Caves

In many of the fables, the cave is a place of trickery. In fable 17, a goatherd finds some wild goats and herds them into a cave with his own. He plans to keep the wild goats, so he feeds them better than he feeds his own. When he lets all of the goats out again, the wild ones run away saying they cannot trust one who would treat strange goats better than his own goats. An aging lion uses a cave to trick his prey into coming to him. A lion and a fox use a cave to lure a stag to his death twice.

Statues

Statues provide humiliation for many characters in the fables. In fable 131, a man keeps a statue of a demi-god in his home. He offers it an abundance of sacrifices only to be told by the god himself that he must stop...