The bird raised in hell...

Posted by Brian from Shawnee July 02, 2004In reply to The bird raised in hell... posted by ESC on July 02, 2004

Hi,
I want to know the meaning of Welsh proverb, "Y cyw a fegir yn uffern, yn uffern y myn drigo."
It can be translated "The bird reared in hell, there he will choose to dwell."

Do this proverb have to do with the Welsh history?

My opinions about the meaning:

1. We are more comfortable with the familiar, even if it's a miserable existence. Like a caged animal who feels safe in his cage and is afraid to leave.

2. Or it could mean a child raised around evil will choose evil when he growns up.

I don't know anything about Welsh history.

The sentiment sounds akin to "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know". In fact a search of this site on "devil you know" leads one to a discussion from the year 2000, in which ESC answers a question regarding a similar proverb translated from the Spanish. "The devil you know..." seems to be of Irish origin and traced back to the year 1539 according to a cited reference. So now we've got English, Irish, Spanish, and Welsh. Seems like a universal concept.