古代寓言原是民间口头创作，文学体裁的一种。含有讽喻或明显教训意义的故事。它的结构简短。主人公可以是人，可以是动物，也可以是无生物。多借用比喻手法，使富有教训意义的主题或深刻的道理在简单的故事中体现，而还需要自己去理解，思考，这就是和西方寓言的不同之处。

《古代寓言·糊涂的小鹿》

临江之人，畋得麋麑，畜之。入行，群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来，其人怒怛之。自是日抱就犬习示之使勿动，稍使与之戏。积久，犬皆如人意。麋麑稍大，忘已之麋也，以为犬良我友，抵触偃仆，益狎。犬畏主人，与之俯仰甚善，然时啖其舌。

三年麋出门，见外犬在道甚众，走欲与为戏。外犬见而喜且怒，共杀食之，狼藉道上，麋至死而不悟。

——《柳河东集》

The Silly Fawn

A man in Linjiang captured a fawn. When it was brought home, the dogs came licking their chops and wagging their tails. The man angrily drove them off. Afterwards, he took the fawn among the dogs, warning them to keep their peace, and making them frolic with it. In time, the dogs learned their lesson. As the fawn grew, it forgot it was a deer and regarded the dogs as its friends, with whom it could gambol and play. The dogs, fearing their master, had to suppress their natural desires and fraternize with it.

One day after three years, the deer went outside the gate. There were many strange dogs in the street, so it went up and tried to play with them. The dogs were surprised, but being glad to see a meal come their way, fell upon it and killed it. As it was breathing its last, the deer was at a loss to understand why it had come to such an untimely end.

Collected Works of Liu Zongyuan

（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）

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