|
> Like the kingfisher, chattering while taking to wing. The kingfisher, a restless, bullying bluebird, may be heard to chatter loudly when flying up from the ground or from a perch. The saying applies to one who suddenly spouts instructions to a group, then leaves, or to a leader at a meeting who impatiently interrupts a discussion with a burst of pronouncements, then ends the meeting. |
|
> Like the uul [Cettria cantans?] with its house open, calling for rain. The uul may be heard to call out usually just before it rains; some say that it is calling for rain. This seems foolish, since the bird constructs its house with an opening at the top that will let rain in. A person who makes a decision or starts some action without adequate preparation is likened to the uul. |
|
> Like the name of the bai at Chol: "Empty." A bai in the northern community of Chol is (or once was) called Medederiik, meaning "deserted" or "empty." The idiom may apply to a person without possessions, a poor man. |
|
> Like a pigeon-seeing the danger, yet it flies from cover The pigeon sits quietly concealed until some threat appears, then it flies out, revealing itself. The idiom applies to a person who unnecessarily exposes himself to danger, leaves the house in the rain, or takes a boat out in a storm. |
|
> Like the raid at Ulong, doing it in the evening Pertains to a battle between the people of the once-inhabited islands of Ulong and Ngemelis in which the leader of the Ngemelis forces successfully defeated those of Ulong by attacking in the evening with the setting sun directly at his back, blinding the Ulong forces. Application is to a meeting or task, which might better have been started earlier, postponed until evening |
