The Deer without a Heart

The Deer without a Heart is an ancient fable, attributed to Aesop, about a deer who was persuaded by a wily jackal to visit the ailing lion and thus to ingratiate himself with the sick king of the animals. The lion killed the deer. The jackal stole and ate the deer's heart. The lion suspected the jackal of the theft, but the jackal argued that a deer who was so foolish as to visit a lion in his den must be without a heart. The fable reflects the ancient belief that the heart was the seat of thoughts and intellect. This belief has long since been discarded, which perhaps explains why this fable is no longer popular, unlike others like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "The Grasshopper and the Ants". (The modern versions usually replace the heart with the brain.)Fact|date=September 2008