an under-
taking. The statement made by a recent .student of Jewish
folk-lore that proverbs are the "people's_ voice", not only in
so far as it reflects the popular mind, but also because it is " an
accurate record of the vernacular " 1 is a hazardous proposition.
Proverbs may contain expressions that are not found in the
native idiom but belong to another dialect from which they have
been imported or, as is often the case with Arabic proverbs, have
been taken from the literary language, which in many respects
differs from the modern vernaculars. The present collection
contains words and grammatical forms that do not occur in
ordinary speech; to these belong, for instance, the negative la,
which is very frequently used instead of ma. Moreover, the
proverbial style, its shortness and pregnancy, its tendency to be
formal or elevated, its rhythm, and sometimes its predilection for
rime and assonance, may cause deviations from the colloquial
language, which may even amount to corruption of words and
violation of grammar. Such pitfalls, however, are easily avoided
by the competent student ; and as to the importation of strange
proverbs it may be said that they generally, perhaps with the
exception of a few typical expressions, soon adapt themselves
1 A. Cohen, Ancient Jewish Proverbs (London, 19ll), p. 14.
46 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

to the idiom spoken in their new surroundings. As an instance

of this, I may refer to the different modifications the same
proverbs have undergone in the two neighbouring comm.unities
of Tangier and Andjra, which have been my chief fields of
research. My own study of Moorish proverbs is not in the
first place intended to serve a philological purpose ; yet I should
be glad if my efforts to secure linguistic accuracy had yielded
some fresh contributions to Arabic dialectology. While the
proverbs from Tangier may be a complement to M. Margais'
masterly treatment of the Tangier dialect, those from Andjra
are, together with words and formulas published in my earlier
books on Morocco, the only recorded specimens of the language
spoken in that tribal district.
Another method of studying proverbs is to examine their
diffusion: peoples have at all times taken sayings from each
other. The wanderings of proverbs are a fascinating study,
but one beset with considerable difficulties. It must always
be borne in mind that the resemblance between proverbs may
have another cause than diffusion, namely, the uniformity of
human nature, which makes men in similar situations think
and feel alike. The real test of a common origin is therefore
not the mere similarity of ideas and sentiments expressed in the
proverbs, but the similarity of formal expression, with due
allowance for modifications that are apt to occur when a saying
is adopted from another language and transplanted into a new
soil. Among the nations of Europe we find a very large number
of identical, or almost identical, proverbs which obviously have
a common origin. We know for certain that very many of our
proverbs have been borrowed from the Romans, who themselves
had borrowed many of theirs from the Greeks,1 and another
great source has been the Bible. Others have descended to us
from the Middle Ages, when popular sayings in Latin translations
spread from one country to another through the monasteries,
1 A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprichwortlichen Redensarten der Romer
(Leipzig, 1890), p. xviii sq.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 47

and afterwards were retranslated into the vernaculars. 1 Others

aaain were introduced into Europe by Jews and Arabs ; the
"
extraordinary wealth of Spanish proverbs has to a large extent
been attributed to such influence. Arabic-speaking peoples
have also in common a store of sayings, partly derived from the
Muhammadan traditions but largely of secular origin. In some
collections of Arab proverbs from a particular area-above all
Mohammed ben Cheneb's monumental work-there are
references to their distribution elsewhere, and with regard
to many widespread proverbs I have availed myself of this
information in remarks made in footnotes. But otherwise I
have refrained from all comparison between proverbs recorded
by others and those collected by myself. My book contains
about 200 which, in some form or other, have been published by
earlier collectors in Morocco-Meakin, 2 Fischer, 3 Liideritz, 4
Levi-Provern;al, 5 and Brunot, 6-and various others are found
among Ben Cheneb's Algerian proverbs ; but as all of them are
derived from my own experience among the natives and stated
in the way I have heard them, I have no printed sources to
quote. I have dispensed with references because my aim has
been, in the first place to collect facts by sociological field-work
in Morocco, and in the second place, to study those facts from
points of view which differ essentially from that of him who
examines their distribution.
Besides the two methods of investigating proverbs, I have just
mentioned there is a third, which is primarily concerned with
1
Seiler, op. cit., p. 80 sq.
2
Budgett Meakin, An Introduction to the Arabic of Morocco, etc. (London,
1890), pp. 217-22.
3
A. Fischer, "Marokkanische Sprichworter," in Mittheilwngen des Seminars
fur Orientalische Sprachen an der Universitiit zu Berlin, 2e Abtheilung, 1898
(Berlin and Stuttgart).
4
II. Liideritz, " Sprichwiirter aus Marocko mit Erliiuterungen im Dia.Jekt
des niirdlichen Marocko," in Jllittheilungen des Seminars Jii.r Orientalische
Sprachen an der Universitiit zu Berlin, 2e Abtheilung, 1899 (Berlin and Stuttgart).
5
E. Levi-Proven9al, Textes arabes de .l'Ouargha (Paris, 1922), pp. 115-23,
159-67.
0
L. Brunot, "Proverbes et <lictons arabcs de Rabat," in Hesperis, viii
(Paris, 1928), pp. 59-121.
48 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

