Crocodile Tears

The idea that crocodiles weep while devouring their prey goes back to classical antiquity. A collection of proverbs attributed to Plutarch compares a crocodile's fake sorrow to people who cause someone's ruin and then publicly mourn them. The story spread through medieval Europe via Latin bestiaries and travel writing, including The Travels of Sir John Mandeville in the 14th century, and Christian preachers used it as a metaphor for insincere repentance. Real crocodiles do produce tears, but for eye lubrication while feeding, not emotion. The "fake grief" framing was a moral fable from the start, not a genuine piece of natural history that later got misread.