Slovene Proverbs and Sayings

The series Slovene Proverbs and Sayings provides an illustration and message about a proverb with a distinctly educational character. It delves into various periods of the past, which were characterised by lack of food, even hunger, and on the other hand by a renunciation of food abundance that is hard to fathom.

Numerous written records speak of the meagre availability of food, for instance when a lack of flour led people to use even ground up tree bark, and to this dough they added beans or potatoes. In dire situations of extreme hunger, high-quality foodstuffs were replaced by anything to hand and not regarded as abundance. In periods of famine everything was useful, and the proverb reminded people not to turn their noses up and instead to ensure their survival.

For the educational message in this proverb, the Slovene version (V sili še hudič muhe žre, or When he needs to, even the Devil eats flies) took the negative figures of the Devil and a fly. The Devil as an embodiment of evil and hunger, and a fly as evil and disease.

Prof. Janez Bogataj