their contents as a subject of sociological or psychological

interest. It is a traditional view that the proverbs of a people
are a safe guide to its character and temperament, opinions and
feelings, manners and customs ; Bacon said that " the genius,
wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs".
This view has of late been subjected to criticism, not altogether
undeserved. It has been pointed out that a very large number
of proverbs are international common property, and that most
of the sayings of different nations are so similar that they must
be regarded as expressions of general human nature. This is
perfectly true ; but besides similarities there are also differences,
and even in substantially similar proverbs there may be shades
of dissimilarity that correspond to national characteristics.
Such characteristics may also to some extent show themselves
in what the proverbs of a people speak of and what they are silent
about, in the degree of popularity a certain proverb or class
of proverbs has gained among a people, and in the frequency
or paucity of proverbs dealing with a particular subject. This
is admitted by Seiler, the most acute and moderate critic of the
traditional view, who has himself pointed out various differences
between the Romans and Germans which he found reflected in
their proverbs. 1 It has further been argued that the proverbs
of a people have generally come to it from other peoples and
cannot, therefore, be indicative of its peculiarities. To this I
would answer, first, that the proportion of imported proverbs
has never been proved to be so large as it has often been assumed
to be, and that there is no reason to suppose that a group of
people who are fond of using other people's proverbs have none
of their own make ; indeed the number of proverbs used in
Andjra that are unknown to my informants in the neighbouring
town of Tangier has led me to a very different conclusion. But
above all, it should be noticed that a foreign proverb is scarcely
adopted by a people unless it is in some measure congenial to
its mind and mode of life ; that it is apt to be modified so as to
1 Seiler, op. cit., p. 290 sqq.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 49
fit in with its new surroundings ; that, when sufficiently deeply
rooted, it may in turn influence the native habits of thought and
feeling ; and that, if it does not succeed in being acclimatized
in its adoptive country, it will wither and die. These facts
are of great importance on account of the frequent difficulty,
or impossibility, of separating indigenous proverbs from others,
which have crept into the language from abroad. A very similar
answer may be given to the objection that proverbs are not
creations of a group of people but of individuals. 1
The value of proverbs as evidence cif opinions generally held
by a people may perhaps seem to be lessened by the fact that
not infrequently some of them contradict the teaching of others.
But such incongruities, which have been commented upon by
several students of proverbs, really only add to the fullness of the
testimony. Many of them are more apparent than real. Proverbs
have ohen the form of categorical imperatives ; but common
sense morality does not share the rigorism of certain philosophers,
and the unconditional character of its proverbial maxims may
be due simply to their necessary brevity. In such cases their
one-sidedness has to be corrected by other proverbs dealing with
particular circumstances that modify the general rule. To take
a few instances from our Moorish proverbs.
The duty of almsgiving, which is one of the five practical
duties of Islam called the pillars of religion, is often inculcated
in the proverbs : " Give what there is in your pocket, God will
bring you what is absent" (988); and so forth. But even this
cardinal duty has its limitations. It should be practised with
discretion. You should bestow charity only on those who are
destitute, not on those whose poverty is less pressing: "The dead
are dear to us, but as for the wounded they will be cured " (1003).
1
_F. Mauthner writes (JVorterbuch der Philosophie, i [Leipzig, 1923], p. xliv):
"Die alte Weisheit, <lass der Character eines Volkes aus seinen Sprichwortern
erkannt werden konne, ist nicht mehr wahr. Aus zwei Grunden nicht. Erstens,
Weil die Sprichworter ebensowenig wie die Volkssagen vom Volke geschaffen
"'.orden sind. Zewitens, weil Sprichworter fast immer international sind, von
c:nem Volke zum andern wandern, und, ob richtig oder unrichtig, um so glau-
b1ger nachgesprochen werden, je bekannter sie sind."
E
50 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

