Shetland Folk-Lore
forefathers are characteristic of a people who were helpful, obliging, and kind-hearted—borrowing from and lending to each other, In those days the useful inplements that minister to the comfort and convenience of every-day life were few and of a rude sort, and these only possessed by the more fortunate. Hence:
“Borrow and lend helps mony a man.”
“Gif-gaf mak's guid friends.”
“The weel-willed man is the beggar's bridder”—
He who supplies all seekers will soon exhaust his own resources.
The duty of taking care of borrowed articles is taught in the saying :
“Aye let a len come lauchin' hame.”
“Tiggers soodna be tarrowers.”
Tig means to beg, and tarrow signifies to slight or refuse. Hence persons that beg should never be fastidious. Similar to the popular saying:
“It's ill ta look a gift horse i' the mooth.”
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