Count not your chickens before they are hatched

Amrita was a poor milk maid. She lived in a hamlet close to a town. Often she wished she were rich. But how! She did not know. Then she got a bright idea. She went to one of the rich cattle owners and said, "Will you give me milk on credit? I will take the milk to the town, sell it and make some profit." The villager agreed. Next morning, she collected the milk from the villager. She held them in two pots. She added some water to increase the quantity of milk. "Nobody will notice it. This way I will make more profit. I will become rich", she thought. Her fancy wandered, "I will become rich. I will buy a few hens. They will lay eggs. I will sell most of the eggs. Some of the eggs will hatch. When the chicks grow, they will give me more eggs. When I have put by enough money, I will buy a cow. The cow will give me milk. I will sell the milk. I will buy more cows. Soon I will have enough money to settle down with a man. We will have children. If my son or daughter misbehaves, I will hit the brat thus," she raised the stick and waved it wildly. The blow fell on the pots on her head. The pots broke. She was totally drenched in milk as it flowed down to the ground. With that ended all her dreams of making a rich profit by selling milk. She had counted the chickens before they were hatched.

Meaning: No man should take the future for granted. One can make plans for the future and work on them. At the same time he should know that even the best of the plans can go wrong. So one should be ready for unexpected reverses.

Alternatives: Don't build castles in the air.

Wisdom is nothing but earthly commonsense

An old villager was travelling along a narrow path which cut through thick vegetation. He had never been to school. He could neither read nor write. Yet everyone in the village considered him a wise man. He was indeed wise. He knew a lot about human nature. But he always had time to gather more wisdom. He did that by keeping his eyes and ears open. The music of birds caught his ears as he walked along the path. A folk tune came to his mind. He hummed it, swung the cane in his hand to provide the beats for the music. Then his eyes fell on the leaves of edible plants which stood on either side. Some animal had eaten up the leaves of plants on the right side, but not of plants to the left. "Ah, he told himself. Its right eye must be blind." He walked a few more steps when he found footprints of the animal. Not all footprints were equally firm and clear. The villager searched for the reason. Then the truth struck him. The animal was lame in one leg. Which leg? the villager sought. He studied the imprints. Then he told himself, "It's the hind leg, the left one, that is short." A further study proved that the animal was a horse. The footprints were not deep. The old villager mumbled, "nobody was riding the horse. It must have strayed." Hardly had he put all the facts together when a scholarly looking man ran in. He asked the villager, "Did you see my horse?" The villager asked, "Your horse? Is it blind in the right eye?" The new comer exclaimed, "You are right! How did you know?" The villager enquired, "Does it limp on its hind leg . . . the left leg?" "Of course. That is my horse. Where is it?" The man asked. "How do I know? I never set eyes on your horse," the villager replied. That made the man angry. He shouted, "You have stolen my horse. Give it back to me. Or I will complain to the village chief." "Do it. I am not afraid. I am no thief," the villager growled. "Come with me. We will go to the chief," the man dragged the old man along. The chief heard the complaint. Then he asked the old villager, "What do you have to say?" The villager explained how he had found out details about the horse. The chief growled at the complainant, "Go and find out your horse yourself. Don't waste time making false complaints." Then he smiled at the villager and said, "Society needs people like you." The wise man commented, "wisdom is nothing but earthly common sense. One needs to only look around carefully to find out facts."


Meaning: One need not go to schools; or read books to become wise. Life is the best teacher. A student of life gathers earthly common sense. Thus he gains wisdom.

Alternatives: Learning doesn't by itself make one wise. Wisdom is superior to knowledge.

Unity is strength

The old villager was on his deathbed. His three sons stood around the bed. They looked worried. "I shall fetch the avid," the eldest son started moving out, when his father broke out into a cough. The old man raised his hand and signalled to his eldest son to come back. Once the cough subsided, he whispered, "Go to the backyard. You will find a bundle of twigs. Bring it over here." "Why do you need them, now? Relax. You need rest," the eldest son spoke softly yet firmly. "Do what I tell you," the old man looked at his youngest son. The son ran out to fetch the bundle. The other two rubbed his feet and chest to relieve him of pain. The son brought the bundle of twigs and placed it a little distance away from the cot. The old man smiled, wanly, and told his eldest son, "Try to break the bundle, at the middle."
The sons looked at each other. They thought the old man had turned mad. Yet none of them dared disobey him. The eldest son held the bundle of twigs, at both ends. He pressed down at the ends with all the strength at his command. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. His muscles rippled. He tried, many times. Then he gave up. "No, Papa. I can't do that." The old man directed his second son and then his last son to try to break the bundle at the middle. Both of them gave up, after trying their best.
The old man chuckled to himself. He turned to his eldest son, "Now, pull out one twig and break it in the middle." The eldest son did that easily. The second and the third son too could do that without any difficulty. "Got the message", the old man asked. "What message?" The sons asked in one voice. "The twigs could not be broken at the middle so long as they were together, in the bundle. But the moment a twig got all alone, it was broken easily. There is a message in that. If you remain united, nobody can harm you. In unity lies strength. Don't forget that truth," the old man managed to say it, before another bout of cough gripped him.


Meaning: There are many things one can do on his own; many other things need collective effort. Major projects need people to work together as a team. For example, India won freedom in 1947 after we fought untidily against the British rule. The defence forces worked in unison to defend the borders of the nation. Often children climb fences standing on each other's shoulders.

Alternatives: Two are better than one. United we stand. Divided we fall.