Motif
Animals understand and misread human speech
animals_understand_and_misread_human_speech
A motif of the Trickster and Boundary Crosser family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
greek
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Aesop's Fables; a new translation THE FROGS AND THE WELL / THE CRAB AND THE FOX / THE FOX AND THE GRASSHOPPER / THE FARMER, HIS BOY, AND THE ROOKS; lines 4120-4139 confidence: high
The boy carries a sling; when the farmer asks for it, “the starlings understood what he said and warned the Rooks.”
The starlings understand the farmer’s ordinary request for the sling, but do not understand the coded substitution, leading to harm among the flock.
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