A STAG, roundly chased by the hounds and blinded by fear to the danger
he was running into, took shelter in a farmyard and hid himself in a
shed among the oxen. An Ox gave him this kindly warning: “O unhappy
creature! why should you thus, of your own accord, incur destruction
and trust yourself in the house of your enemy?” The Stag replied: “Only
allow me, friend, to stay where I am, and I will undertake to find some
favourable opportunity of effecting my escape.” At the approach of the
evening the herdsman came to feed his cattle, but did not see the Stag;
and even the farm-bailiff with several laborers passed through the shed
and failed to notice him. The Stag, congratulating himself on his
safety, began to express his sincere thanks to the Oxen who had kindly
helped him in the hour of need. One of them again answered him: “We
indeed wish you well, but the danger is not over. There is one other
yet to pass through the shed, who has as it were a hundred eyes, and
until he has come and gone, your life is still in peril.” At that
moment the master himself entered, and having had to complain that his
oxen had not been properly fed, he went up to their racks and cried
out: “Why is there such a scarcity of fodder? There is not half enough
straw for them to lie on. Those lazy fellows have not even swept the
cobwebs away.” While he thus examined everything in turn, he spied the
tips of the antlers of the Stag peeping out of the straw. Then
summoning his laborers, he ordered that the Stag should be seized and
killed.