Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXLVIII
Fab. CXLVIII.
A Stag and a Lyon.
A Stag that was close Pursu'd by Huntsmen, fled for Safety into a Lyons Den; and as he was just Expiring under the Paw of the Lyon: Miserable Creature that I am, says he, to Fly for Protection from Men, to the most Unmerciful of Beasts!
The Moral.
There are Harder and Gentler Wayes, even of Ruine it selfe; as 'tis Common we see for Men under a Capital Sentence to Petition even for the Change of the Death.
REFLEXION.
'Tis a Common Case for People to be Reduc’d to This Miserable Choice; That is to say, by what Hand or Means they'll rather Perish; under the Certainty of an Inevitable Destruction One Way or other. The Ancients have Moralliz’d it This Way. But it seems to Me (under favor) that the Stag’s was a Forc'd-Put; and a Chance rather then a Choice, he did not fly from the Huntsmen to the Lyon for Protection; bur it so tell out, that while he fled to Avoid a Less Danger, he ran into a Greater; We find This to be the Case of many Men, as well as Beasts, that are Forc'd to Fly for Refuge, to Murderers and Oppressors, instead of Patrons and Protectors.