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, incur1 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 favorable 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 laborers2 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 peril3." 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 scarcity4 of fodder5? 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.