- English translation
Like the Tatars' nag, with the lash at its back and its worries riding on its neck.
- Literal wording
Like the Tatars' nag: the leather whip behind it, and carrying worry on its nape.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying portrays a person who is degraded and mistreated and who carries more troubles than anyone should. Like a nag driven by the whip from behind while weighed down from above, such a person is harried and burdened at the same time, with no relief on either side.
Linking the nag to the Tatars sharpens the image of cruelty: the animal serves masters the saying imagines as pitiless, so its humiliation never eases. This reflects a historical stereotype carried by the proverb, not a fair description of any people. The phrase fixes attention on how wretched the sufferer's condition has become.
- When it is used
Apply it to someone who is pushed around, given no respite, and weighed down by many troubles, describing a humiliated and miserable condition in which hardship presses from every direction at once.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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