Moreover, in practising charity you should not forget the needs

of your family, nor your own needs : " Don't let charity go out
of your house until the children are satisfied" (170). A person
who impoverishes himself through excessive charity is "like
a needle that clothes the people and is herself naked" (1020).
" He who gives away his goods during his life will call on God,
[but] he will not help him" (1021). Many sayings inculcate
economy, such as : " Eat and drink, and put what is left into a
palmetto bag" (948). But there are others that make fun of
a person who might live in comfort and yet is too stingy to do
it: he is like a butcher who "sups on intestines" (955), or,
" like a donkey, he carries gold and silver and wants straw "
(954). What is the good of being parsimonious when he knows
that "death is nearer than the twinkling of the eye? " (957)-
" Eat and drink and dress yourself, and say, Come 0 death"
(958). Industry is enjoined : "Livelihood is underneath the feet"
(617). On the other hand: "If you find a meal of fruit at the
gate of the orchard, don't proceed into it " (645). It is best for
a man to stick to his father's or ancestors' occupation: "He to
whom his father and grandfather left some hill should climb it "
(612). But the younger generation also have something to
say on the subject ; a person who is blamed for not taking up
his deceased father's trade replies: "Nobody is like his father
except the jackal with his howl" (614). In proverbs like these
we may discern differences of inclination and temperament:
one maxim appeals to one person, another quite different maxim
to another, and as people are not all alike so also their proverbs
differ. There is further the distinction between proverbs that
represent ideals and others that are based on realities which
do not come up to these ideals. The rule of tit-for-tat forms the
contents of many sayings: "Despise him who despises you, or
throw him away from you" (1253) ; "Revenge is forgotten
only by bastards" (1250). But side by side with the doctrine
of resentment there is the doctrine of forgiveness: "Show mercy
to him who is on earth, he who is in heaven will have mercy
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 51

upon you" (1266); "Forgiveness from the heart is better

than a box of gold" (1268). Truthfulness is insisted upon :
"Speak the truth, even though it is bitter" (1523); "The liar
is cursed, even though he is a learned man he is cast off by God "
(1528) ; " A lie is of no avail " (1530). Yet there are occasions
when this does not hold good and it is prudent to have recourse
to a lie : " 0 man, see and be silent ; if you eat meat, say it is
fish" (1705) ; " If he asks you about something, then say, I
don't know" (1707).
The proverbs of the Moors are in many respects reflections
of their Islamic culture. God is ohen mentioned, and always
in a reverent mamier. There is nothing of that familiarity or
jocularity which is so frequent in European sayings referring
to him, causing annoyance to puritanic writers; Kelly states
that he has excluded from his " complete collection " of Scottish
proverbs "all those proverbs that seem to make too homely with
the Almighty Being ". 1 We may be a little puzzled when we
hear that " [to commit] ten sins against God is better than
[to commit] one against a servant [of God]" (1274); but all
appearance of irreverence is removed by the explanation, that
God is forgiving but man is not. The religious duties of alms-
giving and prayer are strongly emphasized, and the same is
the case with patience and resignation, so frequently enjoined
in the Koran, and propriety of behaviour, on which the Islamic
traditions have so much to say. Other Muhammadan character-
istics are the deference shown to refugees and guests, the low
opinion held about women, the belief in curses and the evil eye.
At the same time there are also proverbs that have a distinctly
local colour ; but to discriminate between those that reflect
specifically Moorish conditions, ideas, and traits of character and
those that the Moors have in common with other Muhammadan
nations is mostly beyond my power. Even a complete knowledge
of the proverbs of the whole Arabic-speaking world would not,
by itself, be sufficient for such a task. Proverbs can only throw
i Kelly, op. cit., p. v.
52 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

