but the moment anyone slightly higher than himself appears, Prometheus will undergo a metamorphosis such as even Ovid8 couldn’t invent: he’s a fly, even less than a fly, he’s reduced to a grain of sand! ‘Why, that’s not Ivan Petrovich,’ you say as you look at him. ‘Ivan Petrovich is taller, while this one is short and puny, Ivan Petrovich talks in a loud and deep voice and never laughs, while this one is the Devil only knows what: he chirps like a bird and is constantly laughing.’ You move closer and you see that it really is Ivan Petrovich! ‘Ahaaa,’ you think to yourself …
