# Pride Goeth Before a Fall explained — Indian Fairy Tales

> Chapter companion for Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.

## What happens

Ten cloth merchants returning home with their earnings are ambushed by three robbers in a forest. The robbers strip them of all possessions and force them to dance. One clever merchant uses a secret trade language in a song to coordinate his fellow merchants, who then overpower and tie up the robbers, reclaiming their goods and weapons.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cunning and Wisdom

The clever merchant uses his wit and secret trade language to outsmart the robbers, turning a humiliating situation into a victory.

### Greed and Its Consequences

The robbers' greed and pride in their easy conquest lead them to become overconfident, allowing the merchants to regain the upper hand.

## Character check-ins

### Bidpai

The clever leader among the ten merchants who devises the plan to overcome the robbers using secret trade language.

## Key lines

> We are enty men, They are erith men: If each erith man, Surround eno man Eno man remains. Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingana.

We are ten men, they are three men: if each three men surround one man, one man remains. Now, act!

_The clever merchant's coded song instructs his fellow traders to form groups of three to overpower each robber, leaving one to tie them up._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se/chapters/pride-goeth-before-a-fall
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se/chapters