rays of light, never full light, upon national characteristics. If

certain proverbs are found among one people and not among
another, their absence among the latter by no means proves
the absence of the facts they express. And there is another
point to be remembered in this connection, a point which is of
the utmost importance for the whole study of proverbs : in
order to gain reliable information about a people from its
proverbs it is necessary to possess intimate knowledge of it
derived from other sources, foremost of which is personal
expericnce. 1 I think I may say that I have acquired some
qualification for such a task during the nine.Years I have spent
in Morocco as a student of its people, whereas my knowledge
of other Muhammadan nations is gathered from books, which
are silent on many points relating to ideas, feelings, and behaviour
on which information is essential for a full understanding of
their proverbs.
As an instance of the danger the student of a people's proverbs
runs if he takes them as indicative of its character without
possessing adequate knowledge of facts that the proverbs fail
to disclose, I may mention the sayings dealing with married
women. Among all our proverbs there is not one that expresses
any tender feelings in a husband towards his wife ; yet it would
be a mistake to assume that no such feelings exist. As is pointed
out below (p. 80), we have here to take into account the Moorish
ideas of decency : it is considered indecent of a man to show
any affection for his wife, and it would consequently be improper
to speak of it in proverbs. In other cases it will be seen that
1
My own observations fully endorse the following opinion expressed by
Seiler (op. cit., p. 294): "Es fallt zwar mancher Lichtstrahl aus den Sprich-
wortern eines Volkes auf seinen Charakter, es werden auch bekannte Charakt.er-
ziige eines Volkes <lurch die Sprichworter oder ihr Fehlen bestiitigt, aber <lurch
den Sprichworterschatz allein kann man nun und nirgen<ls zu einer sicheren
und umfassenden Kenntnis eines Volkscharakters gelangen. Das ist wohl
auch der Sinn des Goetheschen Spruchcs :
Sprichwort bezeichnet Nationen,
Musst aber erst unter ihnen wohnen.
D.h.: Sprichworter sind allerdings bezeichnend (charakteristisch) for die
Volker; um aber deren Charakter aus den Sprichwiirtern erschliessen zu
konnen, muss man erst mit ihnen gelebt haben."
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 53

the proverb is based on some superstition the knowledge of which

is necessary for an adequate interpretation of it. It is particularly
difficult to draw conclusions as to the actual prevalence of a
mode of conduct from proverbs enjoining it. Of course, when-
ever a rule is laid down the possibility of its transgression is
assumed ; but it does not tell us whether the transgressions are
many or few. Not even the multitude or paucity of proverbs
inculcating the same kind of behaviour is a safe indication of
its prevalence. There are numerous exhortations to patience and
resignation, which the Moors possess in a much higher degree
than other peoples whose proverbs have comparatively little
to say about these qualities ; on the other hand, they also have
a large number of proverbs condemning lying, although they
cannot be called a truthful race. A multitude of sayings on
a certain mode of behaviour may imply either that much
importance is attached to it, or that the people are particularly
deficient in it. Both cases may, of course, be said to imply the
same thing, namely, that the actual practice does not come
up to expectation; but from this no definite conclusions may
be drawn as regards the real character of the people. Again,
the absence of proverbs relating to a particular course of conduct
may be due to the fact that it is looked upon with indifference;
but it may also be due to its being unusual. I have only heard
one proverb condemning wine-drinking, which is prohibited
by Islam and hardly occurs among Moslems unaffected by
foreign influence, and none enjoining the cardinal duty of fasting
during the month of RamaQ.an, which is more strictly observed
than any other Muhammadan duty. Sometimes proverbs seem
actually to serve the purpose of concealing practice. The
proverbs, "Don't follow the advice of your wife" (81), and,
" Consult your wife and follow your own mind, consult your
wife .and act contrary to her advice" (82), mostly sound like
bragging ; for, as a matter of fact, the men not only consult
their wives, but are also very much influenced by them. 1 In
1
Cf. E. Daumas, La vie arabe et la societe musulmane (Paris, 1869), p. 477;
Ben Cheneb, op. cit., nr. 1005.
54 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

short, although the proverbs of a people are in some way or

other expressive of its life and character, they may very
frequently have to be interpreted in the light of knowledge
which they do not themselves supply.

