"An apple, an egg, and a nut,
You may eat after a slut."
Selfishness in giving is thus expressed:--"To give an apple where there is an orchard."
And the idea of worthlessness is often referred to as when it is said
that "There is small choice in rotten apples," with which may be
compared another which warns us of the contagious effects of bad
influence:--
"The rotten apple injures its neighbour."
The utter dissimilarity which often exists between two persons, or
things, is jocularly enjoined in the familiar adage:--
"As like as an apple is to a lobster,"
And the folly of taking what one knows is paltry or bad has given rise
to an instructive proverb:--
"Better give an apple than eat it."
The folly of expecting good results from the most unreasonable
causes is the subject of the following old adage:--
"Plant the crab where you will, it will never bear pippins."
The crab tree has also been made the subject of several amusing
rhymes, one of which is as follows:--
"The crab of the wood is sauce very good for the crab of the sea,
But the wood of the crab is sauce for a drab that will not her husband obey."
The coolness of the cucumber has long ago become proverbial for a
person of a cold collected nature, "As cool as a cucumber," and the man
who not only makes unreasonable requests, but equally expects them to
be gratified, is said to "ask an elm-tree for pears." Then, again, foolish
persons who have no power of observation, are likened to "a blind goose
that knows not a fox from a fern bush."
The willow has long been a proverbial symbol of sadness, and on this
account it was customary for those who were forsaken in love to wear a