- English translation
Eat your duqqa out in the lanes, and let the chicken that brings trouble in its wake be gone.
- Literal wording
Eat with duqqa in the alleyways, and may the young hen that has hardship trailing behind it vanish.
- Meaning and lesson
A humble meal taken without worry is worth more than a rich dish that leaves hardship behind it. The speaker prefers duqqa, a simple relish of salt and dried mint or similar herbs for dipping, even eaten out in the alleys, and curses away the hen whose enjoyment is followed by trouble.
The saying praises contentment with little and rejects fine fare that comes at the cost of later hardship; the objection is to the trouble that follows the chicken, not the bird itself. In Arabic, the rhyme on duqqa, aziqqa and mashaqqa binds plain food, humble setting and dreaded hardship together.
- When it is used
Fits moments when someone chooses a modest, untroubled option over a richer one expected to bring hardship afterward, or when urging contentment with simple means. It suits everyday colloquial speech and can describe one's own choice or be offered as advice to others.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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