296.The Stag in the Manger
A STAG was chased by the hounds. Blinded by fear he took shelter in a farmyard and hid himself in a shed among the oxen. An ox gave him this gentle warning:
“Unlucky you! Why bring about destruction on yourself like you do? Why like to be in the house of an enemy?”
The stag replied: “Oh, just allow me to stay where I am, and I’ll see what I can do to escape soon enough.”
And so it happened.
When evening came, the herdsman came to feed his cattle. But as luck would have it, he didn’t see the stag. Even the farm-bailiff with several labourers passed through the shed and never noticed him. The stag was happy to be safe in this way, and started to thank the oxen who had helped him in the hour of need.
295.The Stag At the Pool
A STAG overpowered by heat came to a spring to drink. Seeing his own shadow reflected in the water, he greatly admired the size and variety of his horns, but felt angry with himself for having such slender and weak feet. While he was thus contemplating himself, a lion appeared at the pool and crouched to spring on him. The stag at once took to flight, and exerting his utmost speed, as long as the plain was smooth and open kept himself easily at a safe distance from the lion. But entering a wood he became entangled by his horns, and the lion quickly came up to him and caught him. When too late, he thus reproached himself:
“Woe is me! How I have deceived myself! These feet which would have saved me I despised, and I gloried in these antlers which have proved my destruction.”
❖ What is most truly valuable is often underrated.
294.The Spendthrift and the Swallow
A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left. One day he happened to see a swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering gaily. He supposed that summer had come, and went and sold his cloak. Not many days later, winter set in again with renewed frost and cold. When he found the unfortunate swallow lifeless on the ground, he said,
“Unhappy bird! what have you done? By thus appearing before the springtime you have not only killed yourself, but you have wrought my destruction also.”
❖ One swallow does not make a summer.
❖ A man must not swallow more than he can digest.
293.The Sparrow and the Hare
A HARE pounced on by an eagle sobbed very much and uttered cries like a child. A Sparrow upbraided her and said,
“Where now is your remarkable swiftness of foot? Why were your feet so slow?”
While the sparrow was thus speaking, a hawk suddenly seized him and killed him. The hare was comforted in her death, and expiring said,
“Ah! you who so lately, when you supposed yourself safe, exulted over my calamity, have now reason to deplore a similar misfortune.”
❖ It is easy to Preach.
