Cumulative tale

Many cumulative tales feature a series of animals or forces of nature each more powerful than the last.

In an early Jewish Midrash, considered to date from the sixth century AD, Abraham is brought before King Nimrod, who commands him to worship fire.

When this premise is granted, he points out that the clouds, as sustainers of water, are more worthy of worship, and then that the wind that disperses them is more powerful still.

Finally he confronts Nimrod with the observation that "man can stand up against the wind or shield himself behind the walls of his house" (Genesis Rabba xxxviii).

There is a similar tale, The Mouse Turned into a Maid, in the Panchatantra, in which the mouse-maid is successively introduced to the sun, the cloud, the wind and the mountain.