- English translation
The goat's damage to the tanning pods is repaid when those pods are used on her own skin.
- Literal wording
What the goat does to the tanning pods, the tanning pods repay through her hide.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying warns that harm or damage one causes may return as a fitting repayment. Its image is of a goat eating tanning pods, which are later used to cure its hide; readers unfamiliar with tanning may need that context.
More broadly, it expresses the idea that one may face consequences resembling a wrong previously committed. Ibn Iyas recorded a variant of the proverb in two places in his history, framing it as a traditional saying rather than a rule that every misfortune is deserved.
- When it is used
Use it to warn that harmful conduct may rebound on its author, or to note an irony in which someone encounters matching consequences. Avoid using it to blame a person for suffering or to imply that every setback is deserved; the tanning image may need brief explanation.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: The goat's damage to the tanning pods is repaid when those pods are used on her own skin.