Matheson Collection > Gaelic proverbs and proverbial sayings, with English translations

MISCEr<I.ANEOUS. 27
19 Air gnothaich na cuthaig.
On the cuckoo's business.
Al. — ^A chuir a ruith na cuthaig.
Sent to chase the cuckoo.
S.P. — A gowk's errand.
20 An ceòl air feadJi na fidhle
The music throughout the fiddle.
21 An làmh a bheir 'si a gheibh,
Mar a d'thugar do dhroch dhuin' e.
The hand that gives is the hand that will
receive,
Except when given to a had man.
22 Am fear is fhaide chaidh bho'n bhaile,
Chual e'n ceòl bu mhilse leis nuair thill e
dhachaidh.
Who farthest away e'er did roam
Heard the sweetest music on returning home.
2'3 A lion beag is bheagan, mar a dh' ith an
cat an t-iasg.
Little by little, as the cat eat the fish.
24 An rud a nithear gu math,
chithear a bhuil.
What is well done will be shown by restdts
25 A chuid de Fhlaitheanas dha.
His share of Paradise to him.
" Flaitheanas," according to our etomologists, is from
" Flath Innis," " The Isle of Heroes," the heaven of Celtic
Mythology. Here the souls of the brave (none other were
deserving), went for eternal and blissful repose, at the end
of their warrior-careers. Cowardice was deemed a sin
that barred the guilty from entering that coveted place.
The other place, in those days, was not the brimstone-fueled