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Hemingway’s Somali Proverb Confirmed

Peter Unseth & Georgi Kapchits

To cite this article: Peter Unseth & Georgi Kapchits (2017): Hemingway’s Somali Proverb
Confirmed, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0895769X.2017.1320209

Published online: 09 May 2017.

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Download by: [Graduate Institute] Date: 09 May 2017, At: 09:24

ANQ: A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SHORT ARTICLES, NOTES, AND REVIEWS
https://doi.org/10.1080/0895769X.2017.1320209

Hemingway’s Somali Proverb Confirmed

Peter Unsetha and Georgi Kapchitsb
a
Applied Anthropology Department, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, Dallas, Texas, USA; bRetired,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Hemingway quotes what he identifies as a “Somali
proverb”: “A brave man is always frightened three times by a lion: when he first sees his track, when
he first hears him roar, when he first confronts him” (11). Macomber is afraid of the lion’s roar and
unnerved by his fear because “he did not know the Somali proverb.”
Many writers have discussed the meaning and function of this proverb in the story, including
Fike, Godfrey, Harmon, Jackson, Kitunda, Lounsberry, Mellow, and Seydow. For example, Mellow
describes this story as “one of Hemingway’s classic studies of fear” (446). Macomber hears the roar
of a lion and becomes unnerved because he has never “heard, as Hemingway pointedly states, the
Somali proverb that says, ‘a brave man always frightened three times by a lion’” (Mellow 446, 447).
Though many have discussed the meaning and use of the proverb in the story, two writers have
discussed whether it is indeed a genuine Somali proverb. Stephens wrote, “I have been unable to
identify the exact Somali proverb Hemingway cites” (140). Hays said that he has been unable to
verify if this is a true Somali proverb, concluding that it is “a Somali proverb, which so far as I can
determine, Hemingway made up” (7).
If Hemingway had indeed created this proverb, he would have been employing the same
technique as a limited number of other authors. Making up a proverb for a story, particularly a
proverb for an unfamiliar culture, is a technique that has been done by several authors, including
Graham Greene (De Caro), Herman Melville (Hayes, Renker, Unseth), C. S. Lewis (Unseth), and
J. R. R. Tolkien (Trokhimenko).
One line of evidence suggesting that it is indeed a genuine Somali proverb is its three-part
structure. This is found frequently in the structure of Somali proverbs, such as “Of all men, three
types are the worst: he who is not skilful [literally: who is not able to sew], he who is not reasonable,
and he who is not thrifty,” and also “Three types—beggars, ailing people and gluttons—are disliked
equally” (Kapchits 43, 45).
We are now pleased to record that we have found two Somali forms of Hemingway’s putative
Somali proverb, proving that it is indeed genuine. The two variants have some differences, but the
translations of each are very similar.
For the first proverb, we are indebted to Mohamed Hassan “Alto” (currently of Helsinki, but
originally from the northeastern part of Somalia). He wrote the following form of the Somali
proverb: “Had iyo goor ninka geesiga ahi saddex jeer ayaa ka baqid libaax gashaa: kolka u horreysa
oo uu raadkiisa arko, kolka u horreysa oo uu gurxankiisa maqlo iyo kolka u horreysa oo uu fool ka
fool uga hor yimaaddo.” Literally: “Always the fear of a lion enters a man who is brave three times:
when he first sees his track, when he first hears him roar, and when he first confronts him.” He
recalls that he heard it in the 1970s, when he was in high school.
Siciid Jaamac Xuseen (currently living in London) gave another version of this proverb, based on
the alliteration on <r>: “Saddex jeer ayuu ninku libaaxa ka cabsadaa: markuu raadkiisa arko,
markuu reenkiisa maqlo, markuu runtiisa la kulmo.” Literally: “Three times a man is scared by a
lion: when he sees its tracks, when he hears its roar and when he sees it in reality.”

CONTACT Peter Unseth pete_unseth@gial.edu Applied Anthropology Department, Graduate Institute of Applied
Linguistics, 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236, USA
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
2 P. UNSETH AND G. KAPCHITS

So, finally, we now have confirmation that Hemingway was indeed quoting an authentic Somali
proverb in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” This leads to new questions about how
Hemingway learned this proverb, but at least we now know it to be genuine.

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