Motif
small creature boasts of advantage over larger laboring creature
small_creature_boasts_of_advantage_over_larger_laboring_creature
A motif of the Trickster and Boundary Crosser family, within the sub-family Animal Rivalries, Imitation, and Small-over-Large Victories. 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 MONKEY AND THE CAMEL / THE SICK MAN AND THE DOCTOR / THE TRAVELLERS AND THE PLANE-TREE / THE FLEA AND THE OX; lines 3490-3501 confidence: medium
The flea asks why a "big strong fellow" like the ox serves mankind and works, while the flea lives on human bodies and drinks their blood without working.
The flea contrasts its small size and workless feeding with the large strong ox's hard service.
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