Shetland Folk-Lore
All these explain themselves, and have reference to the habit of borrowing and lending.
Here are a few proverbial expressions that very aptly set forth the law of heredity and natural tendency:
“An ill röt never sprang a guid branch.”
“It's ill ta get oot o' the flesh what's bred i' the bane.”
“Water 'ill be whaar water haes been.”
“Still water haes the warst wirm.”
“Still water haes maist mud.”
“The aald coo seeks her ain baand.”
The power of example and habit are illustrated in the following:
“The aald cock craws an' the young ene learns.”
“He that gets in his finger 'ill shön get in his haand.”
The universal truth that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, is very curtly expressed in four syllables—“Sel' dö, sel' hae”; and the dear-bought knowledge acquired in the school of experience is set forth in the adage:
“Skaed (scathe) never made a man rich, but it should mak' 'im wise.”
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