Of Foxes, Dogs, and French Proverbs

 

Quand le renard se met à prêcher, prends garde à ta poule // When the fox starts preaching, look out for your hen.

Today, due to a not very obvious chain of associations*, I've started to look for some proverbs related to foxes. There were quite a few, as in many cultures they are perceived as sly, clever, deceptive and ruthless at the same time. 

And here is a fox, looking rather pious with his eyes fixed on a book, but with his ears pricked, alert to any opportunity that comes his way. 

_____ 

*  Now, to the chain of assotiations. I saw a set of pics from a dog show of Pastor Garafiano, a breed of dogs from La Palma island. They are very cute looking dogs, and one of the possible coloring is a rich, fox-like orange. So, foxes sprang to mind, and here we are.

Craignez la colère

 

Craignez la colère de l'chat patient // Fear the wrath of the patient cat

Although today's quote comes from Citation Célèbre website, it doesn't really. Partially because the citation doesn't deal with cats, but with men, in a typical anthropocentric manner. Partially because they say it is an Irish proverb, while it is a quote from John Dryden, quoting Publilius Syrus.

The cat, as we all know, is very patient. Look at him there, patiently filing his claw, as all patient cats do, at least according to some memes out there.

There is no winter without snow

 

Il n'est pas d'hiver sans neige, de printemps sans soleil, et de joie sans être partagée // There is no winter without snow, no spring without sun, and no joy without being shared

While the Canary Islands are being slowly getting covered by a thin reddish layer of calima dust, Moscow is blanketed by a record-breaking layer of snow. My sister is sending me snowy pics of the beautiful, if very cold, winter they are having. 

Some of the photos show a small boat on the river Moscow. It stayed there for a few months already, caught in the ice by the first big frost. Now, with all the snow around it, it positively looks like something that belongs to a book on polar exploration. 

The phrase above is a Serbian proverb. Going by it, I didn't have a single winter in the last few years, if we discount the snow on Teide. No shortage of sun, though.

La soupe est trop salée

Quand il y a plusieurs cuisiniers, la soupe est trop salée // When there are several cooks, the soup is too salty

Today’s prompt is “soup”, soupe.

The quote is allegedly an Italian proverb, its English equivalent being “too many cooks spoil the broth”, and much more scary Russian one «у семи нянек дитя без глаза» (“seven nannies — a kid without an eye”).

In quarantine news, nothing much. Canaries are expecting a go-ahead from the health ministry for the remaining five islands to enter into Phase 1 of de-quarantining (we are now at Phase 0). What that entails, we’ll see soon enough. So far I can see that small businesses which were originally intending to wait till 11th to open, are opening already. Small observation: although time seems to be dragging endlessly, the quarantine-related rules and regulations are changing way too fast still. As a consequence, right now every shop has a selection of opening hours, conditions of service and maximum number of customers displayed in their window. Some of these hastily printed notes contradict each other, especially the opening hours. In good news, I bought myself a new sketchbook at Carlin. It has 80 pages, so I am hoping we will be finally leaving in “new normality” when I finish it.

La devise d’un chat sage

La devise d’un chat sage: peu de biens avec liberté // The motto of a wise cat: few goods with freedom

I discovered yesterday that I skipped one prompt and was using them with a sort of frameshift mutation.

First I thought I’d just do one impromptu pic, but when I looked up phrases with the missed prompt “estate”, biens, this French proverb came up and I found it irresistible.

So here is the wisest cat of the all, with all his earthly possessions in a small furoshiki bundle, enjoying a bonfire by waterside. Simple pleasure.

In quarantine diaries, the first mad rush for the morning exercise definitely subsided in our area, perhaps because there is no access to the beach. I take it Las Canteras are still quite busy in the mornings. In the evenings, however, it is like a rave along the promenade. Safety distances are not kept, that’s for sure. Some more small businesses opened yesterday. There is a small two-chair barbershop two doors away from ours. They opened on Monday afternoon already, now being just one-chair affair. Yesterday, when I walked home, there was a guy sitting on a bench outside, obviously expecting his turn. Out of curiosity, I asked him how it was arranged, because you are supposed to have an appointment. He says he got his via WhatsApp, but, he added, they don’t have free anything till Thursday. So all these wild hair will stay with us for a while, I imagine.

Chaton porte un chiton

Chaton porte un chiton // Chato wears a chiton

Today’s prompt is “republic”, république.

It is tricky. All the quotes I could find were either dead serious or sort of difficult to illustrate although I can’t help but share with you this one, by Georges Clemenceau:

La vie m’a appris qu’il y a deux choses dont on peut très bien se passer: la présidence de la République et la prostate.

Life has taught me that there are two things you can do without: the Presidency of the Republic and the prostate.

Aaanyway... As you can see, I decided to make it easy for myself. Just one thing though: when and why the English version of the name “Plato” did lose its terminal “n”? Even the French version has it.

Oh, and the second note: chaton means “kitten” and Chato doesn’t mean anything.

And the third: it is fun dressing the cat in various outfits.

In quarantine news: tomorrow we should be able to come out to do some individual sports and walk around, according to an age-specific schedule. There are some (many) doubts about it, because swimming in the sea, for example, is very much an individual sport, but beaches are closed, so... how is that supposed to work? Anyway, I guess we’ll see tomorrow, when everybody rushes to the beach and police starts fining people left and right.

Le merveilleux acteur

Quand intelligence et sensibilité sont en parfait équilibre, on a le merveilleux acteur //
When intelligence and sensitivity are in perfect balance, we have the most wonderful actor

Today’s prompt is “actor”, acteur.

