| 1 | A Stag ill prepared for winter, sought shelter in an Ox-stall. |
| 2 | Upon entering the wisest Ox did warn the Stag: |
| 3 | O unhappy creature! why of your own accord do you condemn yourself? |
| 4 | For this be the house of your enemy. |
| 5 | The Stag did then reply: |
| 6 | Allow me, friend, this briefest of respite, |
| 7 | Whereupon I shall make effect my escape. |
| 8 | Yet upon the morning, when the herdsman came to feed the cattle, |
| 9 | He did not see the Stag. |
| 10 | When he had left, the Stag thanked the Oxen and implored to spend one more night. |
| 11 | The wisest Ox did warn the Stag again: |
| 12 | O thoughtless creature! We wish you no harm, |
| 13 | Yet the gravest of danger is not yet passed. |
| 14 | Whereupon in the morning the farm bailiff and several worker did come, |
| 15 | Yet none noticed the Stag. |
| 16 | When they had left, the Stag boasted of his invisibility. |
| 17 | The wisest Ox did warn the Stag against his boast: |
| 18 | O reckless creature! One is still yet to pass through, |
| 19 | Who possesses as if a hundred eyes, |
| 20 | And until he has come and gone, your life remains in grave peril. |
| 21 | At that moment the master of the house himself entered the stall, |
| 22 | And upon seeing the condition of the oxen did complain: |
| 23 | Why is there such a scarcity of fodder? |
| 24 | Why is there is not half enough straw for them to lie on? |
| 25 | While he thus examined everything in turn, |
| 26 | He spied the tips of the antlers of the Stag peeping out of the straw. |
| 27 | Then summoning his laborers, |
| 28 | He ordered that the Stag should be seized and killed. |
| 29 | Upon his last mortal breath, the Stag did bemoan: |
| 30 | Woe is me that I be the architect of my doom. |
| 31 | For I sought refuge in the house of my enemy, |
| 32 | And yet did ignore three forewarnings as to my peril. |
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