I shall play bath-attendant for myself

Explanation

proverb meaning, as it were, "I shall serve myself." It is said when the bath-attendant is slack and one takes the dipper for himself and serves himself; or from those who buried [enkrybein] acorns [balanous] in the fire. [Pun: balaneus "bath-attendant" / balanos "acorn" — both have the same root sense of "knob" / "stopper."]