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唐 Tang · 文 Prose

三戒·临江之麋

Three Warnings: The Deer of Linjiang

柳宗元

Liu Zongyuan

名篇Classic Masterpiece 寓言Fable 讽刺Satire 文言文Classical Chinese Prose

临江之人，畋得麋麑，畜之。
入门，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。

A man of Linjiang hunted and caught a young fawn, and kept it at home.
When it came through the door, the whole pack of dogs gathered around it, mouths watering, tails wagging.
The man grew angry and frightened them off.
From then on he carried the fawn in his arms to the dogs every day, showing it to them again and again, ordering them to leave it alone, and little by little letting them play with it.

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Meaning

A man of Linjiang raises a fawn he has hunted, shielding it from his own dogs — first by threats, then by a daily training that forces predator and prey into companionship. Every step of his careful taming only strips the fawn of its instinctive fear, and the fable's famous ending (beyond this excerpt) shows the fawn torn apart by outside dogs, never understanding why. The excerpt dramatizes how a protector's misplaced love manufactures the very disaster it tries to prevent.

临江有个人，打猎时捉到一只小麋鹿，便把它饲养起来。一进门，一群狗馋得直流口水，摇着尾巴都围了过来。那人发怒，把狗吓走了。从此每天抱着小麋鹿去接近狗，经常让狗看它，使狗不要动它，渐渐地又让狗和小麋鹿一起嬉戏。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A man of Linjiang catches a fawn and raises it. When the dogs crowd around it drooling, he drives them off. Then, day after day, he carries the fawn to the dogs, shows it to them, forbids them to touch it, and gradually lets them play together — a training that will end in the fawn's death. [Technique] The fable's power lies in its calm objectivity: not one word of commentary, only action. Mouths watering, tails wagging exposes the dogs' nature in eight characters; grew angry and frightened them off shows the master's crude power; and the final sentence's chain of short phrases — carried daily, shown repeatedly, forbidden, gradually allowed — paces the taming like a countdown. The irony is structural: each act of love is an act of destruction, and the safer the fawn seems, the closer the disaster.

【白话串讲】柳宗元写《三戒·临江之麋》：临江人打猎得到一只小麋鹿，抱回家养。“入门，群犬垂涎”——狗流口水。主人“日抱就犬，习示之”——每天抱它跟狗玩，让狗别碰它。小麋鹿长大了，忘了自己是鹿，“抵触偃仆，益狎”——跟狗打闹。狗越来越放肆，“共食之，麋至死不悟”——鹿到死都不知道狗会吃它——他讽刺仗势忘本的人。【意象与手法】本文是柳宗元贬永州后所撰寓言《三戒》的第一篇。艺术上最突出的是「以物寓人、层层设伏」：麋鹿喻依仗主人之势、丧失自我保护能力的人，群犬喻世间的凶险，主人喻溺爱纵容的庇护者；先写人之溺爱，次写犬之垂涎，再写驯化之过程，每一步都为「外犬见而杀之」的结局铺设伏笔，冷静的叙述中藏着冷峻的讽刺。【情感与主旨】主旨是讽喻那些「依势以干非其类」者——仗恃外力庇护、忘记自身处境的人，终将在失去庇护时自取灭亡；「麋至死不悟」的悲剧结局，正是对执迷不悟者的冷峻警示，寄寓了柳宗元对当时朝局中依势小人（如宦官、藩镇及其依附者）的深刻讽刺。【名句点睛】「日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动，稍使与之戏」数句写尽主人的溺爱与麋鹿的驯化过程，是全文的枢纽之笔；「麋至死不悟」的结局更成为「恃宠而骄、至死不悟」的经典写照，警示后人不可丧失警惕、依赖外力。

Background

Liu Zongyuan (773-819) was a Tang prose master and one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song, who with Han Yu led the Ancient Prose Movement. In 805 he joined Wang Shuwen's Yongzhen Reform, which sought to curb eunuchs and warlords; when it collapsed, Liu was exiled first to Yongzhou and later to Liuzhou. 'Three Warnings' was written during his Yongzhou years, when political defeat had sharpened his eye for the dangers of court life. Its three animal fables — the deer, the donkey, and the rat — satirize three kinds of folly: leaning on others' power, showing off petty talents, and exploiting the moment for tyranny.

