Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXLVII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CXLVII.

A Stag with One Eye.

A One-Eyed-Stag that was affraid of the Huntsmen at Land, kept a Watch That Way with T’other Eye, and fed with his Blind Side still 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 befal'n me, where I most Dreaded it, on the Other.

The Moral.

We are lyable to Many Unlucky Accidents that no Care or Foresight can Prevent: But we are to Provide however the Best we can against them, and leave the Rest to Providence.

REFLEXION.

‘We are many times Preserv'd or Destroy'd, by Those Accidents or Councells, that in All Probability would have had quite Contrary Effects. But it is Our Part yet to Act according to Reason, and commit our selves to Heaven for the rest. We have our Blind Sides in the World, as well as the Stag had his by the Sea-side, and we have our Enemies too, that are still Watching to make Advantage of that Weakness. One Man is Transported out of his Reason, and his Honesty, by Sensual Pleasures: Another by Mony, perhaps, or by Ambition. Every Man, in short, by Somewhat or other: And it is but striking him in the Right Vein, to do his Bus'ness. The Wiseft of Men have their Follies; The Justest, their Iniquities, and the most Temperate of Men have now and then by Fits, their Excesses. Achilles himself (after all that his Mother could do for him) was left Vulnerable yet in the Heel, and Paris’es Arrow found him Out there. We are taught further also to look to our selves on the Blind Side, as the Place that lyes most Expos'd to an Attacque. And finally; That it is not in the Power of Humane Wisdom to secure us against Plots and Practices upon Humane Frailty: Nay, and when we have done our Best to Prevent Mischief, the very Precaution it self serves many times to Contribute to our Ruine. The Stag did All that was to be done here; but the Wayes and Workings of Providence are unsearchable; and it is not in the Power of Humane Prudence to Obviate all the Accidents of Humane Life.