- English translation
Someone says the camel went up the palm tree. The answer comes back: "Fine. There's the camel, and there's the palm."
- Literal wording
They said: "The camel climbed up the palm tree." They said: "Here is the camel, and here is the palm tree."
- Meaning and lesson
A claim that cannot possibly be true collapses once someone puts it to a practical test. The tale stages this: one voice reports that a camel scaled a palm tree, and another briskly points to the animal and the tree, challenging the claimant to repeat the feat on the spot.
The saying mocks people who boast of impossible deeds or spread fantastic reports, trusting that nobody will check. Its force lies in calling the bluff. When the evidence stands ready to be examined, empty talk is exposed, and the speaker who asserted it has nothing left to show.
- When it is used
Use it when someone insists on something absurd and the means to check it are right at hand. It works as a dry, mocking challenge that invites the boaster to demonstrate the claim, and it fits an informal exchange where the speaker expects the attempt to fail.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Someone says the camel went up the palm tree. The answer comes back: "Fine. There's the camel, and there's the palm."