Aesop | Greece
The Rat and The Elephant
A rat, pleased to frighten people, compares himself to an elephant and only then realizes he's less powerful.
Text Version
Once there was a rat who was used to people being scared when they saw him, and he liked it.
One day, he saw a group of people looking at an elephant. The elephant had a king riding on its back. The rat felt ignored and thought, "Why do they like that elephant so much? It's just like me—it has four legs, two eyes, and a nose."
The king's cat heard the rat and said, "But you are not as big as the elephant. I couldn't even scare that elephant, but it could easily step on you."
The rat felt embarrassed and quickly ran away, understanding that he wasn't as strong as he thought.
