In English
“feel sorry for the scrawny dog and it turns around and bites you”
Meaning
'Sorry fi mawga dawg, mawga dawg tun roun bite yuh' — take pity on the scrawny dog, and the scrawny dog turns around and bites you. The very person you show kindness or charity to may turn on you and repay your help with harm, the proverb warns. It is a hard-edged caution about misplaced or ungratefully-received sympathy — that helping the pitiful and the desperate can rebound on you, the one you fed biting the hand that fed it — and it counsels a wary care about whom you pity and how far your charity reaches.
Examples
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Mi help him out an him tun round tief from mi; sorry fi mawga dawg, mawga dawg tun roun bite yuh.
I helped him out and he turned around and stole from me; kindness can be repaid with harm.
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Mind who yuh do good fah — sorry fi mawga dawg, mawga dawg tun roun bite yuh.
Be careful who you do good for — some repay your help by turning on you.
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She tek in di stranger an live fi regret it; sorry fi mawga dawg, mawga dawg tun roun bite yuh.
She took in the stranger and lived to regret it; the one you pity may bite you.
Origin
'Mawga' (also maaga) means thin or scrawny; the image is of pitying a starving dog that then bites the hand that fed it — a warning about ingratitude and misplaced charity. See [[maaga]].
How it’s used
Used, often ruefully, when someone you helped turns against you.