termelons in one hand,"
and it becomes immortal. Vivid imagery is perhaps the most marked
characteristic of Caucasian proverbs. Wit, wisdom and grace may all
occasionally be dispensed with, but pictorial effect, the possibility of
clear mental presentation, is a _sine qua non_. Aiming primarily at this,
the mountaineer says of an impudent man, "He has as much shame as an egg
has hair;" of a garrulous one, "He has no bone in his tongue" or "His
tongue is always wet;" of a spendthrift, "Water does not stand on a
hillside;" and of a noble family in reduced circumstances, "It is a
decayed rag, but it is silk." All these metaphors are clear, vivid and
forcible, and the list of such proverbs might be almost indefinitely
extended. With all their vividness of imagery, however, Caucasian sayings
are sometimes as mysterious and unintelligible as the darkest utterances
of the Delphian Oracle. Take, by way of illustration, the enigmatical
proverb, "He lets his hasty-pudding stand over night, hoping that it will
learn to talk." Only the rarest penetration would discover in this
seemingly absurd statement a satire upon the man who has a disagreeable
confession to make or an unpleasant message to deliver, and who puts it
off until to-morrow, hoping that the duty will then be easier of
performance. Again: what would a West European make of such a proverb as
the following: "If I had known that my father was going to die, I would
have traded him off for a cucumber"? Our English cousins, with their
characteristic adherence to facts as literally stated, would very likely
cite it as a shocking illustration of the filial irreverence and
ingratitude of Caucasian children; but an American, more accustomed to
the rough humor of grotesque statement, would see at once that it was not
to be "taken for cash," and would understand and appreciate its force when
he found its meaning to be that it is better to dispose of a perishable
article at half price than to lose it altogether--better to sell your
father for a cucumber than have him die on your hands.

The cruel, cynical, revengeful side of the mountaineer's character finds
expression in the proverbs, "A cut-off head will never ache;" "Crush the
head, and the tail will die of itself;" "If you can't find a Lak [a member
of a generally-detested tribe], hammer the place where one sat;" "What
business has a blind man with a beautiful wife?" "The serpent never
forgets who cut off his tail, nor the fathe