Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
249. THE DEER AND HIS MOTHER
Perry 351 (Aphthonius
17)
A story about a deer, urging that advice should be given by a person
who is also capable of action.
The deer was being lectured by his mother, 'Why do you act this way, my
child? You have been naturally endowed with horns, and you are powerfully
built, so I cannot understand why you run away at the approach of the
dogs.' That is what the mother said. Then, when she heard the sound of
the hunting dogs in the distance, she again urged her child to stand firm
while she herself took off at a run.
It is easy to advise action which cannot be carried out.
Note: Like the hare, the deer was a proverbial coward in Greek (e.g.,
in Homer,
Iliad 1.225, Achilles denounces Agamemnon for having 'the heart
of a deer').
 Source:
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura
Gibbs.
Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New
cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.
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