Meaning & Analysis
The proverb describes a person engaged in a slow, difficult, and prolonged task, comparing the act of pulling a very long rope to the uncertain and often fruitless wait for someone else to die, typically in hope of personal gain.
Insights
Futility of Morbid Hopes
The proverb is a metaphor for the folly and futility of basing one's hopes and future on the death of another. The 'long rope' symbolizes a connection to a distant, uncertain outcome that one cannot control, making the effort exhaustive and the reward unlikely.
Passivity and Loss of Agency
It warns against the dangers of passivity and lack of personal agency. By waiting for an external event (death) to bring fortune, an individual gives up control over their own destiny, engaging in a pointless 'pull' rather than productive, self-directed action.
The Slow Labor of Greed
The proverb serves as a moral condemnation of greed. The act of 'pulling the rope' is a grim and patient form of avarice, suggesting that such a desire for unearned gain is a slow, arduous, and ultimately self-punishing endeavor.
The Gamble of Mortality
The 'long rope' effectively symbolizes the profound uncertainty of life and death. The person waiting may die first, or the expected benefit may never materialize, making the entire endeavor a high-risk gamble with one's own time and life energy.
Critique of Inheritance Culture
This proverb serves as a powerful critique of dependency on inheritance, a common reality in historical economies. It frames waiting for another's death not as a strategic pause but as a futile, strenuous, and morally compromising activity.
Psychological Cost of Waiting
The 'long rope' is a metaphor for a state of suspended ambition and psychological torment. The person waiting is not passive but actively engaged in a grim, slow, and self-defeating task that depletes their own life force while they wait for another's to end.
Universal Wisdom on Agency
The proverb shares a universal theme found in related sayings like 'Who waits for dead men's shoes shall go long barefoot'. This cross-cultural resonance highlights a shared folk wisdom that warns against basing one's fortune on the mortality of others, emphasizing a loss of personal agency.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The core of the proverb is the powerful metaphor of the 'long rope', which transforms the abstract concept of waiting into a tangible, physical act of strenuous and unrewarding labor.
Kinetic Imagery
The physical imagery of someone 'pulling' a rope creates a visceral sense of struggle, tension, and futility, making the proverb's warning more concrete and memorable.
Irony
The proverb contains a deep situational irony: the person hoping for gain from death is themselves trapped in a lifeless, unproductive state, tethered to their morbid expectation.
Transcription
Quotations
(He pulls by a).
They pull with long ropes, who wait for the deaths of others.
He pulls at a long rope, who longs for another bodies death.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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