The Herdsman and the Lost Bull

by Aesop

He saw a Lion feeding on the Calf.

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.

I would add a full-grown Bull to the Calf I have lost, if I may only secure my own escape.

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:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.