Learn English – English equivalent to the Indian saying “Like a thief being stung by a scorpion”

idiom-requestsproverb-requests

The title is the literal translation of a south Indian proverb, used to describe situations where a person who's already guilty will be proven so, if he voices himself against something.

Examples:

  1. From the literal saying : A thief entered a house at night, and a scorpion stung him. He cant shout out loud, otherwise he'll be caught. He just has to bear it.

  2. A student skipped school on the day of a field trip to a local hospital, unbeknownst to his parents. The parents later found out that there was a break out of some disease at the said hospital and decide to get him a preventive vaccination for it. He doesn't like injections, but cant tell his parents that he didn't actually visit the hospital.

Best Answer

I think you are referring to "திருடனுக்கு தேள் கொட்டின மாதிரி"(this is the original Tamil saying that I am aware of. It could exist in other Indian languages too)

You can say that the thief found himself between a rock and a hard place. He could either shout which will eventually lead him to his capture or bear the pain which could probably kill him. The idiom has the same implications as "between the devil and the deep blue sea"

(prov.) if you are between a rock and a hard place, you have to make a difficult decision between two things that are equally unpleasant

[The Free Dictionary]

As far as the second scenario is concerned, the student has 2 difficult choices to make :-

  • He can either disclose that he skipped school/field trip and avoid vaccination. However, this could potentially infuriate his parents for lying to them.
  • He can go ahead with the vaccination and conceal that he skipped school/field trip. But vaccination gives him all the jitters, so he's really has no other way out.

Update

The English idiom tends to be associated mostly with misdeeds, i.e. people putting themselves in such precarious situations. However, the original South Indian(Tamil) saying can also apply to situations where you try to do good but inadvertently end up like "a thief stung by a scorpion", where the choices in front of you are limited and only detrimental.

Related Topic