- English translation
“I can deal with her once I find her—but first I have to locate her.”
- Literal wording
“If you meet her, tear her garment.” He replied, “The search, and what it depends on, rest on bringing us together.”
- Meaning and lesson
This saying answers someone who hands another person a task whose first step is out of reach. The instruction sounds decisive, but the person asked to carry it out has not yet reached the one involved, so the assignment cannot be done as stated.
In conversation, it pushes back wryly against instructions that leap to a decisive next step while ignoring the groundwork that makes it possible. Advice about what to do with someone only becomes workable after finding them, reaching them, or otherwise bringing the needed parties or conditions together.
- When it is used
Use it as a wry retort when someone confidently proposes a next step but overlooks the prior task of locating a person, arranging a meeting, or securing access. It emphasizes that the essential groundwork must come first.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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