|
> 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. |
|
> Like the buttock of Titechingai. He rushes crazily from one task to another. Titechingai had a disease which left his buttock covered with old sores and pock marks. Therefore, when Titechingai called on a young woman at night, he always left the house before it became light in order to avoid being seen. Once, however, when he awoke it was already light and he was observed to dash from bush to bush in his desperate attempt to run through the village with minimum exposure. A person who seems to be rushing madly about in the conduct of several tasks may be compared with Titechingai. |
|
> You're like a stinkbug that burns itself in the fire. i.e., you get involved in things that may hurt you. |
|
> 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. |
|
> It's like the first drop of feces of Ngiraidechiil. i.e. the best or worst is yet to come. Ngiraidechiil had just assembled his fishing gear when he felt the urge to relieve himself. In the bush he started to do so when, with the first small drop of feces, a rat scooted under him and made off with it. He looked at the scurrying animal and called: "Wait, you, that was just the first drop, more and bigger ones will follow!" The resulting saying has to do with desirability of delayed rewards. It was used, for example, with reference to the first rations received from the military following World War II. |