《临江之麋》是柳宗元寓言《三戒》中的第一篇。《三戒》作于柳宗元贬谪永州期间（805年后），包括《临江之麋》《黔之驴》《永某氏之鼠》三篇寓言，其序言：「吾恒恶世之人，不知推己之本，而乘物以逞，或依势以干非其类，出技以怒强，窃时以肆暴，然卒迨于祸。」柳宗元（773—819），字子厚，河东（今山西永济）人，唐代文学家、思想家，「唐宋八大家」之一，与韩愈并称「韩柳」，共同倡导古文运动。贞元二十一年（805年），柳宗元参与王叔文领导的永贞革新，谋除宦官、藩镇之弊，革新失败后被贬为永州司马，居永州十年，后改贬柳州，卒于任所。永贞革新的失败、长期的贬谪生涯，使柳宗元对朝局的险恶、小人的得势有了切肤之痛，《三戒》正是这一背景下的产物：麋鹿、驴、鼠三种动物，分别讽刺「依势以干非其类」（依仗他人势力去亲近本不属于自己的类别）、「出技以怒强」（逞露小技激怒强者）、「窃时以肆暴」（趁着时机放纵暴行）三种世态。此篇写麋鹿依仗主人的庇护而与狗嬉戏，最终「外犬见而喜且怒，共杀食之，狼藉道上，麋至死不悟」，正是柳宗元对永贞党人及其同类命运的沉痛反思，也是对其时依附权贵者的冷峻讽喻。

Art

The prose is famously austere and incisive: short sentences, dense verbs, zero ornament. The structure is a chain of traps. Kept it plants the premise; mouths watering, tails wagging plants the dogs' appetite; frightened them off creates only a false safety; and the final sentence, with its step-by-step adverbs — daily, repeatedly, gradually — engineers the fawn's doom with the patience of a mechanism. The author never judges; irony lives entirely in the gap between the man's loving intentions and their murderous result, a kindness that kills that makes the fable cut deeper than any sermon.

《临江之麋》的艺术特色，可从白描、设伏、反讽三端析之。其一，冷静客观的白描手法：全篇不用一个贬义词，不作一句议论，只以纯客观的叙述写人之畜麋、犬之垂涎、驯化之过程，然而讽刺之意已在叙述中自然流出——「群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来」八字写尽狗的贪婪本性，「其人怒，怛之」写主人的粗暴庇护，「日抱就犬」写主人的溺爱无度，句句皆是白描，句句皆有深意，正是柳宗元寓言「不着一字议论而褒贬自明」的特色。其二，层层设伏的结构艺术：开篇「畜之」埋下「人宠」之伏，次写「群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来」埋下「犬害」之伏，再写「怒，怛之」「日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动」埋下「假安」之伏——主人越是用人力去扭曲狗的天性，麋鹿的处境就越危险，读者虽不知后文，已隐约感到「始安终危」的必然；这种设伏不是故弄玄虚，而是顺着人情物理的自然推演，使结局虽意外而必然。其三，不动声色的反讽笔法：主人「习示之，使勿动，稍使与之戏」本是一片护爱之心，却恰恰是害死麋鹿的根由；麋鹿在狗群中「时啖其舌」仍「狎而习之」，自以为安全无虞——越是写其「安」，越见其「危」，越是写护爱，越是写祸害，这种「善意与恶果的错位」构成了全篇最深刻的反讽，也体现了柳宗元寓言「寓庄于谐、冷峻犀利」的独特风格。

Allusions

The deer and the dogs are chosen symbols: the deer, a gentle herbivore that flees predators by instinct, stands for the weak dependent; the dog, however tame, retains its hunting nature — the threat that never disappears. The ending never understood to the death belongs to China's great fable line of the deluded victim, from Zhuangzi's summer insects cannot be told of ice onward. The master's coddling answers the ancient warning that love without wisdom harms — the Zuo Zhuan's if you love your son, teach him righteousness, and the Zhanguo Ce's the love of parents for children lies in planning far for them. The title 'Three Warnings' itself continues the admonitory tradition of the Analects' three things against which the gentleman is on guard, turning Confucian self-cultivation into cold social satire.

