The Gnat and the Lion

A gnat went up to a lion and said, "I'm not afraid of you, and you are no stronger than I am. If you claim otherwise, show me what you can do. Scratch with your claws and bite with your teeth? A woman quarrelling with her husband does as much. I am far stronger than you; if you like, I'll even challenge you to a fight." And, sounding his little trumpet, the gnat fell upon the lion, stinging the bare skin around his nostrils. The lion tore at himself with his own claws until he gave up the fight. Having beaten the lion, the gnat sounded his trumpet, struck up a song of victory, and flew off. But he got caught in a spider's web, and, as he felt himself being devoured, he lamented that he, who made war on the mightiest, should perish at the hands of a paltry creature, a spider.