Pashtun Proverbs
Since I can't harm you so I will kill your father
Taxes eat up the plains,
and honor eats up the mountains.
Proverbs are to the Pathan what Biblical texts are to the Christian - a rule of life or conduct which cannot be gainsaid ; and as various shades of meaning are evolved out of one and the same text, so proverbs are applied in various ways. What is wanted in a collection of this sort is to obtain an insight into a people's hidden thoughts on their own social condition, and we can best do so by studying them from their expressed thoughts, which, in the shape here given below, cannot lie. Every race of man, from the highest to the lowest in the intellectual scale, whose language is sufficiently copious and flexible, must have numerous proverbs, which are un- written and unconscious self-criticisms, accessible to all the world.
COURAGE
Admiration for physical courage is innate in a Pathan. In a Pathan's eyes a brave man must possess every virtue, but a coward can possess none. Though the moral tone of the maxims collected under the above heading is high and honorable to the people among whom they are current, yet, with all his gallantry and talk about brave deeds, the Pathan has no knowledge of "fair play," and would think an enemy, who practised it towards him, a generous fool. So foreign is the idea comprised in the above phrase to his mind, so difficult its conception even, that his language contains no equivalent expression, and, though there is a word for treachery [tagi), still it appears to him in most cases merely a skilful taking advantage of an enemy's mistake or weakness.
1. On his forehead is light, whose sword tip is red (with blood). That is, he who has killed his man is a fine fellow. Good looks and brave deeds accompany each other.
2. One is equal to one hundred, and one hundred to (so much) earth. [One brave man is equal to one hundred cowards.]
3. Either a brave man wields the sword, or one red from grief {i.e. desperate).
4. When the wolf gets red, he becomes an ugly customer. [Bannuchis say this of Wazirs, but its general application is that a bad man, whom one has punished or injured, becomes all the more dangerous].
5. Shoes are tested on the feet ; a man in a row.
6. Against a sword assume a shield, against words a bold front.
7. Desire a man's disposition, and a lion's heart.
8. The sword's fellowship rs sweet. [One brave man admires another.]
9. Look at a man's deeds, not whether he is tall or short.
10. The sword is wielded through family. [That is, its use is almost natural to men of good family, or descended from brave men.]
11. To a true man his sickle is an Afghan knife.
12. May you rather die in fight, my son, than be disgraced before the enemy.
13. The tiger rends his prey, the jackal, too, benefits by it. [The jackal is the tiger's attendant, and eats his leavings. The meaning is that a strong man both maintains himself and his dependents.]
14. The load which the ass won't carry, you yourself will carry. [When a brave man can't get assistance readily, he sets to work and does without it.]
15. I would rather be a childless mother, than that you should run from the battle-field. [Said by a mother to her son.]
16. Other brave men do not seize on the wealth of him who binds on his arms.
17. Who passes through in one (case), becomes a lion in another.
18. Who has the power to fight lays conference aside.
19. Although there are many roads, for men there is only one [i.e. the straightest).
20. True men are not God, but are not without God. [That is, though not equal to God, yet receive help from Him.]
21. The spectator is a great hero [i.e. criticizes freely).
22. Though you are of the border, I am of the woods. [Means " I am as good a man as you."]
23. The clod does not miss the dock-eared dog. [Such dogs are the best fighters, and, when barking at any one, approach so near him that a clod thrown at them is sure to hit ; whereas, the common village curs keep, when barking, at a respectful distance. The application is that the more reckless of danger a man is, the greater the chances of his getting hurts.]
24. For a man, either a swift flight or a swift blow. [That is, either " discretion " in running away, " is the better part of valor," or a sudden bold attack.]
25. If there be not a leader, there won't be a crossing; If there be not gold, there won't be Eid. [Until some man tries the depth and the bottom, whether firm or a quicksand, it is impossible to say where the ford is.]
26. See a man all round, a dog of a fellow may be a good swordsman. [When forming judgment as to a man's worth, do not regard only one or two points, e.g. his skill with the sword, but study him all round, and strike the balance from the general result.]
27. The thorn which is sharp is so from its youth. [That is, a brave man was brave as a boy. "The child is father of the man."]
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