The Stag and His Reflection

A Stag, drinking from a crystal spring, saw himself mirrored in the clear water.

一只公鹿正在清澈的泉眼里喝水，看见了自己在水中的倒影。

He greatly admired the graceful arch of his antlers, but he was very much ashamed of his spindling legs.

他很欣赏自己优雅弯曲的鹿角，但他细长的四肢却让他感到很羞愧。

"How can it be," he sighed, "that I should be cursed with such legs when I have so magnificent a crown."

“怎么会这样呢，”他叹息道，“我的角那么的壮美，怎么会不幸拥有这么难看的腿。”

At that moment he scented a Panther and in an instant was bounding away through the forest.

就在这时，他嗅到了豹子的气息，瞬间就逃进了森林里。

But as he ran his wide-spreading antlers caught in the branches of the trees, and soon the Panther overtook him.

但就在他逃跑的时候，他那往四处伸展的角被树枝缠住了，不一会儿豹就把他给抓住了。

Then the Stag perceived that the legs of which he was so ashamed would have saved him had it not been for the useless ornaments on his head.

这时公鹿才明白，如果不是因为他头上那些没有用的装饰性的角碍事，那双让他感到羞愧的腿本可以救他一命的。

Moral

We often make much of the ornamental and despise the useful.

寓意：

我们往往过度追求华丽的外表，却忽视了真正有用的东西。