Two Heads are Better Than One: Using Conceptual Mapping to Diagram Proverb Meaning

ERIK AASLAND TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: USING CONCEPTUAL MAPPING TO ANALYZE PROVERB MEANING Abstract: There has always been an interest in how to interpret metaphorical proverbs. Recent research in cognitive science can be utilized to effectively diagram proverb meaning, especially defining the base meaning and evaluating the proverb meaning as incorporated into a larger context such as a story (i.e. blended meaning). In this article Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner's model of conceptual blending (Fauconnier 2002) is applied and expanded to describe the process of metaphorical proverb meaning. The proverb under consideration serves as the conclusion to a Kazakh folktale. Through narrative analysis of the folktale the spaces of the proverb map can be filled in, and the base and blended meaning elucidated. Finally, there is a discussion of relevance as the process of incorporating cultural inferences which complete the meaning of the proverb both as base meaning and as blended meaning. Keywords: base meaning, conceptual blending, generic space, genre, metaphor, relevance, story, synecdoche. Introduction In recent years there has been considerable research combining cognitive science and literary criticism in an effort to map the process of metaphor meaning (Fauconnier 2002; Gibbs 1995; Stockwell 2002). Metaphor has a way of grabbing our attention, bringing clarity, and helping to crystallize purpose in our lives. The use of metaphor in proverbs is well established in research (Arora 1994; Finnegan 1981; Seitel 1981). Some scholars have argued that all true proverbs are metaphorical (Bascom 1965: 69). The focus of this paper will be on Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner's conceptual blending research (Fauconnier 2002) with an addition based on Turner's discussion of proverbs from his book The Literary Mind (Turner 1996). In recent scholarship there is Richard Honeck's book which examines proverbs on the basis of PROVERBIUM 26 (2009) 2 ERIK AASLAND cognitive science (Honeck 1997), but his book predated the release of Fauconnier and Turner's exploration of metaphor. The aim of this paper is to understand how to most effectively evaluate the meaning of individual Kazakh metaphorical proverbs incorporated into a folktale. I will show how conceptual mapping methods can be used to graphically represent as well as describe the process of proverb meaning. We will consider the following proverb: If there are not two heads, there will not be two cattle. Bas ekeū bolmay, mal ekeū bolmas. The proverb is one of two related sayings at the close of the Kazakh folktale "When Wealth Flees, Tuıs Can't Stop", but of the two sayings it is the only one still in use today (Qaidar 2004: 240). At first glance, one might think that the selected proverb is similar to the English proverb, "Two heads are better than one." This was my first take at the meaning. Kazakh does have a similar proverb', but, as we shall see, this initial conjecture is off the mark. I will consider two different forms of proverb meaning: 1. The base meaning of the proverb (the non-metaphorical restating of the proverb which can be applied to a variety of situations) (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1981; Prahlad 1996; Sackett 1964; Turner 1996); 2. The blended meaning of the proverb as the conclusion to a folktale. One could describe the former as the definition of the proverb as embedded in cultural understanding and the latter as the meaning of the proverb as embedded in the folktale. Proverbs, as is well known, are defined by their contexts. Their meaning is established by being situated (Finnegan 1981: 15, 27, 34; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1981: 112, 118-119; Silverman 1998: 8-9). Thus lists of proverbs with no accompanying description, as is the case with numerous books of proverbs, are of little help in clarifying the meaning of these same proverbs (Finnegan 1981: 21-22). There are some cases where stories are accompanied by proverbs. Van Thiel presents examples of stories being developed around a specific proverb (Van Thiel 1988: 212). Archer Taylor mentions fables having specific proverbs added to them CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 3 and the difficulty of understanding such proverbs if the story is lost (Taylor 1931: 27-28). A number of Kazakh proverbs are connected to stories. In fact, one scholar of Kazakh oral tradition lists "inclusion in folktales" as one of the characteristics distinguishing proverbs from other sayings (Gabdulliyn 1996: 7980). The selected proverb comes at the end of the folktale entitled "When Wealth Flees, Tuıs Can't Stop" (Esmen 2000: 40) and serves to summarize the moral of the story. In addition, the narrated event is described as the origin of the two proverbs, thus making it an etiological folktale, explaining "causes for a phenomenon" (Leeming 1994: 88). Cognitive scientists have studied the relationship between stories and summary proverbs and have concluded that together they increase understandability of both story and proverb. The story provides the context for the proverb and with the proverb placed in context the listener can determine which is the fitting base meaning (Glucksberg 1992: 580). Gibbs found that the proverb makes the message of the story more understandable to readers. When the non-metaphorical base meaning was stated as the conclusion, there was no increased comprehension of the