Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/186

178 21. Ghar nahîn khân nûn te ammâ pîhan gai hûî hai.

Nothing to eat in the house, because mother has gone out to grind corn, i. e., putting a good face on it: hiding the skeleton in the cupboard.

22. Hochî dî nath, hade nahkk te kade hath.

The mean woman's nose-ring, sometimes in her nose (shown), and sometimes in her hand (hidden), i. e., showing off before company.

23. Palle nahîn ann te barâsâhî banh.

When your granary's empty send presents to your daughter-in-law: i. e., making a vain show: living upon nothing.

24. Khâh, jawâîâ, tahrî, nakkon muhon bahrî, or Khâh, jâwâîâ, tahrî, manne chitte bahrî.

Eat the rice, my son, and fill your nose and mouth, or eat the rice, my son, and fill your heart and soul, i. e., letting your right hand know what your left hand does. Doing a thing that everybody may know of it. The tahrî is a choice and rather expensive dish and the story goes that an old woman was so proud of having made some that she bade her son-in-law eat till the rice-grains hung about his nose and mouth. The second version may also mean (freely), "I call this tahrî, eat it and think so too."

25. Mân jore kaurî kaurî, dhî gawâwe dhaurî.

The mother collects pence and the daughter loses a whole buffalo skin, i. e., being generous beyond one's means, current among the leather-seller class in India.

26. Mâun phire phosî phosî nûn, te putt guhûre bakhsdâ phirdâ hai.

The mother collects the cow-dung (for fuel) and the son gives away the heaps, i. e., being generous with other people's money.

21. Nawîn julâhi dher pur tânî.

The new weaver fixed her loom on a dung-hill, i. e., manners make the man. A man out of his station is sure to commit a solecism. The native loom has to be fixed firmly into the ground, but the untrained weaver fixed hers in a soft place.

28. Dillî dalâl khâwen makkî baje nihâl.

The Delhi brokers eat raw grain, and are called rich, i. e., all for show. A common trick among these very sharp gentry is to have two pockets, one full of makkî, raw Indian com, and one full of expensive