RUSSIAN PROVERBS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 41, 24 December 1920, Page 15

RUSSIAN PROVERBS.

MAXIMS OF THE PE ASANTRY. In the September number of "Discovery," the "monthly popular journal of knowledge," published by Mr John Murray, there appears an article on "Russian Proverbs," by Mr Louis Segal, M.A., head of the Russian Departrnent in the University of Birmingham. A number of Russian proverbs, says Mr Segal, have their equivalents in English and other languages, the thoughts being alike, but the expression diffexing in form. "More haste, less speed," becomes in Russian "Hur-ry, and you will become ridiculous." The English "In the land oi the blind, one-eyed people are kings," has its equivalent in "Where there is ro fish even crabs are fish." Proverbs which indicate the popular - view of private property are of interest in view of the attempts made by the Bolsheviks to abolish it, and su'bstitute national ownership of the means of produc-. tion and distribution. Proverbs such as "Every man is a king in his own hcuse indicates the complete right exercised by the owner over his property. The landowner had full right to all that came from the land; "Whos.e land, his com, or "Whose forest, his timber," show the popular view of the question. The general view was against leaving money to onels children. Ilie dictum of the late Mr Carnegie, "I would rather Jeave my son a curse than a dollar," had several precursors in Russian folk-sayings. "Don't leave money to your sons; the silly will squander it, while the wise can make their own," expresses in somewhat milder form the same idea; while, "That is not property which one inherited from one s father, but what one eamed oneself expresses the same idea from a different

point of view. The popular belief that v iu,t is ^ easily acquired (or inherited or won) hrings no luck is also expressed in many sayings. Russians are justly reputed for being very hospitahle. "When a visitor is in the onse, God is there/ ' declares one adage. Anothgr ^ stamps the unsociable man as evil. ^ Hc evp ^ho pays no visits and invites no guests." It is an overbold statement, ^ but no donht it refiects the. general opinion in Russia. Idle life is pointed out as the source of ill-health. "The poor man is looking out for aisease, while the rich is sought out by it. "Idleness does not feed a man, but only makes him ill," is another truism. A number of precepts advocate the necessity of be'ing charitable. Charity is considered the essence of true reli.gion. Stories lilie Tolstoy's "Where love is,°God is, fully embody this national ponception. Also in folk-lore we can trace the same ideal in sayings like, "Don't build a church, support an orphan" ; or "Don't build seven churches, bring up seven orphans. Oue cannot lielp thinking, had the whole world been permeated by the piinciples dominating, to a large extent, the illiterat-e peasantry of Russia, this earth would now be a pleasanter place to live in.