message of the story. However, when a proverb was used as a conclusion, readers found it considerably easier to state the main message of the story (Gibbs 1995: 139-140). The Method: Mapping Metaphor In this section I will outline the history of metaphor mapping as background to the mapping model which I will use. Then I will present the position of proverbs in the map of metaphor meaning and conclude by examining the technique for representing the conceptual domains and relationships between domains which form the core of metaphor meaning. Metaphor was not always a popular field of inquiry. For a long time analogical thinking and metaphor had been held in disfavor among Western scholars. In the 1970s there was a marked shift in thinking throughout scholarship. Metaphors received increased attention (Gibbs 1993: 252-253) and stories as well as all forms of narrative took center stage. The change happened across a wide range of disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, and linguistics (Fauconnier 2002: 14-15). 4 ERIK AASLAND George Lakoff and Mark Johnson with their book Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff 1980) introduced the idea of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) which described key cultural metaphors using source and target domains and also discussed individual metaphorical phrases which used these cultural metaphors (Coulson 2006). Lakoff's more recent work More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Metaphor (Lakoff 1989) continued to use the idea of source and target domains. Here "domains" are categories of cultural symbols which are grouped on the basis of similarity (Spradley 1979: 94). The next stage in the analysis of metaphor was the work of Fauconnier and Turner. In the place of domains they posited input spaces, dynamically developed "conceptual packets" which emerge in the course of thought or conversation (Fauconnier 2002: 40). In doing so, they shifted the emphasis from cultural paradigmatic metaphors to the formulation of metaphors. These input spaces are characterized by increased interaction between conceptual domains. There is also the possibility that the number of conceptual domains would exceed two, in contrast to the CMT which always has just two. Finally, they added to the CMT model the generic space: a description of the relationship between input spaces; and the blend: the integration of metaphor into a story—key parts of my proverb meaning model. The mapping technique provides a new way to pictorially show the richness of relationships among the components involved in metaphor meaning. With the inclusion of the base meaning, which Turner termed the abstract story (Turner 1996: 62), the mapping technique holds great promise for proverb research. At this point I want to present the full model which we will use for proverb mapping. [Figure 1] Each of the different units in the map will be labeled, but a number of the units will only be explained later in the text. How does a Proverb fit in the Map? What is a proverb? As a syntactic unit it exists in the space between base meaning and story (i.e. blend). The reason why there is confusion of proverbs with story and propositional statements is because the process of proverb meaning naturally connects and integrates the proverb into a larger context which includes a pro-positional statement, the base meaning, as well as the story or discourse situation, which can be called the blend. CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING Figure 1 5 6 ERIK AASLAND The first common point of confusion is between base meanings and proverbs. Base meanings are non-metaphorical prepositional statements. Like other prepositional statements base meanings can be assigned a truth value (Cram 1994: 85). On the other hand, proverbs are used rhetorically (Goodwin 1981: 142) and are non-propositional (Cram 1994: 85-87). The second common point of confusion is equating proverbs with stories. Although I greatly appreciate Turner's attempt to discuss proverbs in the light of conceptual blending, I find that he conflates the definitions of proverb and story. As he looks at the process of parable, he classifies proverbs as truncated stories or implicit stories (Turner 1996: 5-6, 87), but does not explore the classification further. Proverbs generally present a whole idea (Whiting 1994/ 1939: 95). However they may lack a verb and generally do not present focus or viewpoint. Presenting one idea does not make them a story. As was stated earlier, proverbial meaning is established not by the proverb on its own, but rather through being situated (Finnegan 1981: 15, 27, 34; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1981: 112, 118-119; Silverman 1998: 8-9) or I would suggest woven into a given conversational or textual context. In order for their meaning to be fully realized they need to be fitted to a situation, either put into relation to a story or integrated into a dialogue. Folklore genres are not created equal. Each genre has its own unique set of characteristics and limitations (Ben-Amos 1976: 225). Compared to some other genres such as proverbs, stories stand out as independent units. With plot, character, and conclusions stories are self-contained. Proverbs are too compact for a comparable type of development within itself. The proverb is a combination of the inputs, with additional lexical and syntactical elements which mark the phrase as proverbial (Arora 1994: 10-13; Silverman-Weinreich 1981: 80-81). There is no elaboration, composition, or completion which Fauconnier