The Stag in the Ox-Stall

The hounds were close behind, and the Stag was blind with fear. He leapt a wall, tore across a farmyard and dived through the first dark door he saw. It was a shed full of oxen. He pushed his way into the straw and lay there, shaking.

An Ox turned his slow head. "You poor creature," he said. "Why run into your enemy's house?" "Only let me stay, friend," panted the Stag. "I will slip away when I can."

Evening came. The herdsman walked in with the hay. He fed the cattle and went out, and he saw nothing. The farm manager came through with his men. They saw nothing. The Stag began to breathe again. "I am safe!" he whispered. "Thank you, kind friends!"

"We wish you well," said the Ox. "But there is one more to come. He has a hundred eyes."

The door banged. In walked the Master. "Where is the fodder?" he shouted. "There's not half enough straw for these oxen to lie on! And look at those cobwebs!" He went to the racks and looked at everything in turn. Then he stopped. Two small points were sticking up out of the straw.

He bent closer. They were the tips of a pair of antlers. "Men!" he called. "Come here! Seize that stag, and kill him!"