Today I would like to talk to you about a very popular saying in Spain: "Caer del burro". It should literally be: “To fall down from a donkey”.
This expression means to recognise the mistake or stubbornness, maintained for a long time.
According to the Historian, Covarrubias, formerly it was said "to fall from its female donkey", that is to say "to disabuse itself of its erroneous opinion with the bad event".
The origin of this expression is probably in the fame that donkey has of being an awkward and a stubborn animal. But also it can be related to some anecdote, carried out by this animal with some person to whom it transported.
But apart from the symbolism of donkey, this phrase is a more popular and graphic version of a very similar one, which is "Caerse del caballo" (“Falling down from a horse”). And that refers to the well-known story of Paul of Tarsus --or Saint Paul--, who was Jewish and was sent to Damascus, to persecute the Christians, of whom it seems that he was very enemy. On the road to Damascus he fell off the horse, and the miraculous versions said that it happened because horseman and horse were blinded by a divine light. The truth is that the story says that, when he left the commotion, he left his attitude, converted to Christianity and became the most active apostle and diffuser of his faith of his time.
The conversion of Paul of Tarsus
Once I have also heard this expression in the case that someone speaks badly of another person and then it is said that the first one "puts down from a donkey" to the second one; but I do not know if this meaning is correct.
Anyway, maybe you did not know any of these versions and I hope that you will like this article.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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