№ 01 Wales
The Leader Is a Bridge
A fo ben, bid bont
a fo ben, bid bont
Why the Welsh say that whoever would lead must become a bridge — and how Hawaiian, Māori, and Tswana proverbs locate the weight of leadership in very different places.
Parallel & Proverbs
A weekly literary miscellany
Read by the tongue
Welsh
1 Welsh proverb read closely — filed under Humility, Effort and Humanism; set beside cousins in Hawaiian, Māori and Setswana.
Welsh proverbs, at a glance
-
Whoever would lead must make himself the crossing
A fo ben, bid bont
Literally: He who would be head, let him be bridge
Welsh · Wales
Set beside
- Hawaiian — the chief serves the land, not the land the chief; service from above rather than service as crossing
- Māori — the leader exists because the people do; what is of value is the people themselves
- Tswana — a chief is a chief by the people; authority constituted from below, where the Welsh image is authority spent downward