Æsop's fables in words of one syllable

Chapter 64: THE HART AND THE VINE.

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About This Book

A collection of short, self-contained fables retold in simple monosyllabic language for young readers. Each brief tale stages animal characters in a single situation that leads to a clear outcome and an explicit moral, exploring themes such as honesty, pride, prudence, selfishness, and the consequences of deceit or folly. Lines are spare and direct, often paired with small illustrations, and the arrangement of discrete episodes emphasizes cause-and-effect and memorable aphorisms to make ethical lessons accessible and easy to discuss.

THE HART AND THE VINE.

Some men sought out a hart for the chase, when one made a rush out of the wood, and hid from them in the shade of a thick vine, so that they quite lost sight of him. It was the best hide and seek that could be, and so thought the stag, but he hid not for sport, but for dear life. There he lay, still as a mouse. In a short time he took heart to browse on the leaves of the vine, which hung so green and fresh just at his nose. He saw no harm in one more crop, and then one more, till he quite lost sight of what he had come there for. More than this, he so shook the tree when he took a bite, that he drew the eyes of the men to the spot, and as the vine was now too thin of leaves to hide him, they shot at him, and he fell down dead.

Where the hedge is thin, men will see through it.