Once upon a time, there lived a stag in a dense forest. One day, he went to a nearby lake to quench his thirst. There he saw his reflection in the water and thought to himself; ‘I’ve got beautiful antlers, but my legs are ugly. I can’t understand, why God has given me such thin legs.’

Just then, he heard a lion roaring at a short distance. The stag knew that if he stayed there, the lion will kill him. So he started running. The lion too started chasing the stag.

The stag ran faster and faster and soon he outdistanced the lion. But alas! all of a sudden, the antlers of the stag got entangled with the overhanging branches. of a tree. The stag struggled hard, but could not free his antlers from the branches. He thought to himself, ‘My thin legs helped me get away from the danger, but my antlers proved dangerous for me.

By that time the lion had already reached there. He pounced upon the stag and killed him.

❖ A beautiful thing might not be useful also.