It is better to endure the wind of a camel than the prayers of a fish
-A Dictionary of Arabic and Islamic Proverbs, Paul Lunde
Al-Hawa Hilwa, The Breeze is Sweet, said by Ahmad the Bawāb on Darīh Sa’d Street whenever the Cairene summer wind wafted ever so slightly. I once used the same words on the drovers when a camel farted and they looked at me like I was crazy. How then to explain this proverb? Some say that camel flatus after they’ve browsed the leaves of a myrrh tree is quite aromatic, and that the prayers of fish cannot be heard on land, so yes, ‘Tis better to smell it than not to have heard it.