Swallow : Aesop's Fable

Aesop's fables became most widely read by my school mates in the Methodist Primary School. Inspired by our teachers to read English books, we had many little books in our class library cupboard. Before our English lessons started, we returned our class library books and borrowed one more for our reading pleasure at home.

I liked to read all those little books from Penguin series, and other publishers.

One special lesson our English taught one day was :

What is the meaning and origin of "one swallow does not make a summer"?

(Ekambaram, Trichur)

The swallow is not a Sarawak bird, but the teacher did make us pay attention to birds. We often watched swifltets from our class room windows...
We liked our teachers who taught us well, giving us lots of examples, paying attention to our weaknesses and not calling us STUPID.

A "swallow" is a bird, which makes its appearance during spring. The expression "one swallow does not make a summer" is usually used as a sort of warning. You are telling an individual not to become too happy about something; you are advising him to err on the side of caution. You are asking the individual not to get too excited just because a couple of good things have happened; there is still a long way to go yet. One good omen does not necessarily mean a happy ending. Here are a few examples.

*As soon as we launched the product we got a huge order from Russia. We were all pretty excited. But our boss told us to remember that one swallow does not make a summer.

*The first experiment is a success, but we should remember that one swallow does not make a summer.

This is another one of those expressions which became popular thanks to Aesop's fables. According to the story, a young man sees a swallow on a warm winter day. Since swallows are usually seen only during spring, the young man thinks that spring has arrived. As a result he sells his winter coat and then proceeds to drink with the money he has made. A few days later, it becomes extremely cold again and the young man shivering in the cold realises that one swallow does not necessarily imply that summer has arrived. Other expressions which have more or less the same meaning are "one grain does not fill a sack" and "one actor cannot make a play

Aesop's Fables truly fired our imagination from a young age.

I am very glad I went to Methodist Primary School.