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> He's like the sea urchins between Ngiwal and Melekeok, on the ocean floor with its cover. The sea urchin can be seen lying quietly on the lagoon floor, occasionally with a leaf like a hat covering its head. Applied to a man who acquires a wife or great wealth without working for it. |
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> He's like the chambered nautilus whose shell is very fragile. When provoked, he gets easily irritated or angered. The Palauan believes that the chambered nautilus lives in the sea at great depth and, at the slightest touch against a rock, its shell is broken and it drifts to the surface where it dies. The saying may be applied to a poor sport, one who angers easily or who reacts badly when the victim of a prank. |
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> 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. |
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> Like the cockroach of Ngerdobotar, staying on till it became white. Presumably if a cockroach remains in the darkness for a long time, as one at Ngerdobotar (in Aimeliik) apparently did, it will turn white. Application pertains to a visitor who stays on and on, especially one who is not helpful in the household. Such behavior is not properly human; the person is somehow different, like a white cockroach. |
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> You're like sardines, very many but only enough for one wrapped piece of fish. Fish are properly wrapped individually in a leaf for cooking, but sardines are so small that a bunch of them may be wrapped together to make up only one small bundle. The idiom may be applied to a numerous but weak enemy or to a clan that is large but ineffective as in raising money for its members, or for a large group of workers who do not accomplish very much. |