v
Proverbs are not only reflections of life: they also play an
active part in it. This functional aspect should engage our
attention, not only because the study of it helps us to under-
stand their intrinsic meaning and their bearing on national
characteristics, but for its own sake as well. 1 The importance
I attach to it from the latter point of view is one reason why
I so often represent concrete situations in which proverbs are
used, instead of stating their import in general terms. Those
situations may teach us something not only about the meaning
of the proverbs and the life of the people, but about the use
that people make of their proverbs-teach us when and
how and why they use them. ·
The Moors are very fond of quoting proverbs in their talk ;
and there are some general reasons for this which are obvious
enough. When a person has something to say, a proverb often
gives him a convenient ready-made means of expression which
spares him the trouble of finding words of his own for formulating
his thought. 2 The use of a proverb adds piquancy to one's
speech ; it shows savoir viure and knowledge too ; it makes a
neat argument which has the authority of custom and tradition--
as Aristotle said, "proverbs are in the nature of evidence ". 3
Another reason for the popularity of proverbs is the great
variety of purposes for which they may be employed. A proverb
may be an unemotional statement of even the most trivial
1 The importance of the functional rl}le of proverbs has been duly emphasized

by Dr. R. Firth in his suggestive articles in Folk-Lore, vol. xxxvii (London, 1926),
"Proverbs in Native Life, with special reference to those of the Maori."
2 Cf. Firth, Joe. cit., p. 264 sq. 3 Aristotle, Rhetorica, i, 15, 14.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 55

nature which has become impressed on people's minds through

some peculiarity of phrasing, and is repeated by them because
they are fond of talking of trivialities; or it may be a matter
of fact statement of a somewhat instructive nature, which for
this reason in particular is preserved and transmitted from
generation to generation. Such proverbs, however, may assume
a different character by being interpreted and used in a figurative
sense, although it may be difficult or impossible to distinguish
between cases in which a change of this kind has taken place
and others in which the proverb has been metaphorical from
the beginning. 1 Anyhow there can be no doubt that most
of the proverbs have always been expressive of feelings or
opinions or been intended to influence people's wills and actions.
One of the feelings which figure very prominently in the
proverbs of the Moors, as well as of other peoples, 2 is dissatisfac-
tion. The world is full of evils of many kinds. The innocent
is punished for the fault of the guilty : " One eats beans, and
for another they swell in his stomach" (1180); "The minaret
fell down, hang the barber" (1462). A good deed is often
rewarded with evil : " He who has done good will have colic
in return" (1603). Good servants or workmen are dismissed to
give place to bad ones: "The tables were turned upside down,
and the earthenware pots sat up" (718). A person who has
been introduced to his work, or has been taught a trade, by
another afterwards displaces him: "Plant him, he will pull
you up" (744); "I taught him swiftness, he threw me out and
shut the door" (749). A Moslem envies another Moslem if he
finds him prosper in any way, and will not help him even if he
sees some one trying to kill him: "Brother hates brother,
even if he sees people slaughter him" (1618). What a difference
between a poor man's life and a rich man's : " He who has money
is loved even though he is bad, the poor one is hated even though
he is good " (864) ; " If a wealthy man speaks unjustly they
say to him, Your speech is gold " (870) ; " If a poor man speaks
1 Cf. Seiler, op. cit., p. 303 sqq. 2 Ibid., p. 320 sqq.
56 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

the truth, they drive him away and in addition spit on him "
(871). A poor man is always liable to be deprived of his property,
either by the authorities or others : " The sheep of a poor man
pasture on the border" (879). Nobody speaks on his behalf if he
is robbed: "The orchard of a fatherless child is always robbed,
even if it is surrounded with a wall " (1193). A man who has
been well off and had many friends round him, but afterwards
has become poor and been abandoned by them, says to himself :
" There remains in the grave none but its master " (912).
Generally speaking, there is not much happiness in this world :
" The joy [lasts] seven days, and the sadness all the life " (1803).
But while the proverbs express sadness and despair, they also
give hope and consolation. "However long the night may
last, there will be a morning" (1800); "After every aflliction
there is enjoyment" (1802). Everybodywillgetwhathe deserves:
"As you sow you will reap " (1212); "An upright man has no
fear, even though the enemies are many" (1220); "Trust and
trust [in God], and you will get what you want " (1222) ; " An
innocent person's invocation to God has no curtains " (it will
be heard at once ; 1456). On the other hand : " He who
commits a wrong must suffer punishment " (1232) ; " He
who sows thorns must walk on them barefoot" (1234). An
unjust official will be punished by God: " The oppressor is
cursed by God and despised by the people" (439); "Every one
who ascends will descend" (440). A person who goes to prison
is comforted with the saying: "The days of imprisonment are
numbered, and the mercy of God is at hand" (1262). You need
not take any notice of people's envy : " If God has given you,
what can a servant [of God] do [to you]? "(1622). If a brigand
robs you of your property but spares your life, you have the
consolation : " If the head is alive, it will not be without a cap "
(1205); or, " [To suffer damage] in goods is better than in
bodies" (1204). So also it is better to have some work, whatever
it be, than to have no work : " Blear-eyedness is better than
blindness" (581); "The itch is better than leprosy, deafness
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 57

