Pashto Proverbs
پشتو متلونه

S. S. Thorburn

From "Bannu: Our Afghan Frontier"

Topic: Enmity
دشمني

Were a Pathan not a good hater and an unscrupulous partisan, he would fail in two very marked characteristics of his race. Though all cannot afford the luxury of having a blood feud, still, two cousins, being necessarily rivals, are always at enmity, for a house not divided against itself is a thing unknown.

• A cousin's tooth breaks on a cousin's
  د تربور غاښ په تربور ماتېږي
  Cousins are generally rivals and enemies
• Though your enemy be a rope of reeds, call him a serpent
  دښمن د که د لوخو پړې وي، مار ئي بوله
  That is, do not despise an enemy, be he never so contemptible
• Who has fallen from the top of a high mountain recovers; Who has fallen from the heart's anguish recovers not.
  راليويدلې د غرو به روغ شي،خو نه روغېږي چې د زړه تر آزار پرېوتې وي
  This is from Mullah Abdul Hameed
• A stone will not become soft, nor an enemy or a friend
  کانړې به پوست، او دښمن به دوست نه شي
• Whilst he is little, play with him; when grown up, he is a cousin so fight with him.
  چه کم وي، لوبوه ئي، چه لوې شي، نو تربور دې جنګوه ئي
  Father and son often quarrel, the latter wishing the former to give him his share of the inheritance. The story goes, that Khushal Khan Khattak, when in confinement in Hindustan, was offered his liberty by the Emperor Aurangzeb, on a ransom of three thousand rupees, but refused it, saying that, though he would have paid the amount willingly a few years before, his son Bahram was now grown up and conspiring against him. He then repeated the above proverb to the Emperor.
• If there were nine, then all nine are my sons; if there was one, one even is bad
  که نه ؤو، نه سره مې ځامن دي... که يو ؤو، يو هم بد دې
  The play of words here, as elsewhere, is lost in the translation. The meaning is, that if a man is not at enmity with you, he is as your son.
• Speak good words to an enemy very softly; gradually destroy him root and branch
  بد سړي ته ښې خبرې وايـه پــــه ورو ورو
  بيخ بنياد ئي وباسه له سرايه په ورو ورو
  That is the precept which still guides Pathans in working out revenge or destroying an enemy. The Italians say, "Wait time and place to act thy revenge, for it is never well done in a hurry."
• The master's food is being cooked, and the slave-girl's back aches (from spite)
  خواړه د څيښتن پخېږي، او کونه د وينڅي خوږېږي
  That is, the base cannot bear seeing others enjoy what they themselves do not share in.
• Kill a snake through an enemy
  مار هم په دښمن وژنه
  If he kills it, you have one enemy the less; if the snake kills him, all the better for you. The Spaniards say, "Draw the snake from its hole by another man's hand."
• A Pathan's enmity is like a dung-fire
  د پښتانه بدي د سرې اور دې
  That is, it smoulders and burns for a long time, and is not easily quenched. The Italians say, "Revenge of one hundred years old hath still its sucking teeth."
• When a family becomes at variance, its whole crops become black oats
  چه کهول شي بې فرمانه، تول ئي واړه شي کر يانړه
  Black oats appear as a weed on poor land intermixed with the wheat and barley.
• When the one profits, the other's house is ruined
  چه د يوه سود کېږي، د بل کور نړېږي
  This is a common saying amongst Bannuchis and Wazirs, neither of whom can bear seeing a neighbour prosperous.
• Whose son and brother have been murdered, who has restrained his hand?
  چه ځوئي ورور ئي وي وژلې، د هغه لاس دې چا نيولې
  Amongst Pathans, the avenging of blood is regarded as a sacred duty, or, as the Italians put it, "A morsel for God." Every family of note has its blood feud, and every individual in it knows the exact number of members of the hostile family who have to be killed before the account, which may have been running for generations, can be balanced, and a reconciliation attempted. Sometimes, a nominal settlement is effected by the payment of blood-money, or so many young girls for each murdered man, whose account has not been closed by an equivalent murder. In the Frontier Regiments it is by no means uncommon for a Pathan soldier to cut his name, or take leave with the avowed object of pursuing to the death his father's or other near relative's murderer.
• An enemy is a thorn in the quilt
  دښمن د کنجړ اغزې ده
  The quilt is the only covering used in bed. An enemy like a thorn in it, must be got rid of.
• The fellowship of thieves is sweet, but quarrels ensue on division of the plunder
  د غلو وروري خوږه ده، خو په ويش باندې جګړه ده
• Enmity with outsiders disappears, but not with one's relations.
  د باهر بدي ورکه شي، او د کور بدي نه ورکېږي
• He (an enemy) will say sweet words to you, and lead you into a pit
  خواږه خواږه به درته وائي، او ژورې ته به دې بيائي
• When two fall out, a third gains by it
  چه د دوه سره جګړه شي، د درېم په کښۍ ښه شي
  So we say that "Two dogs fight for a bone, and the third gets away with it"
• The shelter of a tamarisk is (equal to) that of a mountain for a man who fears not God
  چه د خدائ ويره نه وي، د غزه پناه د غره پناه
  The idea is, what restrains a man from sin is the fear of God. Once that restraint is gone, the Godless man can go on in his wickedness with little fear of detection and punishment from his fellow man.
• When the village becomes two, it is good for backbiters
  چه کلي دوه شي، د چغلو ښه شي
• Lending is the seed of enmity
  پور د بدي تخم دې
  So we say, "He that doth lend doth lose a friend."
• The family, in which there is an informer, becomes scattered
  چه څرګ ئي له کوره وي، خو نه ئي خوره وي
  The nearest approach to this, which occurs to me, is "It is an ill bird that soils its own nest"
• That man will be your bane who enters not into your thoughts
  چه نه دې وي په خوا، هغه تا ته شي بلا
  An enemy springs up against a man from a quarter where he least expected one
• Keep a cousin poor, but use him
  تربور خوار لره، خو په کار ئي لره