Final answer:
In Richard Borshay Lee's story, Lee learned his informants joked about his ox to avoid arrogance and maintain a cultural practice of humility. It was a lesson about cultural differences and humility.
Step-by-step explanation:
The story you're referring to appears to be from anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee's essay "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari". In this essay, Lee narrates his experiences living with the !Kung San people of the Kalahari Desert. He learned that among his informants, laughing and joking about his gift of an ox was a cultural practice designed to prevent arrogance and promote humility. The ox was certainly large and good enough for a feast, but the !Kung San people deliberately joked and acted as if the ox was thin and worthless, to maintain their custom of 'insulting the meat'. This taught Lee an important lesson about cultural differences and humility.
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