A deer was drinking water by the river. When he finished drinking and was about to raise his head, he saw the reflection of his antlers upon the water’s surface. He beamed with pride and said, “What beautiful antlers I have! They look strong and magnificent, with such an elegant silhouette. I’ve never seen such beautiful antlers. How impressive!”
Then, the deer looked further down. When he saw the reflection of his legs, his smile promptly faded. He heaved a sigh and said, “Oh! What skinny legs I have! How ugly and unremarkable! They do not go well with my majestic and handsome antlers.”
As the deer fretted over his ugly legs, his sensitive ears picked up the sound of quiet footsteps nearby. He immediately started looking around for the source of the noise, and saw that there was a lion hidden in the bushes nearby who was approaching him stealthily. The deer immediately turned and ran for his dear life. The lion ran after the deer as fast as he could.
However, the fleet-footed deer ran as fast as the wind and gradually put some distance between himself and the lion. When the deer saw a patch of forest, he immediately ran into the forest to evade the lion. However, he had just ran a few steps when his antlers got caught in some tree branches. The deer could not move at all. He said regretfully, “The ugly legs I didn’t like could have saved my life. But the antlers that I was most proud of have doomed me!”Just as he finished speaking, the lion had already caught up to him, and pounced toward the deer with open jaws.
Let us not judge the value of something by superficial appearances. Sometimes, the least impressive stuff turns out to be of utmost value.
