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·用骗术的猎人》

鹿畏貙，貙畏虎，虎畏罴。罴之状，被发人立，绝有力而甚害人焉！

楚之南有猎者，能吹竹为百兽之音，寂寂持弓矢罂火而即之山为鹿鸣，以感其类，伺其至，发火而射之。貙闻其鹿也，趋而至，其人恐，因为虎骇之。貙走而虎至，愈恐，则又为罴，虎亦亡去。罴闻而求其类，至则人也，捽搏挽裂而食之。

今夫不善内而恃外者，未有不为罴之食也！

——《柳河东集》

The Hunter Who Used Tricks

The deer is afraid of the wolf; the wolf of the tiger; and the tiger of the wild bear, the most ferocious and powerful of all animals, walking erect, with long hair hanging from its head.

In southern Chu there was a hunter who could blow a bamboo pipe to imitate the sounds of various animals. He used to lure the deer from their mountain fastness by mimicking their noise, and then shoot them down.

One day, he was at his tricks again. The wolf, hearing the pipe, thought it was deer and came. The hunter was frightened, so he imitated the roar of a tiger. Off went the wolf, but a tiger appeared. Tenor-stricken, the hunter made the sound of the bear. The tiger made off. The bear, hearing the noise, thought it was one of its kind and came. Finding it to be a man, it tore him limb from limb and ate him up.

—If a man refuses to improve his inner self, and depends on external forces, he can hardly avoid a similar fate to that of the hunter.

Collected Works of Liu Zongyuan

（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）

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