The Chinese/East Asian parable on a fox and a tiger goes like the following
A fox asking to be walking in front of a tiger brags about being a fearsome animal and exudes borrowed confidence from scared spectators, who are actually scared of the tiger behind the fox.
The tiger himself also believes the fox is indeed a scary animal simply because he does not realize whom the spectators are actually afraid of.
Is there a similar parable in the American, European or Western culture ?