《临江之麋》虽为寓言，其文化意蕴却相当深厚。其一，「麋」与「犬」的意象选择别具深意：麋鹿是温顺的食草动物，天性畏猛兽而善奔逃，是「弱小者」的象征；犬虽经驯养，却仍有猎食的天性，是「潜在威胁」的象征；二者同处一室而强行亲和，本身就是违背天理的组合——柳宗元以此讽刺「依势以干非其类」者，即那些倚仗权势去亲近本不属于自己阵营的人，这在唐代藩镇割据、宦官专权、朋党倾轧的政治生态中极具现实针对性。其二，「至死不悟」的结局，是中国寓言中「执迷不悟」母题的经典表达：从《庄子》「夏虫不可以语于冰」到韩愈《获麟解》的不遇之叹，中国文学反复书写「身处危境而不自知」的悲剧，而麋鹿「至死不悟」尤以动物之愚写尽人性之蔽，其警世之力远胜直白的说教。其三，主人「怒，怛之」「日抱就犬」的溺爱行为，又暗合「爱之适以害之」的古老训诫——《左传》「爱子，教之以义方」、《战国策》「父母之爱子，则为之计深远」，皆反对以溺爱代替教育；柳宗元写主人以「习示之」的方式剥夺麋鹿的警惕心，正是对「溺爱成害」的寓言化呈现。其四，就思想背景言，《三戒》的「戒」字，直接继承了中国「三戒」的劝诫传统（《论语》「君子有三戒」），柳宗元以动物寓言续其「戒」之旨，将儒家修身之戒转化为对世道人心的冷眼审视，使其寓言兼具讽刺文学与劝诫文学的双重品格。

Commentary

'The Deer of Linjiang' is the masterpiece of Liu Zongyuan's fables and a summit of Chinese satirical allegory. Literary historians credit him with freeing the fable from its servitude to argument and making it an independent literary form, his white-description irony influencing later satirists from Luo Yin to Liu Ji and, in the twentieth century, modern Chinese satire. Its verdict — leaning on power to intrude where you do not belong — has become a universal diagnosis of dependent personalities, and never understood to the death is a set phrase for willful blindness. Long a school textbook text, it pairs with 'The Donkey of Qian' as the twin peaks of 'Three Warnings': short in length, limitless in aftertaste.

《临江之麋》在后世享有崇高评价，是柳宗元寓言的代表作，也是中国讽刺寓言文学的巅峰之作。就文学言，柳宗元是继庄子之后中国寓言创作的又一高峰：他的寓言摆脱了先秦寓言「寄生于论说之中」的附庸地位，成为独立的文学体裁，且以精确的白描、冷峻的反讽、严密的设伏独树一帜，《临江之麋》正是这一文体成熟的标志；自柳宗元后，寓言作为独立的讽刺文体在中国文学中确立了地位，后世如罗隐《说天鸡》、刘基《卖柑者言》等皆承其遗风，而五四以来更被推为中国现代讽刺文学的重要源头。就思想言，「依势以干非其类」的概括，超越了具体的历史事件，成为对一切依附性人格的普遍警示——无论官场攀附、社交趋炎，还是以他人之力自恃，皆可于麋鹿之愚中照见自身；「麋至死不悟」五字，更以其冷峻的穿透力成为汉语中「执迷不悟」的经典写照。就传播言，此文与《黔之驴》《永某氏之鼠》并称《三戒》，长期入选中学语文教材，「黔驴技穷」「至死不悟」等成语由此深入人心；历代评家如刘熙载《艺概》谓柳文「峻洁」，「文如奇峰异嶂，层见叠出」，而《临江之麋》正是其「峻洁」风格的典型样本——篇幅极短而意蕴极深，笔触极冷而讽意极烈，是中国寓言史上不可多得的精品。

Prosody

Form Tang dynasty allegorical prose — from the fable collection 'Three Warnings'唐代寓言散文（《三戒》）

Rhyme Free prose, unrhymed; rhythm is built from short clauses and dense verbs. 'A man of Linjiang hunted and caught a fawn, and kept it' runs three short clauses in a row, tight as a chronicle; 'through the door, the pack of dogs drooled, tails wagging, all came crowding' drives forward on two verb-phrases; 'the man grew angry and frightened them off' — four words, then two — halts like a blow; the final sentence's chain of three- and four-word phrases slows from urgency to ease, like the taming itself.此文为散体寓言，不押韵，而以短句的顿挫与动词的密集营造节奏。开篇「临江之人，畋得麋麑，畜之」以三个短句连缀，节奏紧凑；「入门，群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来」以「垂涎」「扬尾」两个动词短语状物，音节短促有力；「其人怒，怛之」以四字、二字短句顿住，如棒喝；末句「日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动，稍使与之戏」以一连串四字、三字短语铺叙，节奏由急趋缓，如驯化过程之循序渐进。

