Talk:The Impertinent Insect

The gnat's challenge.
The variant reminds me of Krylov's "The Elephant and the Pug", but I can find no indication it has been translated to Russian, nor do any speculations about possible sources mention it. Omeganian (talk) 07:19, 29 August 2019 (UTC)


 * While Ademar's bull accepts the gnat's challenge, in Krylov's fable the pug is ignored by the elephant; that is an important difference. Krylov knew no Latin - and recently I read that there were doubts about his having taught himself Greek. Can you read French, by the way? Krylov did and might have read a French source. One of the commentators using that language (that might include Russians) might have spotted the dubious similarity that you claim. Sweetpool50 (talk) 09:03, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

Sumarokov.
Alexander Sumarokov, in addition to the traditional carriage variant, seems to have two stories telling a similar message. The first one is about a lion catching a bug bothering it. The bug is trembling, expecting to die, but the lion spares it, stating it does not befit Lions to fight Bugs. The second one has a mosquito (for additional humor, afraid of hunters shooting it), sitting upon an oak's branch, and, after it's brought down by a storm, states that, alas, it's due to the burden of its weight that the oak broke. Omeganian (talk) 17:42, 13 October 2021 (UTC)