Aesop's Fables: Sir Roger L'Estrange (1692)
147. A STAG WITH ONE EYE (Perry 75)
A one ey’d Stag was afraid of the Huntsmen at Land, kept a Watch that
Way with T’other Eye, and fed with his blind-side toward an Arm of the
Sea, where he thought there was no Danger. In this Prospect of Security,
he was Struck with an Arrow from a Boat, and so ended his Days with this
Lamentation: Here am I destroy’d, says he, where I reckon’d my Self to
be Safe on the One Hand; and no Evil has befall’n me, where I most Dreaded
it, on the Other.
THE MORAL. We are liable to Many Unlucky Accidents that no care or
Foresight can Prevent: But we are to provide the Best we can against them,
and leave the Rest to Providence.
 L'Estrange originally published his version of the fables in 1692. There is a
very nice illustrated edition in the Children's Classics series by Knopf: Sir
Roger L'Estrange. Aesop
- Fables which is available at amazon.com.
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