Chinese proverbs can sometimes seem terse, mysterious even. It’s not surprising, I suppose. The Chinese language is thousands of years old, and at some point people are going to want to shorten familiar bits of advice, making them confusing to the rest of us.
“Love house and crow” is one of those mysterious bits of Chinese wisdom. Love house. Fine. What’s not to love about my comfortable bed, inviting living room and dining room, and a kitchen with everything I need for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
But why should I love crows? I don’t even like them. They don’t have colorful or interesting feathers like other birds. They don’t make cute cheeps and sweet chirps. They don’t twitter or trill or warble. They don’t herald the coming of spring. They’re here all year. Crows just caw. They make a loud, raspy sound that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for a song.
They are smart, though. You have to give them that. And they have a fantastic memory–which is not necessarily a good thing. It just makes it easier for them to hold a grudge. If you do anything they don’t like, they’ll remember your face for years, and they’ll pass that information on to other members of their flock. (See the experiments of John Marzluff, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington. Here’s a short article.)
So why would a Chinese proverb advise loving crows? In fact, it doesn’t. The ancient Chinese did not love crows. They considered them bad luck, especially crows on their roof.
Which brings me to the longer translation of the proverb: “Love the house with its crows on the roof.” So, as you may already have guessed, this saying is a bit of ancient Chinese wisdom about accepting the good with the bad. Now that makes sense.
Do you have a favorite proverb?
Have you ever had a run-in with a crow?
That’s a great one. I had no idea where you were leading us! I think after being in Thailand for so many years, I find the similarities between proverbs of my native and expat countries to be amusing. I can’t think of any right now though. There are so many!
There are similarities between various proverbs, but there are also proverbs that contradict each other. Here’s a fun list from Psychology Today of 13 of them. Here’s a good one: “Too many cooks spoil the broth. Many hands make light work.” They both make sense, depending on the circumstances.
Hi Nicki,
We have a new email address: johnsongk2@gmail.com. We are still getting emails at our old address: johnson.gk@frontier.com. If you would change our email address, that would be great. We enjoy your blog. Kris
I used to think it’s a phrase that emphasize the love of the house — Even there are crows on the house I still love it so much. But after I did a little research, I found you are right. Love the good and the bad.
It is often translated to “love me, love my dog”(ChatGPT did that too) which missed the meaning of it.
I liked the positive tone of the proverb. We all want to make improvements in the world or in our circumstances, but criticism of imperfections can be excessive and mean spirited.
I like crows. I used to watch them for hours. They worked together and are smart. I had a corn cob out for the squirrels. A crow started to peck at the kernels but the cob would roll. His buddy came over and stood on the other end while he ate, then they switched places. I was blown away by the cooperation. People don’t do that!
I’m glad to have someone stand up for crows. Another of their skills is recognizing each other after a long absence. I guess that’s related to their cooperative nature–cooperative with each other. I like your story about the corn cob. The crows around here spend much of their time high in the tallest trees or on roofs, so I’ve never seen them sharing food, but that’s nice.
Since childhood, when I read a NW Indian story about ravens, I’ve thought about the whole family as “Brother Raven”.
That’s the best photo I’ve seen of the cats. They look so in their domaine. Worthy of framing.
I was more influenced by the Edgar Allen Poe poem. I think Diane C. made a song and dance out of it in 9th grade. “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.'” Although I do like the attitude of the NW Native Americans and their stories and totem poles.
Yes, the cats do look comfy.
This is an interesting post. I never thought about how a proverb could have been shortened and made more sense in the original form. Still doesn’t mean I like crows.
One of my favorite proverbs is from Portugal: Think of many things. Do one.
I like that proverb from Portugal. Our minds hold many ideas. That doesn’t mean we can get them all done. I love making lists so I can choose one item at a time and feel good about checking it off.
Crows scare me because they seem to be smarter than I am.
I think it was last spring when a crow scared me. I was taking a walk not far from my house and suddenly a crow dive-bombed me. Again and again, she dove down from high in a Douglas fir to just above my head. As far as I know, I’ve never threatened any crow. The only thing I can figure is that she wanted me to stay far away from her nest of her fledglings.
Thanks for the insight, Nicki.
I find that there are many perplexing anomalies to the proverbs we parrot:
Absence makes the heart grow fonder . . . but out of sight, out of mind.
Too many cooks spoil the broth . . . but many hands make light work.
The early bird gets the worm . . . but the early worm gets eaten.
Good things come to those who wait . . . but he who hesitates is lost.
Slow and steady wins the race . . . but good guys finish last.
Ignorance is bliss . . . but know thy enemies.
A rolling stone gathers no moss . . . but haste makes waste.
Birds of a feather flock together . . . but opposites attract.
You gathered an amazing list, Nancy. Reading through them, it seems that each proverb holds some truth. It’s up to us to apply them appropriately. I like the one about cooks. A chef doesn’t want to have to do all the chopping himself, but his assistants need to follow his instructions. Of course these proverbs can also be used as excuses. Slow and steady may not win the race if that’s just an excuse for being lazy.
I can’t think of an opposite for the house and crow proverb. Everything good has at least a little bit of bad associated with it.
I watch the ongoing battles in the neighborhood between the hawks and the crows. I’m always Team Hawk, but those crows are smart. But you know which bird wins most of the battles? The mocking bird. Those birds are fierce.
I didn’t know mocking birds were fierce. But then, I’m not a birder. I probably don’t recognize one when I see it.
I saw a crow pick up a tiny rabbit once. I threw a rock at it to make it let the rabbit go. The rabbit survived. And the crow was merely startled rather than hurt by the rock.
while I can’t say I love crows, I think they are unfairly treated sometimes. They are the “evil” birds in stories.
I’m glad the crow didn’t take the time to memorize you face.
It’s their color. We always associate black with the bad guy. And then there’s Edgar Allen Poe’s raven. I love that poem. It’s so musical and sad.