The Ballad of If

The Ballad of If was a pre-contact Kig-Yar epic poem.

Pauper's refrain
"Better a ditchdigger than a soldier be, sirrah! Better to dig the graves than to lay within. For princes plot and generals preen Until the peasants take their heads. And mercenaries die in muddy fields Or they starve in times of peace. But the ditchdigger, ah, the ditchdigger, We humble scavengers of the battlefield, We ditchdiggers go as we please."

Derivative proverbs
"The generalissimo scouts, and the generalissimo plots, But she may as well play with dice."