Frate Indovino: September Sage

Gli affari sono affari! - "Business is business!"

No further comment needed there...

So instead: this month we look at the Frate's fine print.

The calendar is crammed full of miscellaneous items—in assorted fonts that don't scan legibly. So I've only been able to do quick selections for typing into the translator.

I hadn't looked closely at the monthly list of saints and saints-in-waiting [the latter are names preceded by "B." for "Beato"—beatified]. I just assumed the line of text below each name must explain the religious meaning of that day.

But this section is actually where the almanac-style material is placed, on one line per date.

There are weather forecasts:

Settembre 1 Ultimo Quarto... Prime piogge abbondanti mitgano la tempuratura estiva.
September 1 Last quarter... the first heavy rains moderate the summer temperatures

Rhyming proverbs with religious morals:

A chi crede - Dio provvede
To those who believe - God provides

Beato chi vede con l'occhio della Fede
Blessed are those who see with the eye of faith

And general philosophizing, mostly expressed in rhyme:

Chi spreca ogni risorsa - non termina la corsa
Who squandered every resource - does not finish the race

There are proverbs that seem equivalent to some in English:

Dove sta la rana - l'acqua non è lontano
Where is the frog - water is not far
["Where there's smoke there's fire"]

Non dire mai "gatto!" - se non l'hai nel sacco
Never say "cat" - if you have not in the bag
["Don’t count your chickens..."; but with disturbing imagery]

Like the messages inside chocolate baci wrappers, there are lovely-sounding Italian rhymes that fall flat in English:

Amor perso in un momento - non si riacquista in anni cento
Love lost in a moment – will not return in one hundred years

Quando soffia Madam Fortuna- i granelli fan presto una duna
When it blows Madam Fortuna soon fans grains into a dune

Awkward translation grammar isn't too hard to clean up, but idioms that stump the translator have me stumped, too:

Di ogni altro amore è perno - il sincero amor materno
Each pin is another love - the true maternal love

Non c'è mucca così netta - che non abbia una macchietta
There is no clear-cut cow - which has not a speck

There are even weather and agricultural reports in rhyme:

Se piove il quattro di Settembre - si sta a bagno fino a Dicembre
If it rains on the 4th of September - it will soak until December

Settembre amico - apre mandorla e fico
September friend - opens [start of harvesting?] almond and fig

And, were truer words ever written?

Bolli, scartoffie e fogli - il mondo è pieno d'imbrogli
Stamps, paperwork and spreadsheets - the world is full of tricks

And in a world full of managers like the guy in the sheepskin: one can only try to look absorbed in the spreadsheets, while praying the boss takes note and walks on by...