An army or a dozen

[LanDi Liu]

>From The Wizard of Oz:
"The Lion declared he was afraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face
an army or a dozen of the fierce Kalidahs."*

In the above sentence, would you read this to be 'an army of the Kalidahs,
or a dozen of the Kalidahs', or 'an army of men, or a dozen of the fierce
Kalidahs."?

I think it's very unnatural to put the greater before the lesser in this
kind of a context.  But it may be that the Kalidahs were being thought of
here as being even more powerful than an army.  Does anyone here have (or
can think of) any examples of putting the greater before the lesser?  Or
does anyone think it is (or once was) normal to do this?

*Kalidahs are huge animals with bodies like bears and heads like tigers.

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China

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