# Danish: The devil's not so black as he is painted



## majlo

Hello,
The above proverb is used when something, which is initially unfavorable/terrible or just in general bad, turns out to be actually nicer. How can I convey the idea in Danish?
Thank you,
majlo


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## piccando

I can only remember the commonly used expression "bedre end sit rygte" (better than one's reputation), but no corresponding Danish proverb.


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## polyglot_wannabe

Well, in Icelandic we have the proverb "Að mála skrattann á vegginn", i.e. to paint (a picture of) the devil on the wall. It's for example used of someone that uses more dire terms than necessary when discussing something. It would surprise me if these two proverbs are not related. 

I happen to know that the Danish equivalent (_and_ direct translation) of that proverb is "at male fanden på væggen".


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## NilsH

We have this expression in Swedish, too: att måla fan på väggen. It is mostly used to mean 'to expect trouble' or similar, so this seems to be more or less the opposite of the English proverb.

/Nils


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## hanne

Yep, "at male fanden på væggen" is to expect the worst, and doesn't say anything about the outcome.
I'm also struggling to come up with a Danish proverb with the requested meaning...


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## polyglot_wannabe

Yes, now I get the exact meaning of the English idiom. The Icelandic one means the same as the Danish one.


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## majlo

Thank you, guys, for your replies. 
Hanne, let's say it doesn't have to be a proverb. How would you describe it then? Let's make it simpler, actually, how would you translate this one?
_I found it terrible in the beginning but in time it turned out not to be so bad._


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## hanne

Det var forfærdeligt i begyndelsen, men det blev bedre til sidst. (it was terrible at first, but it got better in the end)
..., men til sidst var det alligevel ikke så slemt. (..., but in the end it wasn't so bad after all)
..., men det blev bedre og bedre. (..., but it kept getting better)
..., men efterhånden blev det bedre. (..., but eventually it got better)

Was that helpful?


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## majlo

That was by all means helpful. Thank you once again.


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