Literal translation
show me one olive at Saint John's day, and I'll show you a thousand at All Saints'
Meaning
show me one olive at Saint John's, I'll show you a thousand at All Saints'
Explanation
This agricultural saying describes the olive tree's ripening cycle in Provence : oulivo means olive, the fruit, and vèire (to see) appears twice, first in the imperative fai mi vèire (show me), then in the future farai vèire (I will show you). Sant Jean, 24 June, falls at the height of summer, when the fruit is still small and scarce on the tree, while toussant, All Saints' day in early November, corresponds to the full harvest, when branches bend under thousands of ripe olives. The numerical contrast, uno (one) against milo (a thousand), gives the saying its force : it challenges anyone to find a single visible olive in June, promising in return the abundance of autumn. Its register is that of orally transmitted farming knowledge, used to reassure about the future yield of a tree that looks bare in summer, or more broadly to say that patience always pays off, and that early appearances say nothing about the final result.