A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
Today, my friend sent me a picture of a beautiful bird that he found on his farm. It was a Eurasian hoopoe. Then, when I got home, there was a sparrow trapped in the stairwell. I had to open a window to let it out. So, of course I had to write about a bird proverb today.
The proverb, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is about being happy with what you have and not taking unnecessary risk. Having a bird in your hand is a sure thing. You already have the bird. So, it is far more valuable than wild birds in a bush. You are unlikely to be able to catch them. So, even if they are really beautiful (like the Eurasian hoopoe), you should be content with the one you already have.
Today’s proverb actually goes back a long time to when falconry was more popular. Falconry is hunting with a falcon or another bird of prey. In this case, the bird in your hand is the falcon. It takes a long time to properly train a falcon. You need to train the falcon every day for at least a year. So, you should care for it and protect it when you can. The two birds in the bush are its prey. It is not worth risking your falcon to chase after dangerous prey.
The proverb, as written today, dates to 1670 in John Ray’s A Handbook of Proverbs. But the phrase is much older. It existed in other forms as well. I like what John Capgrave wrote in The Life of St Katherine of Alexandria, “It is more sekyr a byrd in your fest, Than to haue three in the sky a-boue.” In modern English; It is more certain (secure) to have a bird in your fist rather than three in the sky above. Going farther back in John Wycliffe’s bible (1382), it says, “A living dog is better than a dead lion.”
This proverb may have been borrowed from another language. For example, in German there is a phrase, “Der Spatz in der Hand ist besser als die Taube auf dem dach.” Or, The sparrow in the hand is better than the dove on the roof.
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Reference:
https://akatheversatile.com/2015/09/05/proverb-origins-a-bird-in-the-hand-is-worth-two-in-the-bush/
www.n-a-f-a.com/page/What_is_Falconry
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-bird-in-the-hand.html
