The most well-known story of a weaker opponent overcoming a much stronger adversary is the story of David (Da’wud) and Goliath (Jaalut). David, a young shepherd, agrees to rise to the challenge of the legendary Goliath, armed only with a slingshot and five pebbles. A well-aimed pebble to the forehead, brings down the nine-foot-tall Goliath despite his armour and weapons. The story is seen as a symbol of the power of brains over brawn.

A similar story is that of Scheherazade, the Vizier’s daughter, who agrees to marry the belligerent Sultan Sheheryar, who has vowed to put to death each of his wives after the nuptial night, in revenge for betrayal by his first wife. An educated and well-read woman, Scheherazade keeps the Sultan’s attention by relating fascinating stories night after night, until his anger abates forever.

Immortalised as the Arabian Nights or One Thousand and One Nights, the transformation is beautifully depicted in music by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The composition itself is titled Sheherazade.

The common man gets strength from stories of the weak overcoming the strong, or the few defeating the many: e.g. the Battle of Badr where 313 followers of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) defeated an army of 1,000 Meccans; or the First Battle of Panipat, in which Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi’s 100,000 strong army with 12,000 soldiers. Pakistan itself was never expected to survive Indian aggression for even two years, let alone 75, because geographically it has no depth for a sustained war.

The videos of Ahed Tamimi, a feisty young Palestinian girl, screaming and arguing with Israeli soldiers became viral a few years ago. First when she was only 12 years old, again at 15, and then at 16, after which she was arrested for eight months. She was protesting the confiscation of the freshwater spring of her neighbourhood by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers used tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons and rubber bullets on the protestors, one of which hit her brother in the face.

The image of the unidentified lone man standing before the line of tanks, in the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, became a haunting symbol of defiance. Mao Zedong spoke of ‘‘using the weak to defeat the strong’’ in what is now called asymmetric warfare.

Poet Allen Ginsberg promoted the use of masses of flowers to be given to policemen, press, politicians and the public to protest against the Vietnam War. The Flower Power strategy was encapsulated in a now famous image of George Haris, a protestor, placing a carnation in the barrel of an M14 rifle of a soldier outside the Pentagon.

Phrases like “the lone hero” and “against all odds” describe the courage of so many across the ages, in war, as well as in ordinary life. Maula Jatt, portrayed by actor Sultan Rahi, was the best known of a genre of Pakistani film in which the ordinary villager becomes a folk hero by taking on powerful oppressors. Fictional characters such as Batman, Rambo and Jack Reacher have thrilled viewers with their one-man army of justice.

Some countries have established a reputation of heroic self-reliance, such as China (from the 1950s to the 1970s), Cuba and Iran; or by resisting invasion from a stronger country, such as Finland in 1939 and, more recently, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Just last week, streets across Pakistan also resounded with calls for Azadi! or freedom from external interference.

Nature has many instances where we witness the courage of smaller animals who take on predators to protect their young or weaker members of the group. There are many accounts of unlikely heroes who run into a burning house or jump into a river to save someone. Malik Adnan became an unlikely hero when he tried to save Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, a Sri Lankan man, from a violent mob in Sialkot.

People love to root for the underdog because we can relate to them and their resilience makes our own success a possibility. Although psychologists find that there are some who choose to align with the top dog, deep down inside, people long for a just world.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist.

She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 17th, 2022