As Meg Merrilies says to the bewildered Dominie, "If ye dinna eat instantly, by the bread and salt, I'll put it down your throat wi' the _cutty spune_." "_Fules mak feasts and wise men eat 'em,_ my Lord." This was said to a Scottish nobleman on his giving a great entertainment, and who readily answered, "Ay, and _Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat 'em._" _A green Yule[138] and a white Pays[139] mak a fat kirk-yard._ A very coarse proverb, but may express a general truth as regards the effects of season on the human frame.

Another of a similar character is, _An air[140] winter maks a sair[141] winter_.
_Wha will bell the cat ?_ The proverb is used in reference to a proposal for accomplishing a difficult or dangerous task, and alludes to the fable of the poor mice proposing to put a bell about the cat's neck, that they might be apprised of his coming.

The historical application is well known.

When the nobles of Scotland proposed to go in a body to Stirling to take Cochrane, the favourite of James the Third, and hang him, the Lord Gray asked, "It is well said, but wha will bell the cat ?" The Earl of Angus accepted the challenge, and effected the object.

To his dying day he was called Archibald Bell-the-Cat.
_Ye hae tint the tongue o' the trump._ "Trump" is a Jew's harp.