Aesop's Fables Edited by Charles Stikeney.

 

THE STAG AT THE LAKE

A Stag,  one hot day, came to drink from a  clear  lake,  and stopped to look at his own image in the water.    "How  beautiful  are  my  fine  spreading horns!"  said he.  "How  strong  and graceful they are,  branching from  each side  of  my head!  What a pity it is that my legs  should be so thin and ugly!"    Just at this moment a lion came crashing through the forest, and made ready to spring upon him.  Away went the stag! and the legs that he had despised would soon have carried him out of danger; but when he came to the thick woods,  his  beautiful antlers,  of which he had been so vain, caught in the branches, and held him fast until the lion came up and seized him.    Sometimes wa are proud of what is of little use to us,  and forget to be thankful  for the things that are our real help and strength.