Cape Breton's Magazine

iar with. When He referred to the grain of mustard seed, well, people knew what that was like. If they didn't know what mustard seed looked like or what it was, what's the good of it? (And these old sayings are along the same line.) Along the same line. There's so many of them. They'd say that a fortunate.man, that had luck with him, he wouldn't ask but to be bom, "Chan iarradh duine sona ach a bhreith." "A man that was fortunate, he'd never ask for anything but to be bom"--because, it came with it. It came his way. And they'd say that "the small fire that would warm you was better than the big fire that would bum you." "'S fhearr an teine beag a gharas n'an teine mor a loisgeas." They had so many of them. Then, they had different sayings, pertaining here and there to poetry. They had all those from the tradition, of course. Most of those people, they didn't have the good fortune that I had, that I could read the language, and read all those sayings, proverbs, and what-have-you. They didn't have that good fortijne. They couldn't read. They had to remember them. When they heard them, they had to remember them, what they heard and how they applied. And there were an awful lot of them in songs. Like when they'd refer about something that would come, over which they had no control. Perhaps it wouldn't be pleasing to _them • it could be a_big disappointment (68) OUR BUSINESS Is Helping '' Business*" '' If you're considering starting a new business or expanding your present operation we can provide access to the public and private sector programs and services that can help. We have 11 regional offices across the province staffed with knowledgeable business people. Whether you're facing a challenge in financing, marketing or any other aspect of business management contact our office in your area. Expertise In Your Neighborhood Department of Development Honourable Roland J. Thornhill World Trade and Convention Centre 1800 Argyle Street. Box 519 Halifax. Nova Scotia Canada B3J 2R7 424-5689 and all--but those things came about. "Like the three things that would come without being asked for or demanded"--you wouldn't ask for them--"that was fear, love, and jealousy." "Tri nithean (a) thig gun iarraidh--gaol, eud, agus eagal." Or, "gaol, eagal, is eu- dach." It was only the same. And then they'd say, "an gaol 's an t-eagal." "Gaol 's an t-eudach • " "An t-eagal 's an gaol." "An t-eagal 's an t-eudach 's an gaol." Or, "gaol, eagal, agus eudach." It went in dif? ferent forms. It would have to go accord? ing to the poetry, to the song. They could say, "jealousy, love, and fear." Or they could say, "fear, love, and jealousy." (What would be an old saying about wisdom?) Well, it all had a bearing on wisdom. Some? body that would waste something, that would go through everything so fast, in? stead of making good use of it and taking care of it. They'd follow it up until it would end. If they had some little bit of wealth, they'd have to spend it, until they'd go through with it completely, get rid of it. They would say, "Cha tig uachd- ar air cuid cait." "There'd be no cream come on the cat's share." When you give the cat some milk, he's only going to keep on drinking and drinking and drinking un? til it comes time to lick the dish. Well, no cream can come on that because it's not setting. Meaning that they weren't giving it time. Oh, they had all those old sayings. A per? son could go on for a half a day thinking of them. I remember when I was going to school, we had that lesson in one of those school books. I suppose there's not so many that remembered it quite so much, what they had read in school books. Of course they had NOVA TOURS NOVA CHARTER SERVICE 56 INGLIS ST., SUITE 502, SYDNEY, N.S. ?? Educational Tours Senior Citizen Tours Group Charter Rates For further information call: 562-6314 OUR BUSINESS IS GOING PLACES'