The goldsmith who has a thousand persons to answer. This in reference to the delay in finishing a job, owing to his taking more orders than he can accomplish in a given time. The goldsmith knows what ornaments are of fine gold, i.e., knows who are the rich men of a place. It must either be with the goldsmith, or in the pot in which he melts gold, i.e., it will be found somewhere in the house. Said to one who is in search of something that cannot be found. Goldsmiths put inferior gold into the refining-pot. If, successful, pour it into a mould; if not, pour it into the melting pot. The Rev. H. Jensen explains [77] that the goldsmith examines the gold after melting it. If it is free from dross, he pours it into the mould; if it is still impure, it goes back into the pot. The goldsmith will steal a quarter of the gold of even his own mother. Stolen gold may be either with the goldsmith, or in his fire-pot. If the ear of the cow of a Kammalan is cut and examined, some wax will be found in it. It is said that the Kammalan is in the habit of substituting sealing-wax for gold, and thus cheating people. The proverb warns them not to accept even a cow from a Kammalan. Or, according to another explanation, a Kammalan made a figure of a cow, which was so lifelike that a Brahman purchased it as a live animal with his hard-earned money, and, discovering his mistake, went mad. Since that time, people were warned to examine an animal offered for sale by Kammalans by cutting off its ears. A variant of the proverb is that, though you buy a Kammalan's cow only after cutting its ears, he will have put red wax in its ears (so that, if they are cut into, they will look like red flesh). What has a dog to do in a blacksmith's shop? Said of a man who attempts to do work he is not fitted for. When the blacksmith sees that the iron is soft, he will raise himself to the stroke. Will the blacksmith be alarmed at the sound of a hammer? When a child is born in a blacksmith's family, sugar must be dealt out in the street of the dancing-girls. This has reference to the legendary relation of the Kammalans and Kaikolans. A blacksmith's shop, and the place in which donkeys roll themselves, are alike. The carpenters and blacksmiths are to be relegated, i.e., to the part of the village called the Kammalacheri. What if the carpenter's wife has become a widow? This would seem to refer to the former practice of widow remarriage. The carpenter wants (his wood) too long, and the blacksmith wants (his iron) too short, i.e., a carpenter can easily shorten a piece of wood, and a blacksmith can easily hammer out a piece of iron. When a Kammalan buys cloth, the stuff he buys is so thin that it does not hide the hair on his legs.