M147. The fox runs in front of the tiger. (.21.) .26.33.35.

A weak beast tells the strong that everyone is afraid of him, the weak, and suggests checking it out. He goes ahead of the strong, everyone runs away, the strong believe that they are running away before the weak.

(Burma's Naga), foxes, Chinese, Koreans, Kazakhs, tundra Nenets.

(Wed. Tibet is the Northeast of India. Burma's Naga [The tiger rolls on the ground, tells the monkeys that he is sick, asks to build a fence around him; at night, there are enough sleeping monkeys from behind the fence; leaves tongues to dry on in the sun, tells the Forest Cat to guard them; the Bear eats tongues, the Cat talks about it to the Bear; the Tiger gnawed off the Bear's head; the Fox offers Tiger to be a servant, carry his head behind the Tiger like a trophy; imperceptibly runs away, eats her head]: Zapadova 1977:247-248).

China â€" Korea. Fox [The Tiger grabs the Fox; she promises to tear it apart; offers to run after her, he will see that everyone is afraid of her; the animals run away from the Tiger, and he believes it is from the Fox; lets her go]: Zapadova 1977: 169-179; Chinese (from the collection of the French sinologist Stanislas Julien; the province is unknown, conditionally referred to as Liaoning-Jilin-Heilongjiang) [the tiger is going to eat the fox; it begins to prove that is superior to other animals and everyone is afraid of it; suggests making sure of this; they go together and the animals run away; the tiger did not understand that they were afraid not of the fox, but of him, began to respect the fox]: Dennys 1876:149; Koreans [the tiger grabs the fox, wants to eat it; she says that it is stronger than all animals, offers to show how afraid everyone is of it; goes ahead, the tiger after it, everyone runs away; the Tiger decides not to mess with fox, runs away]: Choi 1979, No. 28:13.

Turkestan. Kazakhs [the fox fell into the claws of a lion; says that she is the mistress of the forests, all animals and birds run away from her; the fox is in front, the lion follows her, believes that animals and birds are running away from the fox, not from it]: Sidelnikov 1971 (3): 223-224 (=Bosingen 1984:182).

Western Siberia. Tundra Nenets [hare and bear met; bear: I'll eat you; hare: I'm stronger; offers to go see who the animals are more afraid of; the hare goes ahead of the bear; when they see the bear, animals they run in different directions; the bear believes they run away when they see a hare]: Barmich 2014:616-617.