Many Hands Make Light Work

Many Hands Make Light Work Definition

• Work gets done easier and quicker when everyone works together.
• Difficult tasks can be made simpler when the work is shared.

Many Hands Make Light Work Examples

• Building a successful business it’s tough but many hands make light work, and we have a good crew.
• Many hands make light work. If we form a chain it’ll be easier than carrying each box back and forth alone.

Life: More than just a Cereal

There are thousands of them, And they all help with the chores. Many hands make light work. The young fish swarm together. Thousands of mouths gulping plankton.

David Attenborough, Life: Fish, 2009

Life is a nature documentary produced by BBC and first aired in October 2009. The documentary is narrated by natural historian David Attenborough. It features ten roughly hour long episodes each focusing on a different type of life like fish, primates or insects.

Life took four years to make with filming taking place on all seven continents. On top of featuring hi-def footage of rare animal behavior, the documentary featured multiple events never before seen on footage. Events include a pod of dolphins using a never before seen hunting technique called mud-ring feeding. As well as a daring escape by the pebble toad mimicking it’s namesake and tumbling away from a predator.

The quote references a school of young convict fish as they clean up around home. Moving mud and dirt with their mouths. They also collect food to bring to their parents who spend their entire adult lives in underground burrows.

Maya Oh My

The Mayas taught me a lot about cooperating and taking pride in work well done. They know the wisdom of “many hands make light work.” Some jobs are too big to do alone and more fun to do together, like building a house. Satisfaction comes from successfully planting corn on a steep slope, skillfully weaving rich natural colors into a traditional design, or making a house completely from trees, vines and leaves of the forest.

Hands of the Maya Villagers at Work and Play, Rachel Crandell

Rachel Crandell was a children’s author and longtime teacher in St. Louis, Missouri. Her passion for preserving the rain forest was a large part of her identity. Rachel took many trips there with her students to inspire future generations.

Rachel’s book Hands of the Maya is a picture book for children. A story about a day in the life of a Central American Maya village. Featuring villagers as they work, play and socialize. The books summary even contains our idiom. It appears to be a central theme to the book.

The Maya people are the descendants of the various tribes that made up the ancient Maya civilization. Guatemala, Belize and parts of Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador make up the area claimed by the Mayans. They were the most advanced civilization in the Americas for hundreds of years. With an advanced picture-based written language. Mayas also were one of the first societies to include the concept of zero into their mathematics.

Many Hands Make Light Work Origin

Make Hay while the John Shines

Many hands make light warke. The work is the soner done that hathe many handes : Many handys make light werke : my leve child.

John Heywood, The Proverbs of John Heywood, 1546

Heywood was an English playwright and poet of the 16th century. Around 1525 John married Jane Rastell, niece of famous saint and chancellor of Henry VIII Sir Thomas More. Jane’s father was also a notable figure in London. A notable playwright and composer, he built his own home complete with theater. It’s here at his father-in-law’s stage where Heywood got his start.

Aside from his plays and poems Heywood wrote two extensive collections of proverbs in his time. As such he appears a lot in my research. I like to thing of him as a partner in crime.. from another time (ooh that rhymed!)

Literary Origin

Sir Bevis of Buttehead

arme ye wel, We scholle besege hem in here castel; The Ascopard be strong and sterk, Mani hondes maketh light werke!

Four Romances of England: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Bevis of Hampton, Athelston, 1997

Bevis of Hampton is a modern name for a legend you could say is a tale as old as time. This English legend passed down through the ages and rewritten dozens of times in a dozen languages. Abandoned from a young age, the story features an English boy Bevis and his eventful life. After his mother kills his father and seeks her son next. The hero grows up to be a knight and journeys through the ancient world. He discovers love, war, adventure along with giants and even dragons!

This legend had influence far beyond England. It had strong influences in French, Dutch, Romanian, Russian, German, Irish, Venetian and Norse cultures.

The earliest known version dates back to around 1324 as part of the Taymouth Hours. Books of Hours were very large manuscripts containing collections of stories and prayers. They sometimes contained illustrations too as the Taymouth Hours did. While the author is not known the original owner is suspected to be Isabella of France. Isabella was queen and wife of king Edward II. She is known as the She-Wolf of France . An anti-french poem The Bard gave her the title. The poem depicted her as tearing out her husbands bowels with her fangs.