is better than dumbness " (582). It is better to have a good

master and low wages than a bad master and high wages : " 0
God, to be eaten by lions is better than the maltreatment of
jackals " (726) ; " Say to me, 0 my lord, and strip me naked,
and don't say to me, 0 dog, even though you make me rich" (730).
A poor man who has many worries is given the comforting advice :
" Put the troubles in a net, some will fall and some will remain "
(886). Wealth has also its drawbacks, and the poor man may
be happier than the rich : " Abundance of money is a trial for
a man" (887) ; " [OJ people, everything will satisfy you except
money, as much as you have so much [more] you want; but
[after death] nothing will fill the eyes of people but earth "
(890); "Small and spirited is better than big with money"
(898). " Little with health is better than much with sickness "
(899). Moreover, he who is wealthy may become poor, and he
who is poor may become wealthy: "He who becomes fat must
become thin, and he who flies must come down" (901). First
and last : "What God wills, what God desires, that will be "
(1787).
It may be said that even pessimistic proverbs give some
comfort in suffering by reminding the sufferer that there are
others as badly situated as himself ; and this is no doubt one
reason why complaints so frequently take the form of proverbs.
So also cheerful proverbs derive particular efficacy as a means
of consolation from their generality : they express not merely
individual expectations, but hopes based on common experience.
Dissatisfaction also leads to disapproval or reproach; and
here again a proverb is a very suitable vehicle for giving vent to
one's feelings. On the one hand, it gives the censure a semblance
of public opinion ; on the other hand, it makes even a sarcasm
less offensive by making it less personal. I shall here quote
some instances of sayings which certain persons have to put
up with as objects of other people's blame.
A father who disowns his son on account of misbehaviour:
"Your hand belongs to you, even though it is leprous" (200).
58 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

A man who lets some outsider take care of his deceased brother's
children : " The wing covers the chest " (180). A person who
boasts of being better than his family: " However high a man
may rise, he will not rise above his brothers and his father's
brother's sons" (252). A man who through his behaviour has
proved unworthy of the friendship bestowed on him: "I did
not believe that a friend would be disappointed" (324). One
who has risen to a high position and forgotten an old friend :
" Yesterday and we were companions, and to-day we are enemies"
(339). A person who makes a show of friendship but hides
enmity in his heart : " Fire underneath the straw " (336).
Some one who does not do his work properly : " The sea is not
crossed by a ferry, the belt is not made from a shirt" (670) ;
or, "A work rises only in the hand of its master" (671). A man
who makes his employees work too hard: "He who has not
begotten him takes no pity on him" (651). A workman who
does not do what his master tells him: "Whom you serve obey,
what youaregoingtopawnsell" (691). A woman who celebrates
a family feast and does not entertain her guests to their
satisfaction: "Slacken the eyelash, the day will pass" (1093).
A person who refrains from inviting relatives or friends to a
feast that he gives in his house : " The vegetable gardens are
emptied of their fruits, and the blame remains" (216). A person
who, when two others are speaking to each other, comes and
asks them what they are talking about: "Every one sells his
ragged old clothes in his market" (1382). Some one who
interferes in other people's affairs: "Enter your own market,
don't enter the markets of others " (1383) ; or, " Every one
buries his mother as he likes" (1388). A person who reports
to others something bad that he has seen or heard: "My eye
saw something, and my ear heard something " (1393).
The reproof is not always equally polite: there are many
scornful or sarcastic proverbs used for the purpose. 1 A person
who boasts of being better than his family may also hear the
1 See also supra, p. 12.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 59