The original English version of the quote, supposedly by Charlie Chaplin, once again proves to be somewhat elusive. He might have said something similar, of course.

The cat always wanted to be an actor. He also has great balance of intelligence and sensitivity. What he lacks is the slim stature of Charlie Chaplin, but hey, he did his best.

In quarantine news, nothing major once again. The stats keep being tentatively optimistic for Spain in general, even more so for Canaries. Yesterday, as a sign of “life returning back to normal” we got two guys with a jackhammer under our window, breaking the surface of the little side street and leaving droppings of traffic cones in their wake. I’m sure it is a positive sign, although it is kinda difficult to perceive it as one.

Conseil sans assistance

Conseil sans assistance est un corps sans âme // Advice without help is a body without a soul

Today’s prompt is “assistance”, which is the same word in French.
The quote is a French proverb.
I am not sure why the cat is carrying a log. Maybe, but not necessarily, because I’ve read too many jokes about Lenin and a log recently.
Projecting on our current circumstances, the unhelpful advisers in the picture probably don’t have any choice. Social interaction of any kind is forbidden, so they can’t just come down from their balconies and help him to log the log, so to speak.
In quarantine news, the government plan of opening up was revealed yesterday. There are five steps in it, numbered, just for the heck of it, from 0 to 4 (errm). The positive thing is that three of the Canary Islands with the best stats can proceed to the stage one (not 0) almost immediately. The negative thing is that we don’t live on one of them. The walkies and individual sports are tentatively scheduled for this Saturday, as far as I can tell. The reporting of the news is on its new low at the moment, nobody seems to check what they are publishing, and cut and haste mistakes abound.

Peindre du blanc sur du blanc

On ne peut pas peindre du blanc sur du blanc, du noir sur du noir. Chacun a besoin de l’autre pour se révéler //
You can’t paint white on white, black on black. Each needs the other to reveal themselves

Today’s prompt is “requirement”, exigence / besoin.

The quote is apparently an African proverb. Little did they know about Kazimir Malevich and his White on White painting.

To be honest, I forgot about it too. Black Square is something that immediately comes to mind, of course, but White on White was gone, maybe due to the lack of contrast. Interestingly, Google and its Big Brother information processing strategies proved quite helpful. How. Well, first I searched for the citation and found one I liked. I stuck it into Google Translate. Then, thinking that Black Square will be the perfect illustration, I started typing Kazimir Malevich in Google search box. To my surprise, the suggestion of Google was not “black square” but rather “white on white”. Well done I guess, but hmmm...

In other news, looks like at least the kids till age of 12 will be able to have a walk outside starting from 27 April. Yay for them. Meh for us.

Une dette est belle par son paiement

Une dette est belle par son paiement // Долг платежом красен

Today’s prompt is “payment”, paiement.

I had difficulties with this one. Now we are sitting at home, with no ways of generating income, thoughts of various payments that are due are looming menacingly, making it difficult to stay positive and draw something positive, too.

So, here is not-so-positive pic. The cat will be fine though, if he owns anything to anybody, he owns it to me, and I am not going to claim anything off him. He is a good cat.

The quote of today is a Russian proverb. As usual, I couldn’t identify the original immediately, but at least I could do it eventually in this case. The literal meaning is “The debt is good by its payment”. Originally coined by merchants to underscore the practice of lending with interest, so that the debt is made “good” by giving back more when you borrowed, now it is used more or less to say “you get what you give”.

Les gens heureux

Les gens heureux n’ont pas besoin de se presser //
Happy people don’t have to hurry

Today’s prompt is “people”, gens.

The quote above is apparently a Chinese proverb, although I am not convinced. «Счастливые часов не наблюдают» by Griboyedov expresses much the same sentiment, and I am sure many more expressions saying basically the same exist.

The cat is sunbathing on Las Canteras, Las Palmas main town beach. Being an intellectual, he is also reading a very clever book.

Donne-lui une bêche

Traite ton hôte en invité pendant deux jours. Le troisième, donne-lui une bêche //
Treat your visitor as a guest for two days. The third, give him a spade.

The second prompt from my list is “guest”, invité.

Found a rather funny Swahili proverb above. “Donner une bêche”, “give a spade” doesn’t seem to have any idiomatic meaning, just a straightforward one. I don’t know what is the most popular application of a spade in, say, Tanzania or Kenya, but it it was a Russian proverb, it would be something to do with potatoes. Planting them, ridging them or digging them up.

Basically, they advise you to set your visitors to work once they overstayed their welcome.

dans l'âge mûr

Dans l'enfance tous les hommes sont frères, dans l'âge mûr chacun tire de son bord // In childhood all men are brothers, in maturity everyone pulls at his side.

The last Inktober prompt this year is "ripe/mûr". I rather like less fruity meaning of both words, the one related to age. There is a difference, though - while in English "ripe age" asks for "old" to be inserted in the middle, in French, as far as I understand, it simply implies maturity.

When I found the quote in the caption, a Chinese proverb, I though oh! how lucky, there is a direct equivalent in English, "pull a blanket towards oneself". My search, however, didn't bring any convincing results, so now I think perhaps Russian expression "тянуть на себя одеяло" decided to disguise itself as an English proverb just to confuse me*. It means literally "to hog a blanket" and figuratively "to act selfishly". 

Here is the cat, acting very maturely, i.e. trying to pull a blanket towards himself. 

* do tell me if the expression does exist in some form though