"I'm big and strong!" shouted the camel.
"I'm big and strong too!" the elephant shouted.
But the monkey laughed at both candidates and said neither one was ready to be king. "The camel is a coward who wouldn't be able to protect us from our enemies," the monkey explained. "The elephant, meanwhile, is afraid of pigs, and his fear of porcine plots would distract him from affairs of state. Neither the camel nor the elephant is qualified to be king of the animals."
Inspired by: Mille Fabulae et Una, a collection of Latin fables that I've edited, free to read online. I am not translating the Latin here; instead, I am just telling a 100-word version of the fable.
Notes: This is fable 120 in the book, which is Perry 220. According to ancient Greek animal lore, the camel supposedly did not have a gall bladder, so the monkey said that the camel has no bile, referring to the yellow bile which, according to the theory of the humors, would make someone “choleric” and a good fighter. Likewise, according to ancient Greek folklore, elephants were supposedly afraid of pigs.
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