and Turner argue characterize story (Fauconnier 2002: 42-44). We will have to look to the story to complete the tale. As a result, I have labeled the proverb as a proto-blend and defined it as "A dependent syntactical unit, whose meaning is realized by integration with a situation, being either incorporated into a story or introduced into a dialogue." (Aasland 2007). CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 7 Proverbs as a genre have characteristics and limitations within each culture of usage or each speech community (Hymes 1986: 43). They are rhetorical tools which state general principles, but are applied to specific situations. Since they are rhetorical tools, they are used to persuade others and to present possibilities, rather than to be evaluated for truth values as in the case of propositions, proverbs are brought into play in order to convince others to follow a norm (Bartlotti 2000: 333-334). In discussing pedagogical discourse among the Mexicanos, Charles Briggs presents how the elders exhort younger hearers to "... internalize these values and reflect them in their behavior" (Briggs 1988: 93). Although proverbs may be connected with stories or even come across as a truncated story, they are not stories in and of themselves. Considering the Selected Proverb Let's return once again to the proverb in question. At this point I want to present the transliterated proverb, a literal translation, my translation, and the translation done by a gifted Kazakh translator: Bas ekeu bolmay, mal ekeu bolmas. Head two if there are not, cattle two will not be If there are not two heads, there will not be two cattle. Cattle won't double unless one finds his half for life. The original Kazakh is very succinct. Even in my close translation of the proverb, I have to add additional words to make it proper English. Now consider the translation by a very capable translator. The length is comparable to the length of my own translation, but he has changed the sentence considerably. There are three significant changes: 1. Parallelism of "two" in the Kazakh is replaced by "double" and "half respectively; 2. "head" is removed and replaced with "life"; 3. Double negative construction is replaced with "unless" in the first half. Why should I take issue with these three changes? The proverb is understandable, interesting, and poetic. Yet there are a number of unnecessary changes. First he has changed words and thus lessened parallelism. Such symmetry is a key component of Kazakh proverb structure. Parallelism marks the text, so that we can more effectively negotiate the proverb meaning (Stockwell 2002: 14, 46; Woolard 2004: 80-81). Secondly, he has eliminated the synecdoche which in the original serves as a flag that 8 ERIK AASLAND to understand the proverb additional cultural specific inferences must be brought to bear (Lakoff 1987: 78; Prahlad 1996: 18-19). Finally, the translation brings in concepts that are not in the original proverb, but would fit into either a story based on the proverb or the base meaning. The most likely explanation for these changes is that the translator is unknowingly working with the proverb as a piece of written literature rather than oral tradition and as such works to eliminate redundancy of terms (Ong 1982:2426,33-36,39-41). The translation is evidence of the way in which proverb and base meaning are conflated and further evidence for the relationship between proverb and base meaning discussed in this paper. For a foreign reader it comes across as very pleasant, but it may also give the foreign reader undue confidence in his/her ability to work with the proverb. The translator has already done some of the reader's work. If the translator understands the base meaning of the selected proverb, then translation can be good, but the foreign reader will be less able to check the translator's interpretive work. Now, let's consider the original proverb again. We see that there are two types of input spaces, nature and people. From the domain of people we have just two terms: "two" and "heads". Here "heads" is metonymic and more specifically an example of synecdoche, the part representing the whole (Lakoff 1980: 35-37). Metonymy is a culture specific technique (Lakoff 1987: 78) for focusing on one aspect of the item to represent the whole. The input refers to two people. The second input is from the domain of nature and also has just two words: "two" and "cattle". As is common in Kazakh oral tradition, "cattle" mal is the metaphorical term for "wealth". This input is a second example of metonymy. In order to understand these two examples of metonymy, we will need some more information on the common cultural understanding involved. It would be tempting to try and formulate a base meaning to the proverb, as this would let us complete the rest of the map of the proverb. However there are three different reasons to not attempt to go from the proverb directly to a determination of the base meaning: 1. