Haitian Proverbs

Posted on May 24, 2004 in Anthropology Culture Reading

Harper’s Magazine now publishes a weekly recap of some of their articles and illustrations from the distant past in a section called The Harper’s Archive. The entries — reading almost like a blog — share the perspectives of Americans of the 19th Century, sometimes showing how different we are from our predecessors and sometimes how little we have changed.

I was struck by the timeliness of these proverbs culled by John Bigelow during the 1850s reign of Faustin I and remarked upon by him in the June 1875 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine:

1. When you see the wood-louse eat the earthen jar, the calabash can not be expected to resist.
2. When you see the wood-louse eat the bottles, hang the calabash high.
3. The cockroach is always wrong when it argues with the chicken.
4. It is only the knife that knows the heart of the yam.
5. It is when the wind is blowing that we see the skin of the fowl.
6. Shoes alone know if the stockings have holes.
7. The rat eats the cane; the innocent lizard dies for it.
8. If the millet falls, it is picked up; if the Christian falls, he is not helped up.
9. The sitter is mean.
10. To-day for you, to-morrow for me.
11. When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.
12. You never eat gumbo with one finger.
13. A single finger can’t catch fleas.
14. Conspiracy is stronger than witchcraft.
15. The wild goat is not cunning that eats at the foot of the mountain; that is, near the thoroughfares and settlements of men.
16. The snake that wishes to live does not travel on the highway.
17. `Tis the owner of the goat reclaims it. You should not blame him.
18. The ears never weigh more than the head.
19. People who have their ears above their heads. (a description for the stubborn)
20. Till you are across the river, beware how you insult the mother alligator.