The Stag in the Ox-Stall

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The Stag in the Ox-Stall
        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 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 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.