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblet has shown that a proverb can have multiple base meanings (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1981); 2. Anand Prahlad has effectively argued that base meanings can only be accurately established on the basis of an understanding of the specific cultural context (Prahlad 1996: 18-19); 3. Metonomy, of which CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 9 synechdoche is a subset, is a culture specific understanding (Lakoff 1987: 78) . Thus we need to consider additional culture specific information, so that we do not make a misstep. At this point I will consider the folktale itself and follow with a discussion of the narrative. The integration of the proverb into the wider context of story will supply us with information concerning the common cultural understanding which can clarify the base meaning of the proverb. When Wealth Flees, Tuıs Can't Stop2 There once was a young single man named Tuıs. He would leave his home for work and come back every two or three months to bring home all he would gain by doing all kinds of work. However, his possessions did not increase, but decreased, and he could not find prosperity. There was a neighbor, a woman who lived with her family down the street. She had no income of any kind. She was not able to travel any great distance. Still day by day her household prospered. "How can this be?" Tuıs asked, then left to submit himself to Wisdom and ask his counsel. Wisdom's first question was, "Have you visited Fortune?" Tuıs replied that he had not. "In that case, you go to him. He is mischievous, not obeying my words, but rather thwarting them", said Wisdom. As Tuıs was on his way to see Fortune, he stopped at a hut along the road. There were an old woman, an old man, and a lame girl of marrying age in this hut. Tuıs ate lunch with them. It was just as Tuıs was about to leave when the old man made him pledge to ask the following question of Fortune, "To what kind of man should we give our daughter?" Tuıs was walking along near the river bank and rested in the shade of an aspen tree which was bent down touching the ground. The aspen made Tuıs pledge to ask, "My top has been fastened to the ground since I was a young tree. What shall I do about this?" Tuis found Fortune and told him the reason for his visit. Afterwards Fortune asked him "Did you go to see Wisdom?" "I went. However he said to first come to you, because you do not fulfill his words, but rather thwart them." Fortune smiled and replied, "That is true". Then he listened to all Tuıs said. Finally Fortune declared: 10 ERIKAASLAND "Leave. Go back to the aspen tree which is bowed down to the ground. There you will find gold attached to the top of it. Dig it out and take it. Afterwards the tree will stand tall again. Give half of the gold to the old man and woman and take their lame daughter as your bride." Tuıs followed Fortune's words. Afterwards, Tuis' life began to improve. As it turns out, we have two sayings3 from this event: "If there are not two heads, there will not be two cattle." "When wealth flees, Tuıs can't stop." Analysis of the Narrative From the outset of the story we are confronted by irony. Tuıs, whose name means "relative", lives alone with no relative to whom he relates. He is able-bodied and a hard worker, yet he cannot gain any wealth. In contrast, the woman down the street who can only stay at home with her children continues to prosper. Tuıs questions the logic of this situation and at this point the story takes a fantastic turn. He embarks on an amazing journey, in which he speaks with embodied Wisdom and Fortune, receives an assignment from an aspen, and' finds treasure in the unlikeliest of places. Near the close of the folktale the story seems to return to everyday life as Tuis takes a wife. Yet his bride is anything but quotidian. Whereas nearly all characters in Kazakh folktales are given names with meanings significant to the plot (We saw this with the protagonist at the outset of the folktale), this young miss remains nameless. The only description of the "girl of marrying age" is that she is "lame". Note there is no mention of her being lovely, gifted, or even industrious. Her disability stands in stark contrast to the protagonist's ability and mobility. It would appear that such variance serves one purpose in the story—it makes the ensuing prosperity that she and Tuıs experience as man and wife even more profound. In contrast to the American proverb, "Two heads are better than one"4, where we see the sum of the individuals' strengths working together, the situation here does not add up. It could be expected that the protagonist in marrying a woman who is lame would face greater financial challenges. Instead, Tuıs by unquestioningly following Fortune's dictates experiences the fruit of following the collectivistic rule that prosperity comes from life in community. CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 11 This does not mean that the American mindset is exclusively individualistic or that the Kazakh mindset is set on all things collectivistic. However, one could say that the two cultures are characterized by these contrasting paradigms. If one considers just the differences in greetings this is evident. When an American first meets you, the aim of the encounter is to get acquainted by asking how you distinguish yourself based on current activities or future plans. Kazakhs when greeting new people ask about the new acquaintance's place of birth, age, family status and other possible points of commonality between the two people. Kazakhs, as former nomads, understand that linkages whether by birth or structured are the surest way to survival and success. Below is the complete mapping of the proverb as integrated into the folktale. [Figure 2] Figure 2 12 ERIK AASLAND The Generic Space Next let us consider what the two inputs have in common which has been termed the "generic space" (Fauconnier 2002). I want to do the detailed analysis of relationships between inputs at this point before we move on to the bigger picture of the base meaning. An interesting approach to understanding the proverb and more specifically the relationships between the inputs is to consider the proverb as a series of three photos5. As my cultural consultant pointed out in an e-mail after reading the folktale, the Kazakh term jalkı which is used to refer to the protagonist living alone is generally used for animals that are "single-born" or "only" (Nurhassenof 2008). Thus Tuıs and the cattle are linguistically linked in the folktale. Although I have presented the proverb above pictorially as a negation, one thing that makes this particular proverb stand out is its distinctive structure, a double negative. Why would there be a proverb here with two negatives rather than a simple positively stated proverb affirming the connection between community and fruitfulness? Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that a cause and effect relationship is not confirmed solely by finding a positive association, but also by presenting that the former factor does not come about without the latter. One must establish both "if a, then b" and "if not a, then not b". A classic statement of this requirement was written by David Hume in his famous Enquiry into Human Understanding published back in 1777. He argues that we too often see things happening in CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 13 sequence and assume that they are joined cause and effect. According to Hume, a cause as something followed by something else and also "...if the first object had not been, the second never had existed." (Hume 1975: 76). He challenges that a perceived sequence (if a, then b) by itself is mere conjecture and needs the clincher, "if not a, then not b", as convincing evidence for a causal link. Thus the folktale presents both Tuıs' work without accumulating wealth (if not a, then not b) and his gaining wealth in community (if a, then b). One could describe this as a necessary condition (Byerly 1973: 421) and put the phrase "fruitfulness in community" in the generic space. The Base Meaning S.J. Sackett in his discussion of the proverb "The Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss", presents a non-metaphorical restatement of the proverb (Sackett 1964: 149). Later Turner would go into greater detail concerning this same concept in his discussion of the development of "abstract story" or "generic interpretation". According to Turner, in this process one takes a proverb mentioned in passing or found in a book and projects it onto an abstract story which can then operate as a 'target story'" (Turner 1996: 6, 62). The abstract story or generic interpretation can then be applied to various situations. When we ask someone what a proverb means, we are generally asking about its "generic interpretation" which we have referred to as "base meaning". Near the close of our investigation we can now present a proposed base meaning: "Only when one is in community can one be fruitful and see an increase for one's effort". Here we have a nonmetaphorical restating of the proverb which applies to the folktale in consideration and can be applied to other situations as well. The basis for this proposed base meaning is our analysis of the folktale and conjoined proverb. Relevance or How I Messed Up Rather than applaud myself on my success in mapping the proverb, I want to consider mistakes which I made in the course of my research. This will clarify the dotted lines labeled "relevance" in the complete proverb mapping model. At the outset the equation of the "two heads" of the Kazakh proverb and the English proverb "Two heads are better than one" 14 ERIK AASLAND was rejected. In my own research considering an English equivalent was part of the process of formulating a provisional base meaning. After a close reading of the folktale, I had to reject this provisional base meaning. Why don't these two proverbs match up? The key is the common cultural understanding associated with the respective proverbs. As we have seen in the discussion, the focus of the Kazakh proverb is on fruitfulness in community. Their joining together and being part of one unit makes them more fruitful than they could be alone. In contrast to this more collectivist understanding we have the more individualistic American perspective on "two heads". In this case, the individuals bring and use together the sum of their abilities as individuals, which is the focus. J.A. Simpson in the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs offers "Four eyes see more than two" as a comparable proverb to "two heads are better than one". He offers the following base meaning: "Two people are more observant than one alone" (Simpson 1982: 87). Simpson's formulation is individualistic whereas the Kazakh folktale definitely takes the collectivistic perspective. A second misstep in my research was my initial provisional blended meaning for the proverb. In my initial reading of the folktale, I considered Tuıs' situation to fit the English proverb "A rolling stone gathers no moss". Yet, as I discussed the matter with Kazakh bilingual culture consultants they pointed to another Kazakh proverb as the better match with the English proverb of the rolling stone. It took further consideration and a closer reading of the Kazakh folktale for me to come to the conclusion that the proverb of the rolling stone was not the match for the blended meaning of the Kazakh proverb in question. As Fauconnier and Turner point out, the inputs do not determine the details of the blend (Fauconnier 2002: 307) or as I would put it the blend is thematically underdetermined by the inputs. Themes are developed which