నేర్పుగల అమ్మ నేతితో అరిసెలు వండితే, ఓర్పుగల అమ్మ ఒళ్లో కట్టుకుపోయిందట

nerpugala amma netito ariselu vandite, orpugala amma ollo kattukupoyindata

Translation

When the clever lady had fried the cakes in Ghî, the patient lady walked off with them in her lap.

Meaning

This proverb highlights that while skill and hard work are important for creation, patience and persistence are often what reap the final rewards. It is used to describe situations where someone else takes the benefit of another person's hard work because the latter lacked the patience or foresight to secure the results.

Notes

Atirasam is a sweet cake made of rice meal and syrup and fried, or rather boiled, in ghi. A cool trick.

Related Phrases

Only those with patience can rule the earth.

This proverb emphasizes that patience and endurance are the most important qualities for success and leadership. It suggests that while many may have power, only those who can remain calm and patient under pressure are truly capable of handling great responsibilities or achieving lasting dominance.

When a lazy woman dropped a wood-chip, a quick woman picked it up and carried it in her lap.

This proverb describes a situation where an extremely lazy or slow person takes forever to perform a simple task, while someone else, in an ironic display of 'efficiency' or unnecessary haste, treats a worthless item as something valuable. It is used to mock people who waste effort on useless things or to highlight the absurdity of two different types of incompetent behavior.

She who has used paramours, and she who has eaten the skim of boiled milk will never cease to do so. Once an use, and ever a custom.

This proverb suggests that once someone gets habituated to certain luxuries, pleasures, or vices, it is impossible for them to give them up or remain indifferent. It is used to describe people who are enslaved by their past habits or secret desires.

When a skillful woman cooked sweets with ghee, a patient woman tied them in her lap and took them away.

This proverb highlights that intelligence and hard work (skill) are useless without patience or a presence of mind to protect the results. It is often used to describe situations where one person does all the hard work, but a more calculating or patient person reaps the final benefits, or to suggest that skill without caution leads to loss.

He has fire in his skirt.

This expression is used to describe a person who is in a state of extreme anxiety, restlessness, or fear due to a dangerous situation they have created or a secret they are hiding. Just as carrying burning coals in one's clothing causes constant pain and the threat of catching fire, the person is suffering from internal turmoil or the constant fear of imminent trouble.

For a mother who has twenty-five, there is no one to bury or lift her.

This proverb describes a situation where someone who has many children or resources still ends up neglected in their time of need. It highlights the irony that having many people to depend on often leads to a lack of individual responsibility, as each person assumes someone else will take care of the task.

A mother who has tasted cream and a mother who has become addicted to paramours will not remain quiet.

This proverb uses a blunt analogy to describe how once a person develops a taste for illicit pleasures or luxurious indulgences, they find it impossible to give them up. It is used to remark on people who cannot break bad habits or those who have become accustomed to a certain standard of luxury/graft and will continue to seek it out persistently.

A woman with a 'veesam' keeps untying and tying her money; a woman with a 'kasu' just packs it away.

This proverb contrasts the behavior of those with small means versus those with significant wealth. A 'veesam' is a tiny denomination; someone possessing very little is often anxious, constantly counting or checking their small pittance. In contrast, someone with a 'kasu' (larger wealth) is secure enough to store it away without constant fuss. It is used to describe how people with little knowledge or money tend to make more of a show or worry excessively compared to those who are truly substantial.

The eyes of the woman who saw are spears, my mother's eyes are popped grains (popcorn).

This proverb describes a double standard or partiality. It refers to a situation where a person criticizes or sees faults in others (comparing their gaze to painful spears) while viewing their own people's similar actions or flaws as harmless, soft, or pleasant (like light popped grains).

The woman with gold won't untie her bundle; the woman with a small coin won't stop folding and unfolding hers.

This proverb highlights human behavior regarding wealth. A truly wealthy person stays calm and doesn't show off, whereas a person with very little wealth constantly fusses over it and displays it to everyone to feel important.