«اِلْجَعَانْ يُمْدُغِ الزَّلَطْ»

Hunger here pictures desperation. Someone with nothing left will bite down on stones, trying what nobody in comfort would consider. Pressed hard enough, people stop asking whether a task can be done at all and simply throw themselves at it.

The emphasis falls on the pressure rather than the outcome. Stones will never feed anyone, and the chewing achieves nothing, yet the urge persists. The point concerns what severe want does to judgment and to the limits a person is willing to test.

Fitting when someone in dire straits takes on a task that looks hopeless from the start, to point to the hardship driving the attempt rather than to the attempt's chances.