FABLES. 



- 7 47 



THE STACr IX THE OX-STALL. 



A Stag, pursued by the hunters, took refuge in a 

 stable, and begged of the Oxen to suffer him to 

 conceal himself under the straw in one of the stalls. 

 They told him that he would be in great danger 

 there, for both the master and the servants would 

 soon come to fodder them, and then he might be 

 s ure of meeting his doom. Ah! says the Stag, if 

 you will be so good as not betray me, I hope I shall 

 be safe enough. Presently, in came a servant, who 

 gave a careless look around, and then went out 

 without any discovery. All the other servants of 

 the farm came and went like the first. Upon this, 

 the Stag began to exult, imagining himself quite 

 secure; but a shrewd old Ox told him that he was 

 reckoning upon his safety too soon, for there was 

 another person to come, by whom he would not so 

 readily be looked over. Accordingly, by and by 

 came the master, who carefully peeped into every 



