"Little by little the bird builds its nest."--[_Louisiana._]
242. Piti pas coûté so moman, li ka mori gran solé midi. (Petit qui n'écoute pas sa maman meurt au grand soleil de midi).
"Little boy who won't listen to his mother dies under the noonday sun."[101]--[_Guyana._]
[101] All Creole mothers are careful to keep their children from reckless play in the sun, which is peculiarly treacherous in those latitudes where the dialect is spoken. Hence the proverb, applicable to any circumstance in which good advice is reluctantly received.
243. Plis vaut mié vous pitit gagne larhime qui vous arrace son nez. (Il vaut mieux laisser votre enfant morveux que de lui arracher le nez).
"Better let your child be snotty, than pull his nose off."--[_Mauritius._]
244. Pou manje, tou bon; pou pâlé pas tou parole. (Pour manger, tout est bon; pour parler, pas toute parole).
"Anything is good enough to eat; but every word is not good enough to be spoken."[102]--[_Guyane._]
[102] In the Martinique dialect: _Toutt mangé, toutt paaule pas bon pou di._--[_Turiault._]
245. Poule pas ka vanté bouillon yo. (Les poules ne vantent pas leur [propre] bouillon.)
"The chickens don't brag about their own soup;" i.e. _chicken-soup_.--[_Martinique._]
246. Poule qui çanté ça méme qui fine pondé. (La poule qui chante est celle-là même qui a pondu).
"It's the cackling hen that has laid the egg."--[_Mauritius._]
247. Poule qui fére dè[103] dizèfs zamés touyé. (La poule qui fait deux [oe]ufs n'est jamais tuée).
"The hen that lays two eggs is never killed."--[_Mauritius._]
[103] The sound of the French _eu_ is rarely preserved in Creole. _L'heure_ becomes _lhère_; _peu_, becomes _pè_. The Creole-speaking negro says, _Yonne_, _dé_, _tois_, _quate_, _nèf_, instead of "un, deux, trois, quatre, neuf."
248. * Pranne garde vaut miè passé mandé pardon. (Prendre garde vaut mieux que demander pardon.)
"It is better to take care beforehand than to ask pardon afterward."--[_Louisiana._]
249. Ptit lasoif ptit coco, grand lasoif grand coco. (Petite soif, petit coco; grande soif, grand coco.)
"Little thirst, a little cocoa-nut; big thirst, a big cocoa-nut."[104]--[_Mauritius._]
[104] Like the old country saying: "Big horse, big feed." The cocoa-nut shell was formerly the slave's drinking cup in Mauritius.