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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

80. THE DEER AND THE VINE
Perry 77 (Chambry 103 *)

A deer who was being pursued by hunters hid under a grapevine. When the hunters had passed by, she turned her head and began to eat the leaves of the vine. One of the hunters turned and when he saw the deer, he hurled his javelin and struck her. As she was dying, the deer groaned to herself, 'It serves me right, since I injured the vine that saved me!'
This fable can used against people who are punished by God for having harmed their benefactors.

Note: For a story about the goat and the vine, see Fable 157.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.