Sayings

Kurdish sayings

1-There are three mad men in this world: one of them is that person who wanders alone, and the other who smokes cigarettes while ascending and climbing upwards and the third is that one who takes his belongings to the house of his father-in-law.

2- Travel through the trodden path, no matter if it is too far, cross the river where people had passed before, never mind if it is too deep and marry the girl, in spite of her big age.

3- As a custom in Kurdish society, this wise saying shows us not to do so and take it as an advice: At the time you visit a friend or a relative, once in a year they regard you as a king, but when you call on somebody every month, they will consider you as a guest, yet; you pay them a visit daily your place would be near the rest of dogs.

4- One day a group of Kurdish young men came to an old woman, they wanted to test her experience in life. They asked her this simple but full of meaning, " Which do you prefer to be given lessons of life or reason?". When they awaited her reply, she looked at them and smiled. Dear sons," if lessons of life overpass me, for what do I need reason? They will surely grant me a lot of reason.

5- A wise Kurdish man had said: there are four kinds of people. They are sorted as follows: one has word and deed, this one is a brave man. Another does not speak but acts vigorously, this one looks as if he is a lion. The third utters but he does not do anything, he is like a donkey. The last neither utters nor performs at all, he is void and nothing.

6- A Kurdish mother noticed that her unmarried daughter was out of door and always came late home. She felt suspicious and wanted to put an end to that bad behavior. One day she told her not to stay out for a long time because of people's gossips. Her daughter answered her very coolly, " my mother what you are thinking of, I have gone beyond that limit." At that moment, her mother with great grief said: "if it is so, then go around day and night."

7- A carpenter had a very pretty wife. One day the governor had seen her while he was wandering near-by. He wanted take her as a wife, knowing that she was married to a well-known carpenter in the town. He sent for him to attend at his office. When he reached, he told him to fill a sack of sawdust from now till the morning, otherwise he would be hanged. He came back home feeling very sad, because he was sure that he could not do such thing in a night. When his wife knew about the whole matter and feeling her husband misfortune, she asked," stand up carpenter, go to sleep as usual, it is one door but thousand keys, God is greater than the governor and all rulers."

In the morning, his door was knocked, he opened it with great fright, thinking that they had come to take him to the governor. But to his great surprise, he was told to prepare a coffin for the dead governor. At that moment, he began to breathe calmly thanking God to have released him from this terrible situation.

8- Once they asked the a certain question," Why don't you sleep on the garbage?" He stirred his tail and said: "It is too dirty for me to sleep on." When the garbage heard that ordered the dog to keep away from the place in order not get unclean.

9- While someone was about to kill a serpent, it began to talk with him. The brave is not that person who kills me, but the brave is the one who buries me after that. What a wisdom!

10- A country man was bored of his donkey because it got old and tired to work. He took it to the market to sell it. No one came near him for his weariness. Feeling hopeless, he began to boast that his donkey was able to climb mounts. While he was saying that a cunning person came to him and ordered him to do this in front of his eyes. Who told him: this is your donkey and this is the mount. Show me how would you manage that? The owner felt ashamed of himself and returned his donkey home.

11- While a passer-by was walking near a side village he noticed a blind boy playing heels game with some children. He felt curious and asked him not to play with them because they would play tricks on him. The blind boy answered: No sir, those opened ones around would tell the truth about the game. Don't care.

12- The enemy of a father will never be a friend of the son

To a great extent, this proverb represents a doctrine in Kurdish society. When blood is shed either deliberately or not, their will be hostility between two families or more, it never ends easily if there will not be a reconciliation. Hence, this will extend from the father to the sons. As the proverb stated," The enemy of a father will never be a friend of the son." Sometimes it takes years and years. When the person fulfill his vengeance after forty years, Kurdish proverb says," it was done fast, despite those past long years.

13- The man is a stream, the woman a pool

This Kurdish proverb deals with the living affairs of a certain and specific family. How both the husband and the wife behave in handling their daily life, and their conduct towards their income and their responsibilities concerning the cost of living. Here, in the proverb the man is metaphorically shown as stream that brings and the wife as a pool that gathers that water. If so, it will be okay, everything be all right, otherwise; if the woman is carefree in her spending and does not put in mind the outcome, the water of the stream will never be enough to fill the pool.

14- Fighting is better than idleness

In this negative conception of the proverb centuries ago had established a wrong idea in the mind of Kurdish people that at the time of being out of work or being jobless for any reason, that man should earn his living out of fighting, stealing which brings about killing. It discourages them to seek work and be effective in the society and instead of being productive they indulge in triviality. This proverb must be replaced by this one.

" Work is much better than idleness."

15- Where do I sleep after supper?

It happened that a Kurdish man was going to his village. On his way home, it began to snow heavily, therefore; it stopped him near another village nearby. A person showed him the way to the house of the head, he went in, it was after suppertime. Many people were there talking and gossiping. The guest felt very hungry, when he found that nothing was brought to him because time got too late. He became sure that they had had their dinner. Hence, he inquired," If I ate my supper, where will I go to sleep?". Then, the host understood the real intention of his question. He ordered his men to prepare some food to him. His question became a very common proverb in Kurdish language.

16- Resho use your hands

Resho was a Kurdish young man, while he was playing near a river with some friends, they found the water flood coming fast and filled all the place. All managed to survive themselves from the sudden flood, only resho who was drifted away by the waves of water. At that he began to shout for help after seeing that he was going to be drowned, but no one dared to do so. Therefore; resho became quite sure at the moment of death that no one would risk his life for his sake. Hopelessly he talked to himself in an encouraging way which it became a well-known speech among Kurds when facing a critical situation. He said: poor Resho use your hands for swimming, otherwise the waves will take you away and you certainly die. luckily, he was able to survive.

17- The bubbles of rain reveal

Two men quarreled about how to divide their theft, and one of them was about to kill the other. At that decisive moment, he besought to leave him and not to do so because people will know about your crime later. He told him how they would find out and no one see it now. The dagger on his neck, he answered him ," the bubbling rain of spring will reveal it." He committed his crime. One day while he was watching rain and found the bubbles on the falling rain on the ground, he started laughing loudly, his wife heard that and came towards him telling him about this mysterious laugh. First, he showed various excuses but the wife was not convinced, she insisted on him to tell her the truth. As last, he told her about his crime, after feeling hopeless. Days had passed, the husband beat the wife harshly for her misbehavior not knowing that she would expose his secret. She went to the street and in aloud voice making every one hear the truth of her husband's crime. Then, he was arrested and put in jail.

18- "With patience, the sour grapes become molasses." Kurdish proverb.

Slowly, slowly you catch the monkey" world proverb."

This is now used to describe that a slow and patient approach to a problem with careful thought is often better than rushing in.