Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
A master purchased a colored servant under the impression his skin was dirty from his former master's abuse. The master subjected the servant to constant washing, to the point where the servant became ill. But, the servant's skin never changed color.
Townsend version (The Aethiop)
The purchaser of a black servant was persuaded that the color of his skin arose from dirt contracted through the neglect of his former masters. On bringing him home he resorted to every means of cleaning, and subjected the man to incessant scrubbings. The servant caught a severe cold, but he never changed his color or complexion.
Moral
What's bred in the bone will stick to the flesh.
L'Estrange verson (The Washing of A Blackmore)
A man gave mony for a black, upon an opinion that his swarthy colour was rather flattery then nature; and the fault of his last master, in a great measure, that he kept him no cleaner: he took him home with him, and try'd all manner of washes to bring him to a better complexion: but there was no good to be done upon him; beside, that the very tampering cast him into a disease.
Moral
Natural inclinations may be moulded and wrought upon by good councell and discipline; but there are certain specifick properties and impressions, that are never to be alter'd or defac'd.
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved