Literal translation
For lack of thrushes, one eats blackbird.
Meaning
beggars can't be choosers
Explanation
This proverb draws its image from Provençal hunting and cooking: the thrush, prized for the delicacy of its meat, ranked above the blackbird, a more common and less sought-after bird. Lacking the desired dish, one settles for the available substitute, less flavourful but just as nourishing. The saying thus expresses a wisdom of reasonable resignation: accepting what one has, without depriving oneself while waiting for the ideal. It closely resembles the equivalent English saying beggars can't be choosers, but the Provençal form keeps the singular tourdre for the thrush and merle for its substitute, in an elliptical construction fauto de, literally lack of, introducing the cause of the concession. It is commonly used to comment on a default choice, whether about food, company, or circumstances, without particular bitterness: it states a pragmatic fact.