The offer Jakob put on the table sounded like a bad deal on purpose. I will pass through thy whole flock today, he said to Laban, and will set apart every lamb streaked and spotted, and every black lamb among the lambs, and spotted and streaked among the goats, and they shall be my wages (Genesis 30:32).
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the precision of the terms. The odd-colored animals — the ones a shepherd would normally cull, the ones no buyer wanted at market — those would be Jakob's share. Everything plain, everything uniform, would stay with Laban.
On the surface, Jakob was asking for the rejects. Underneath, he was asking for something no one else would notice leaving. No dispute could arise over a black lamb. No argument over a streak. The marks themselves were the witness.
The Maggid teaches: sometimes wisdom looks like asking for the scraps. The man who demands only what is clearly his will never be accused of taking what is not. Jakob chose animals that would accuse themselves on his behalf — and in the choosing, he outmaneuvered a man who lived on deception.