قالوا لجحا عد غنمك، قال واحدة قايمة وواحدة نايمة
Alo le Goha edd ghanamak, al wahda ayma we wahda nayma
Translation: They told Goha "count your sheep." He said, “one is standing and one is lying down.”
Meaning: This proverb is still used to signify that one’s means are so modest that there is no need to bother with them. Goha, a fictionalised medieval character with an uncanny ability to use simple logic, won’t say that he owns two sheep because it is just as easy to describe them.
Source: Egyptian Proverbs, (Al-Ahram Center for Translation and Publishing, 1986) by Ahmed Taymour Pasha,
Translated by: Nabil Shawkat
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