A small pair of cream children's shoes stands beside larger brown shoes on a warm wooden floor.

Original artwork, not a still

English proverb

Wise is the child that knows its father.

Another fortune

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The proverb treats knowing one’s father as an unusual piece of wisdom. Its humour rests on the gap between the apparent certainty of family ties and the doubts people can have about parentage.

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