i much appreciate your analysis, anon.
mentioned here before, and an apt description:
Pretend to be a Pig, to eat the Tiger | Chinese Idioms …
https://nutsaboutchineseidioms.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/pretend-to-be-a-pig-to-eat-the-tiger/
In this proverb, the pig will never would have the chance to eat/kill the Tiger. And everyone knows that, including the Tiger himself. So, your only chance to be close to the Tiger and eventually killing him is to pretend to be a Pig. This way, the Tiger would have never suspected that you are capable of killing him.