The following passage is from the novel Ivanhoe by Walter Scott.
"By St Dunstan," answered Gurth, "thou speakest but sad truths; little
is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been
reserved with much hesitation, solely for the purpose of enabling us to
endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and the fattest
is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and
bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant
lands with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or the
power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God's blessing on our master
Cedric, he hath done the work of a man in standing in the gap; but
Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we
shall soon see how little Cedric's trouble will avail him.–Here, here,"
he exclaimed again, raising his voice, "So ho! so ho! well done, Fangs!
thou hast them all before thee now, and bring'st them on bravely, lad."
"Gurth," said the Jester, "I know thou thinkest me a fool, or thou
wouldst not be so rash in putting thy head into my mouth. One word to
Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, or Philip de Malvoisin, that thou hast
spoken treason against the Norman,–and thou art but a cast-away
swineherd,–thou wouldst waver on one of these trees as a terror to all
evil speakers against dignities."
I wonder what exactly the Jester meant when he said
"thou wouldst not be so rash in putting thy head into my mouth."
Best Answer
It's a reference to the cliche of metaphorically putting your head in the lion's mouth.
Apologies for the substantial "cut&paste", but I'm concerned about "link rot"...