What does the proverb "There are devils in still waters"

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

To become "winged", the phrase must thoroughly take root in the mouths of the people. And this happens only when it convincingly and capaciously reflects any phenomenon or event. This is how the saying “There are devils in still waters.”

Meaning of the saying

The idea behind the statement is that not everything that seems peaceful and calm actually is. Somewhere deep and invisibly, dark passions can seethe and an obscure danger, sinister plans can be seen. Most often, this saying refers to a person. For the time being, he is quiet and modest, educated and secretive. But there comes a moment when the “quiet woman” suddenly does unexpected and bad deeds. The saying "There are devils in still waters" is thus intended to warn of possible unpleasant surprises that a person of impeccable outward behavior can present.

The hidden power of the pool

Folk wisdom, which took shape in a Russian proverb, originated in a native Russian environment and reflects local realities. Firstly, a whirlpool - that is, a deep hole hidden at the bottom of a reservoir, is found in rivers and lakes, but not in the seas andoceans. A whirlpool is most often formed as a result of a whirlpool born by a counter current. The ominous power of the pool is determined by its apparent calmness. Secondly, there are devils in the pool, according to common Russian legends about evil spirits. If you look at the associative series caused by the word whirlpool, we will see a gloomy and mysterious picture. This is a cliff, fear, rapids, water, snag, darkness, cold, abyss, danger, death. According to legend, otherworldly male creatures live in the pools, who marry drowned women or witches. Damn families, as the legends say, can get out of the pool at night and replace human babies with their imps.

Why do devils live in still water

The belief that devils live in the water may be connected with the biblical story about how Jesus, casting out demons from people, commanded evil spirits to enter a herd of pigs, which then rushed into the water. There are sources claiming that deep waters as a habitat for evil spirits were known even in pagan, pre-Christian times. However, today, researchers of anomalous phenomena will also tell many stories that some modern lakes and ponds are “famous” for seeing devils there. And this happens, according to them, because entrances to parallel worlds can be located at the bottom of the reservoir.

Foreign equivalents

Other peoples also have sayings similar to the meaning of the phrase "there are devils in still waters". They also express a warning that humility and apparent complacencymay be deceptive. In Greece, for example, they say: "Beware of a quiet river, not a stormy one." The English express this idea thus: "Silent waters are deep." Franz

PS warn: "There is no worse than the water that sleeps." In Spain, it is customary to speak of imaginary calm like this: "Silent water is dangerous." The Italians say: "Still water destroys bridges", and the Poles believe that "Peaceful water washes away the coast." Among the Slavs, the insidiousness of calm waters is closely connected with the evil spirits living there. Ukrainian and Belarusian proverbs, like the Russian one, say: “Devil breeds in a quiet swamp.”

Literary life sayings

Proverbs and sayings are willingly used by writers to give expressiveness to the characters and the work as a whole. This fate did not bypass the proverb "In still waters, there are devils". She was mentioned by A. N. Ostrovsky in the play “The Heart is Not a Stone”, I. S. Turgenev in the address of the heroine of the novel “Fathers and Sons”, F. M. Dostoevsky in the story “The Double”, V. F. Tendryakov in the essay “Heavy character”, P. L. Proskurin in the trilogy “Fate”. The proverb adorned the pages of the novel "Mountains and People" by Yu. N. Libedinsky. It is creatively rethought in the story "The Chair" by I. Grekova, in the short story "Tsar-Fish" by V. P. Astafiev, in the novel "Donbass" by B. L. Gorbatov.