Nítat tabarthai baí duit ar dartaib.

(are not * to be given * cows * for you * in exchange for * yearling heifers)

You shouldn’t trade in your cows for calves.

This is what the healer Fingin told the gravely wounded Cethern after examining him, in the Táin. “You shouldn’t make any long-term investments, because you won’t live to see them mature” is the sense of it. Fingin’s blunt candor earned him a fist in the face from Cethern, who didn’t think a physician had the right to deliver bad news.

Topics: Proverbial Sayings