The Herdsman and the Lost Bull
By Aesop
A HERDSMAN tending kine in a forest, lost a Bull-calf from the fold. After a long and fruitless search, he made a vow that, if he could only discover the thief who had stolen the Calf, he would offer a lamb in sacrifice the Guardian Deities of the forest.
Not long afterwards, as he ascended a small hillock, he saw at its foot a Lion feeding on the Calf. Terrified at the sight, he lifted his eyes and his hands to heaven, and said: Just now I vowed to offer a lamb to the Guardian Deities of the forest if I could only find out who had robbed me; but now that I have discovered the thief, I would willingly add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, and give them both to the guardians of the forest, if I may only secure my own escape from this terrible Lion in safety.
Moral:
That which we are anxious to find, we are sometimes even more anxious to escape from, when we have succeeded in finding it.
Source Book
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
Translated by unknown
Illustrated by: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.
Copyright 1881
Published by WM. L. Allison, New York
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The Herdsman and the Lost Bull
by Aesop
