- English translation
The camel is down on its knees, too sick to stand, and someone says, 'Put a load on it and it'll get up.'
- Literal wording
A camel kneeling from its ailment; one said: Load it and it will rise.
- Meaning and lesson
The picture is of a camel so weakened by illness that it has sunk to its knees, and of an onlooker whose remedy is to put a load on its back. The joke lies in the advice itself: the supposed cure would only make the animal's helplessness worse.
Applied to people, the saying describes someone already unable to manage a task who is pressed with further demands that leave them even less capable. Its criticism falls on the added pressure and whoever imposes it, not on the struggling person, and it presents hardship as a toughening cure as absurd.
- When it is used
Suited to moments when a plainly struggling or worn-out person is met with extra tasks or pressure instead of relief, especially when the load is offered as a cure. It is misused when aimed at belittling someone for being weak.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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