he who stands under a great tree gets covered in ants

Dear fellow AWADers, I do here admit to having recklessly misconfuzzled you with my "proverb" about the tree and the ants. Mea culpa. The real, traditional proverb will probably make much more sense to everyone, as it says "He who stands under a great tree is sheltered by a great shade". The "ants" version is a funny way of turning this truism upside-down. I can remember another one like that, when instead of saying "Rear crows and they will peck your eyes out" (the rather grim original proverb), we say "Rear crows and you will have lots of them".

About Rhubarb Commando's interpretation of the tree and the ants, in my opinion it is perfectly meaningful and often true. We may have a new, legitimate proverb in our midst!