Laura Ashe @lauraashe.bsky.social
It’s told by Thomas More at the end of his History of Richard III (c.1525): a fable that the lion announces execution of all horned beasts, and another with a lump on its forehead flees the forest: “Why fleest thou? That’s no horn on thy head” “Aye, but what if he call it a horn, where am I then?”
It’s true. I checked here.
There is a 1987 paper tracking the joke through history: A Romanian Political Joke in 12th Century Iranian Sources by Mahmoud Omidsalar (Hat tip)
This is the 12th century version (Hat tip):
A fox was running, grieving for his life.
Another fox saw him in such a state
And asked: “Please tell me, brother, what is wrong?”
He said: “The king is hunting donkeys here!”
“But you are not a donkey - so why fear?”
He answered: "That is right; but, oh!, these men;
They do not know and they cannot discern.
They think that fox and donkey are the same!"
https://archive.org/details/AnvarisDivanAPocketBookforAkbar/page/n119/mode/2up
Allegedly, expressions along the lines of “to prove you are not a camel” are common in Poland and Russia for tedious bureaucratic demands.
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