- English translation
You bring it as a present, yet you're hungry for it yourselves—go sit by the wall and eat it.
- Literal wording
O you who come visiting with it while you crave it, sit down beside the walls and eat it.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying targets a giver whose own appetite for the gift is obvious. Rather than accept a present offered with longing eyes, the recipient tells the visitors to sit down by the wall, out of the way, and eat it themselves, since the household has no real need of it.
Its edge comes from exposing a half-hearted generosity: the offering is outwardly a gift, yet the giver plainly wants it, so the reply is a mocking refusal rather than thanks. In Arabic the two halves close on matching sounds, تشتهوه and كلوه, giving the retort a neat, rhythmic finish.
- When it is used
Use it, with teasing or mild reproach, toward someone visibly reluctant to part with what they are offering, such as a guest eyeing the food they brought. It turns the gift back to the giver as a gently mocking refusal, suggesting they keep and enjoy it themselves.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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