Shetland Folk-Lore
“They that buy beef, buy banes.'”
“Every cock is pertest on his ain midden head.”
“The soo dreams as shö wid (would).”
The last is used banteringly to persons who strongly advocate their own interests.
“The drukken man aye haes the drukken penny.”
“Ill news is like a fitless heathercow”—
Evil tidings travel fast, like a tuft of dry heather before the wind.
“Nae news is guid news”
is the expression of an anxious wife or sister awaiting the return of an absent breadwinner. Another old saying has it:
“There's hope frae the door, but nane frae the grave.”
“There's nae lee behint a lang-backed sea.”
This is a fisherman's proverb, and means that the rolling waves afford no shelter from the storm.
“Ye may gaeng farther an' fare warse.”
“They that hae mael an' a tree (stick), can mak' gruel (porridge) i' the sea.”
“They that live langest 'ill see farthest.”
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