relate to the material from the inputs but are not present there. The development of structures is part of completion one of the key activities in developing a blend. One cannot consider the inputs by themselves and come up with the meaning of the proverb. What exactly is lacking? The proverb by itself as well as the inputs by themselves lack the cultural inferences which has been termed "relevance" (Sperber 1995) which complete the meaning of the proverb both as base meaning and as blended meaning. Raymond Gibbs calls these inferences CONCEPTUAL MAPPING AND PROVERB MEANING 15 "complex entailments" (Gibbs 1996: 237). Roy D' Andrade affirms that proverbs and similar propositions "...rest on a large and complex [body] of shared implicit cultural understandings" (DAndrade 1995: 151). Such inferences can be determined through a careful examination of either the text, in our case the folktale, or the proverb encounter. We have read the folktale closely and can formulate our proposal for the blended meaning. In the folktale the proverb is explicated as husband and wife serving as the foundation for fruitfulness. Conclusion Proverbs attached to folktales and fables are present in a variety of cultures (Taylor 1931; Van Thiel 1988; Wienert 1988). Yet the proverbial conclusion which we have considered is unique being doubly etiological: first explaining the origin of the selected proverbs; second, explaining the cause of fruitfulness. How does the concluding proverb relate to the folktale? The folktale has its amazing elements, such as personified Wisdom and Fortune which indicate that it is a fantastic folktale. One can view the proverb as a summary or the moral of the story. At the same time, the proverb conclusion makes a claim that the event told about in the folktale had an historical affect. Although the folktale is fantastic we have a time tested truth which it passes along. We have considered the meaning of the Kazakh proverb "If there are not two heads, there will not be two cows" in light of the folktale to which it is con-joined. I have used a modified form of the proverb mapping method developed by Fauconnier and Turner. Within this model proverbs exist in a middle space between proposition and story. When it comes to metaphorical proverbs additional cultural information is needed to accurately formulate the base meaning and to define the proverb meaning as used in the given story. The proverb is linked by means of inference or what Sperber calls "relevance" to the base meaning as well as the folktale to which it is conjoined. In order to delve into the meaning of the proverb we needed to interact with the folktale. The folktale with conjoined proverb presents the Kazakh paradigm that fruitfulness comes through community. This can be understood in a collectivist sense of everyone being fruitful if they are part of a larger cultural group. At the same time the proverb attests to the union of husband and wife being the organic source of fruitfulness (Qaidar 2004: 240). 16 ERIKAASLAND I want to close not with my own comments, but rather a summary of a Kazakh's encounter with the folktale and proverb in question. Here we can see the true power of the proverb which goes beyond simply pondering some quote or considering an abstract concept: One morning I was sitting with a language helper in the school reading through Kazakh folktales. We read the folktale about Tms along with the conjoined proverb, "If there are not two heads, there will not be two cattle". My language helper, who has a steady job in the city, turned to me and said, "You know this is true, I should think about finding a husband." Beyond any mapping of metaphorical proverbs lies the power of oral tradition to shape thinking and crystallize resolve. Notes 1 "The fur coat cut with counsel will not come up short." Akildasip pishken ton kelte bolmas. 1 want to thank Kairat Muratbaev and Yerzhan Nurhassenof for checking my translation of this folktale. 3 According to Qaidar, the Kazakh distinction between "proverb" maqal and "sayings" matel is based on the proverbs having general application and the sayings being connected with a specific situation (Qaidar 2004: 56-57). In this folktale in which we have an event indicated as the source of the saying the folktale describes the phrase as a "saying" rather than a "proverb" which matches Qaidar's reasoning. 4 Although this is the most common form of this proverb in North America, there are some interesting variations. Take for example, "Two heads are better than one, even though one may be a sheep's head" (Mieder 1992: 288). It could be very beneficial to do proverb mapping of at least one of these variations as a source of comparison to the more common form of the proverb. 5 My wife, Kim Aasland, suggested that it would be effective to present the proverb as a series of photos. 2 Bibliography Aasland, Erik. 2007. Metaphor and Kazakh Proverbs. Unpublished work. Arora, Shirley L. 1994. The Perception of Proverbiality. In Wise Words: Essays on the Proverb, edited by Mieder, Wolfgang. New York and London: Garland Publishing. Bartlotti, Leonard. 2000. Negotiating Pakhto: Proverbs, Islam, and the Construction of Identity Among Pashtuns University of Wales. Bascom, William. 1965. Stylistic Features of Proverbs, A Comment. Journal of American Folklore 78 (307):69. Ben-Amos, Dan. 1976. Analytical Categories and Ethnic Genres. In Folklore Genres, edited by Ben-Amos, Dan. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 215-242. Briggs, Charles L. 1988. 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