有一隻鹿到河邊低頭喝水，喝完水正要抬頭時，看見自己頭上那對角映在水中的影子，便驕傲地說：「我這對角多漂亮啊！又雄壯又威武，尤其角的線條實在很優雅，從來沒看過這麼美的角，太美了！」
接著，鹿再往下看，看到自己身體下面四隻腳的影子，鹿臉上的笑容立刻不見，同時深深嘆一口氣說：「唉！我怎麼會有這麼瘦的腳，真是難看啊！跟我頭上這對威武又帥氣的角，一點也不配。」
正當鹿為了難看的腳沮喪時，牠靈敏的耳朵突然聽到很細微的腳步聲，牠馬上轉頭四處張望，發現草叢裡有一隻獅子，正悄悄地慢慢接近牠。鹿立刻轉頭狂奔，用盡全身力氣拼命跑，獅子則緊跟在後面追趕。
鹿的四隻腳如風一般，漸漸拉開牠和獅子的距離。這時，鹿看到旁邊的樹林，一轉身就跑進樹林裡，跑沒幾步，頭上的角就被樹枝纏住了，完全無法動彈，鹿懊悔地說：「我討厭的四隻腳，原本可以救我一命，沒想到，我最引以為傲的角，最後卻害了我！」一說完，獅子已經跑到牠面前，張開大嘴朝牠撲過來。
我們千萬不要用事物的外表來評斷其價值。有時，外表最不起眼的，反而是最有價值的。
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.
