- English translation
Take more wives, and you'll have sons enough to fill every saddle.
- Literal wording
Increase the bedding, and you will fill the saddles.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb counsels a man to multiply his marriages, letting the word for bedding stand in for wives. Its reasoning runs forward in time: many wives mean many sons, and enough sons will one day occupy every saddle.
The reward it holds out is pride. A father who can watch grown sons riding horses has something to boast of, and the saying presents that sight as the fruit of a large household. This is the outlook the proverb voices, not advice to follow.
- When it is used
Quote it as giving voice to a view in which many marriages lead to many mounted sons and a father's pride, never as counsel. Keep the image of filled saddles intact, since it carries the promised reward.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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