remark: "None but a mule denies his origin" (251). A person

of low extraction who pretends to come from a good family :
"A wick does not come out of a rag" (254). A man of humble
origin who rose to a high position and became very overbearing,
but afterwards lost his position : " He said to him, What was
your father? He answered him, Ndffar (the man who during
Ramagan at certain hours of the night sounds a trumpet from
the tower of a mosque). He said to him, Thank God, RamaQ.an
has come to an end" (1601). Old people who imitate the
behaviour of young ones : " The she-cat is on the roof, and the
old woman with blackened eyes is dancing " (wanting to show
herself as agile as a cat; 1813). A servant who constantly
makes a mistake when sent on an errand : " Crooked as the
tail of a greyhound" (693). An extremely incapable workman:
" Blow the fire, 0 I_Isain" (676). A person who quarrels with
his guest: "None but a dog bites in his own house" (1090).
A man who robs an old woman living alone in her hut: "He
who is conquered by men at the market goes back to his wife
in the house " (to have his revenge on her; 1196). A robber
who is armed only with a stick, when caught : " A cuckold,
and he sups on potatoes" (the poorest of food; 1160). A bad
man who seeks equally bad company : " The lump of dry dung
is seeking her sister for forty days" (409).
Proverbs are not only suitable means of censure but also,
and for similar reasons, useful weapons of defence. When a
white woman who can find no husband of her own race marries
a negro, and is laughed at in consequence, she defends herself
by saying : " For lack of a relative I call a negro my mother's
brother" (63); or, "A charcoal, and it will give me fat to
eat" (64). If a man is reproved by his family for spending
all the money he earns with the proverb, " Bite off a bite and
leave [the rest] till to-morrow" (941), he answers them: "Tear
off tear off, and God will replace" (942). A person who is blamed
for separating himself from a friend with whom he has had a
quarrel justifies his conduct with the saying: "Nobody knows
60 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

what is inside the skin bag (used for carrying food in travelling,
but also, by snake-charmers, for keeping snakes) but he who
puts his hand into it " (333). An employer who is told that he
pays too high wages quotes the proverb : " Give a little for the
sake of God and a little for the sake of my heart" (721 ). If a man
who is engaged to work in another person's garden for small
pay is scolded by some one for being idle when the owner is
absent, he excuses himself by saying: "If he does not give
me my fee, I shall sleep and [then] stretch myself" (636).
When an indocile apprentice is beaten by his master, and his
father complains of it, the master replies : " The thorn is not
removed with cotton" (694) ; or, "Shave me, 0 my lord, over
the cap " (i.e. do the impossible ; 695). If a farmer who refuses
to lend his neighbour corn is told that he has lent some to others,
he defends himself by indicating that it is impossible for him
to help everybody : " The friends are many, and the tears are
few" (1073). A person who has caught a thief in his house and
taken him to the sheikh accuses him of having stolen more than
he has actually done ; when people blame him for it he answers
them: "Scratch him who rubbed you" (1162). A thief excuses
himself by repeating the saying : " Lack of work is a misfortune "
(1164). A person who hears others speaking disparagingly about
him, without knowing that he is listening, says: "If fires are
lighted, put more wood on me" (1507). The sayings used as
answers to unpleasant remarks may also be less civil. If an old
man says something disagreeable to a younger person, the latter
should politely reply ; " I respect you for the sake of the white
beard that is on your face" (1356); or, "I respect you for the
sake of those white hairs " (1357). But sometimes he gives vent
to his anger in the saying: "A white-beard and a villain are
like a jackal " (1358). If a person denies the truth of a state-
ment made by another, the latter replies : " The clouds are
not hurt by the barking of dogs" (1550). A man who is criticized
for something which he has bought indignantly asks : " What
does the donkey know about ginger? " (812).
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 61

Generally speaking, however, the Moors are a polite race.

