Proverbs for Pern
Although AIVAS had shut itself down, its data files were intact. One day, Jaxom was showing the leaders of Benden Weyr some of the accumulated knowledge in those files. He found something called "Proverbs and Sayings," and, curious, they started reading it. Their dragons, who were waiting outside, could "hear" all their thoughts, including the words they were reading. It quickly became clear that the proverbs and sayings of humanity were not intended for dragons.
Jaxom: "You are what you eat."
Ruth: Does that mean I am a wherry? I do not think so.
Lessa: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Ramoth: That is not true. I am the biggest, and I have never fallen, nor do I intend to.
F'lar: "Look before you leap."
Mnementh: Why? Once I leap into the air, I can fly over any obstacle.
F'lar: "Perhaps they are afraid that you will leap headfirst into a stone wall."
Mnementh: Do they think I might be unaware of a stone wall right in front of me? I rather doubt it.
F'nor: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Canth: I will never be absent from you, so we will never know.
Jaxom: "Actions speak louder than words."
Ruth: Of course they do! My words cannot be heard, so any action I take that makes a noise will be louder.
F'lar: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Mnementh: No, it begins with a single downflap.
F'lar: "I think that means the same thing."
Mnementh: Then why didn't they say so?
Lessa: "All good things must come to an end."
Ramoth: All bad things come to an end as well. That is not very profound.
F'nor: "A watched pot never boils."
Canth: I have seen your cooking pots, and they boil well enough, whether someone is watching them or not. But I still do not understand why you insist on ruining the flavor of the meat by boiling it. Raw food tastes so much better!
Lessa: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Ramoth: I am beautiful, no matter who beholds me.
Lessa: "No argument, my love."
Jaxom: "Better late than never."
Ruth: I disagree. If we are late to a Threadfall, that is the same as never going.
F'lar: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
Mnementh: You know I would never do that. If I did, you would have no more hand to feed me.
F'nor: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch."
Canth: I do not know what a chicken is, but if it hatches from an egg, then why not count the eggs? Queen dragons do it all the time.
Lessa: "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket."
Ramoth: I will put all my eggs in one cluster on the Hatching Sands, like I always do, and if the ancient humans do not approve, then I would like to see them talk me out of it.
Jaxom: "Don't put too many irons in the fire."
Ruth: I would like to see you convince Mastersmith Fandarel of that.
Lessa: "Good things come to those who wait."
Ramoth: You waited for your vengeance against Lord Fax, and you got it. This one might be true.
F'lar: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Mnementh: Does that mean that you should fix anything that is broken? What about the eggshells of hatching dragons? Those shells break; please do not try to fix them.
F'nor: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Canth: Does that include Thread? We never actually defeated it, so should we join it?
F'nor: "We tried that – we went to the Red Star, remember?"
Canth: That did not work so well. I do not like this proverb.
Jaxom: "If you play with fire, you'll get burned."
Ruth: I played with fire many times while I was training with the dragons of Fort Weyr, and I was never burned.
Jaxom: "It happens to humans all the time."
Ruth: Then you should learn to be more like dragons.
Lessa: "Caught between a rock and a hard place."
Ramoth: As long as we are not caught between.
F'lar: "Knowledge is power."
Mnementh: No, firestone is power.
F'nor: "Laughter is the best medicine."
Canth: No, numbweed is the best medicine.
Jaxom: "Like father, like son."
Ruth: That is untrue of you, and I am glad of that.
Ramoth: I am also glad that I am unlike my mother.
Lessa: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."
Ramoth: Until we scorch the grass. Greenery is not allowed on either side of the fence during a Pass.
F'lar: "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
Mnementh: I disagree. I have never paid for any of the lunches I have eaten. Or breakfasts or suppers, for that matter.
F'lar: "But someone paid for them, even if it wasn't you."
Mnementh: If some Holder paid for them, then that is a matter for the Holders to resolve. The Weyrs should not involve themselves in Holder business - remember?
F'nor: "There is no time like the present."
Canth: Tell that to Lessa and Ramoth.
Jaxom: "Time is money."
Ruth: Are you saying that, when we recovered Ramoth's egg, we didn't have to time it? We could have accomplished the same thing by paying a few of your marks? Now I feel like we took a great risk for nothing.
Lessa: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Ramoth: Does that mean that, when I am among green dragons, I should act like a green? I will not lower myself like that!
F'lar: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
Mnementh: And when the herdbeasts get tough, I just chew harder. I prefer the tender ones, though.
F'nor: "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
Canth: Wrong, my dear friend! A good hot fire makes no smoke. We learned this when we were weyrlings.
Jaxom: "Curiosity killed the cat."
Ruth: Dragons killed the felines that were attacking F'lessan and Golanth. I would rather put my trust in dragons than in curiosity. Wouldn't you?
F'lar: "Birds of a feather flock together."
Mnementh: The only things I know with feathers are wherries, and I am glad that they flock together. It makes it easier for me to kill them and eat them.
Lessa: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Ramoth: That means, if you are sick, you should not eat redfruits, because they will keep the Healer away. Is that right?
F'nor: "You made your bed; now lie in it."
Canth: I lie on my bed, but I did not make it. It has been worn into the stone by many generations of dragons. Am I doing it wrong?
Jaxom: "Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer!"
Ruth: That is certainly true of green dragons.
F'lar: "Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."
Mnementh: I tried to light a candle once. I melted it all with one fiery breath. Then you cursed the darkness anyway.
Lessa: "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Ramoth: If someone gave me a runnerbeast, it would be in my mouth very quickly.
Jaxom: "Good fences make good neighbors."
Ruth: I seem to recall Masterharper Robinton said something like that.
Jaxom: "No, he said, 'A fence has two sides.'"
Ruth: I knew it had something to do with fences.
F'nor: "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride."
Canth: It would not matter who wished to ride dragons. The dragon chooses.
Lessa: "It is better to give than to receive."
Ramoth: Then will you give me another herdbeast to eat? I am still hungry.
F'lar: "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day."
Mnementh: He who stays and fights the Thread, helps save Pern from being dead. My poem is better.
Jaxom: "No rest for the wicked. Oh, here's another one. No rest for the weary."
Ruth: I am confused. If I want to rest after fighting Thread, does that make me wicked or weary?
F'nor: "You cannot always get what you want."
Canth: Is this related to the other one you saw, the one that said, "A rolling stone gathers no moss?"
Lessa: "There's always a bigger fish."
Ramoth: But sometimes, there is not a bigger dragon. Hint, hint.
F'lar: "Put your money where your mouth is."
Mnementh: Then your money will be quickly burned up, if I have been eating firestone.
Jaxom: "Slow and steady wins the race."
Ruth: Then why do you work so hard to breed the fastest runnerbeasts?
F'nor: "You cannot burn a candle at both ends."
Canth: Just give me some firestone, put down the candle, and stand back.
Lessa: "Ignorance is bliss."
Ramoth: Then why are so many humans unhappy?