Meaning & Analysis
Eating the crust (lid) of a pie is humorously said to make people wise, playing on the notion that consuming this food imparts wisdom.
Insights
Worldly Experience
The proverb playfully suggests that participation in simple, everyday pleasures—like eating pie crust—can be equated with gaining practical wisdom, hinting at the value of experience over abstract knowledge.
Skepticism of False Wisdom
It gently mocks the idea that wisdom can be gained through trivial means, highlighting human tendencies to seek shortcuts to prudence or to accept folk remedies as sources of insight.
Folkloric Humor
Historically, attributing magical or exaggerated effects to foods was a common source of rustic humor. The pie lid here stands as a symbol of ordinary, accessible fare, and the proverb playfully undermines serious claims about the sources of wisdom.
Social Leveling
The saying reflects a kind of folk egalitarianism: wisdom is not reserved for the educated elite, but available to all, even through the humble act of eating pie.
Cultural Commentary
The proverb’s appearance in Lyly’s 'Midas' and its link to related sayings ('Eat enough and it will make you wise') reveal a longstanding tradition of using food metaphors to comment on social aspirations, gullibility, or the value of practical over theoretical knowledge.
Rhetorical Devices
Irony
There is gentle irony in suggesting a direct link between eating pie lid and gaining wisdom, poking fun at both credulity and folk tradition.
Metonymy
‘Pie lid’ stands for the act of enjoying common pleasures, representing the broader notion of life’s simple, practical experiences.
Playful Aphorism
The short, catchy phrasing gives the proverb a jocular, memorable character, making it ripe for repetition and comic effect.
Transcription
Quotations
He hath laid the plot to be prudent: why tis pasty crust, eat enough and it will make you wise, an olde prouerb.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.