The tongue has no bones, but it crushes all the same

“The tongue has no bones, but it crushes all the same” is a proverb Hamid recalls amid talk of what should happen to David Henniger. Its contrast between the tongue’s softness and its capacity to crush makes speech seem slight in form but consequential in effect.

The Proverb in Context

Hamid offers the saying after Nawfal predicts that David Henniger’s tongue will be cut out, and some of the men respond with a wish that this punishment come to pass. Hamid’s disapproving glance does not stop their smiles or their peeling. The proverb enters a conversation already centered on the tongue as both a literal target and a source of harm.

Meaning and Dramatic Function

The saying’s force lies in its paradox: the tongue has no bone, yet its words can crush. In the scene, that image gives a compact moral weight to speech and its consequences, while the surrounding talk turns the possibility of physical punishment into a measure of the group’s anger. Hamid’s invocation of the proverb does not erase that anger; it makes the danger of harm, spoken or inflicted, more pointed.

Hamid’s Position

Hamid’s use of the saying sits beside his private reluctance to wish David Henniger harm. He believes David has earned a bout of bad luck, but worries more about the staff’s mutinous mood and thinks an unpleasant consequence for David might persuade them that justice has been served. The proverb therefore sounds within a divided response: Hamid recognizes the power of words and the demand for justice, while not personally wanting the man to suffer.