- English translation
Told to clear out of the house, the soldier just flung his cap out the window, and the move was done.
- Literal wording
They said: 'O soldier, move out.' He threw the qawuq (cap) out of the window.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb sketches a soldier who is ordered to vacate his lodging and answers by tossing his cap through the window, though the final word can also mean a wall opening or niche. That one gesture completes the whole move, because the cap is the only thing he has to carry away.
In use, the saying points to someone whose burden is light because their possessions are meager. It marks how little a person owns, so that any relocation leaves them with hardly anything to carry.
- When it is used
Apply this to a person who has so little to their name that moving out, packing up, or leaving demands almost nothing of them. The single tossed cap stands in for everything they own.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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