If anyone shows you a thing he has bought, you should say it
is good, whatever you may think of it : " If you see hirn riding
on a bamboo-cane say to him, Good health to your horse"
(1352). Indeed, this is not a matter of mere politeness : there
is an idea that the spoken word brings about its own realization.
This idea is particularly prominent in curses, oaths, and blessings,
but it is also believed that if a person says of a thing that it is
not good, something bad will happen to it. 1 There is another
superstition that has been conducive to politeness, and at the
same time to the use of proverbs as polite answers, namely the
idea that a person by refusing a request exposes himself to the
danger of being hurt by the other person's evil eye or his curse.
If anybody shows a great liking for a thing belonging to some
one else, wanting, for instance, to buy his horse or his gun, it
is best to let him have it, since otherwise an accident is likely
to happen to the object of his desire; or if one villager refuses
to lend his camel to another for a day's work, the camel will
become ill or die. 2 Now it is obvious that arequestcannotalways
be granted, and people often prefer running some risk to doing
what they are asked to do; but they may lessen the danger by
politely couching the refusal in a proverb. In a country where
charity is a cardinal duty it does not sound well to say "no"
to a beggar; it is much better to convey one's denial by making
an excuse : " \Vhat will death take from an empty house "
(966) 1 "Our sickness is the same, and the one who cures is
God" (967); or, " [You are] going to a divorced woman that
she may make magic for you" (meaning that he who is asked
for something is himself in need of it, just as a divorced wife is
herself in need of sorcery to make her former husband take
her back; 968). A beggar who is not content with that which
he has received but asks for more, is told : " Be content with
little, God will bring you much " (975) ; or, " This is for the sake
1 See Ritual and Belief in Morocco, i, 603 sq. Even the bare thought is
supposed to bring about the event thought of (ibid., i, 422).
2
Ibid., i, 424 sq.
62 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

of God, give [it] that we may weigh it" (i.e. what is given for
the sake of God, even though it is little, weighs much; 976).
If a person is asked by another to lend him money, he may
inform him that he has already spent all his money (whether
it is true or not) by answering: "The sowing passed you
before March" (the time when the sowing comes to an end;
1074). When a farmer wants to borrow another's oxen for a
day or two in the ploughing season, he may, to his disappoint-
ment, be told : " Barley does not come out of a stable of horses "
(1075). When a woman who is going to a wedding asks another
woman to lend her her costume, and the latter wants it herself
because she also is going to the wedding, it is a polite answer to
say: "No one gives yeast on a feast-day" (when every mistress
of a household needs all the yeast she has; 1076). If a man
is invited by another to come and eat with him and, having
enough food in his own house, would prefer being entertained
on some future occasion when it is scarce, he refuses the invita-
tion by saying : " There is no liberality on a feast-day " (when
everybody has meat; 1108). A seller denies credit to a customer
by repeating the proverb : " One in the pocket is better than
ten that are absent" (824). On the day when a bride is to be
taken to the bridegroom's home, the latter is sometimes asked
by her family to pay more money in addition to the stipulated
dowry; he then refuses the unwarranted claim by saying :
" The weeping is over a dead man's head " (69). A guest who
proposes to marry the daughter of his host, instead of receivjng
a direct denial, is told : " He entered walking and went out
buying" (74).
In spite of their natural politeness, however, the Moors are
an excitable people, and, when enraged, hurl at each other
the most awful curses. How exquisite their curses may be
can be judged from one of them: "God damn your grandfather
and the grandfather of your grandfather and the grandfather
of him who does not curse your grandfather " 1-grandfathers
1 Ritual and Belief in llforocco, i, 480.
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 63

are great favourites in Moorish curses because a curse is supposed

to affect not only the person mentioned in it, but all his
descendants as well. 'Ne have seen that there are also some
curses among our proverbs. 1 But, on the other hand, the use
of an appropriate proverb may serve to cool the rage, stop the
quarrel, and make those who were cursing each other a moment
before rejoice and shake hands with each other. Once when
two of my servants from Tangier quarrelled I had only to recite
the proverb : " The quarrel of a native of Tangier is like fumiga-
tion with benzoin" (which only lasts for a moment; 505)-
and the angry look was changed into a friendly smile. In Morocco
the commission of an offence against a person very frequently
leads to the intervention of a third party on behalf of the offender
-the Moors distinguish between forgiveness from the heart and
forgiveness for the sake of another. And in such cases, as has
been noticed above, 2 certain proverbs are used as a kind of 'iir,
which implies the transference of a conditional curse and
consequently should act as a means of compulsion. Thus
proverbs are in various ways conducive to goodwill and peace.
To influence people's wills and actions is undoubtedly the
principal aim of our proverbs. This is true not only of those
proverbs which convey an express command, advice, or warning,
but, as has been pointed out before, to a very large extent of
those also which have the form of an assertion. The directions
in which they exercise their influence will be found in the various
chapters dealing with different forms of behaviour.
1
Supra, p. 11 sq. 2 Supra, p. 11.
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