Tone pattern Short sentences predominate, verbs crowd the lines, and the style is austere and cutting — the hallmark of Liu Zongyuan's prose. 'Kept it,' 'grew angry, frightened them off,' 'forbade them to move,' 'played with it' read like knife-strokes, brisk and edged. The narrative voice stays cool and objective, the author never appearing to comment; tension and irony are carried by short clauses and verbal density, and the colder the tone, the more cutting the satire.句式以短句为主，动词密集，行文峻洁利落，无一句冗语，正合柳宗元散文「峻洁」的风格；「畜之」「怒，怛之」「使勿动」「与之戏」等短句读来如刀斫斧劈，节奏明快而含锋棱；叙述语调冷静客观，作者始终不露面、不议论，而以句式的短促与动词的密度传递紧张与讽刺，愈冷静愈见其冷峻。

Reading note The passage's rhythm is the dense staccato of short sentences, inseparable from Liu Zongyuan's austere style. The opening — a man of Linjiang hunted and caught a fawn, and kept it — runs three short clauses, one beat each, nailing the story's start like a scribe's record. 'Through the door, the pack of dogs drooled, tails wagging, all came crowding' drives two verb-phrases in quick succession, the syllables rushing like the dogs themselves; 'the man grew angry and frightened them off' stops dead, a blow to the head. The final sentence unfolds in a chain of three- and four-word phrases, its pace easing from urgency to calm, in step with the taming's unhurried progress — while the reader already smells danger in that calm: the slower the stroke, the deadlier the trap. The whole moves through urgency, halt, and release, the sentence rhythm itself carrying the plot's tension — Liu Zongyuan at his most masterful, using sound to drive narrative.此段的声律以「短句的密集顿挫」为特色，与柳宗元「峻洁」的文风互为表里。开篇「临江之人，畋得麋麑，畜之」三句皆是四字或三字短句，一句一顿，如史官记档，把故事的起点钉得干净利落；「入门，群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来」以「垂涎」「扬尾」两个动词短语连续发力，音节急促，仿佛群犬扑来之势，「其人怒，怛之」以四字、二字猛然顿住，如当头棒喝，紧张感在句式的骤变中达到顶点；末句「自是日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动，稍使与之戏」以一串三字、四字短语缓缓铺开，「日」「习」「使」「稍」等字依次递进，节奏由急转缓，声调渐趋平和，恰与驯化过程的从容同步，而读者已从这「平和」的节奏中嗅到「危险」的气息——缓笔写险，愈缓愈险。全文在「急促—顿挫—舒缓」的节奏变化中推进，句式的节奏直接成为情节张力的载体，正是柳宗元以声律驭叙事的典范；诵读此段，宜先急后缓，方能在短句的顿挫中听出那潜伏的杀机。

Line by line

临江之人，畋得麋麑，畜之。

A man of Linjiang hunted and caught a young fawn, and kept it at home.

临江有个人，打猎时捉到一只小麋鹿，便把它饲养起来。

A man of Linjiang, hunting caught a young elk, and raised it.

开篇三句交代故事的缘起，笔法极简而伏笔已埋。「临江之人」以地名冠于人物之前，点明故事发生的地点，使寓言带上实录的色彩；「畋得麋麑」写其打猎所得——「畋」为打猎，「麋麑」指幼麋，猎得幼麋本是偶然，而「畜之」二字一锤定音：人不以之为猎物，而把它养在家里。这一决定，正是全篇悲剧的起点。「畜之」的「畜」字尤堪玩味：它写出了人的善意，也写出了人的僭越——麋鹿本是山林之物，人却强行改变它的生存环境与命运，这既是「养」，也是「囚」；而正是这一「畜」，使麋鹿脱离了它应有的生存逻辑，从此把生死托付于人的意志。柳宗元以三句九个字完成「时间（猎时）、地点（临江）、人物（人）、事件（得麋而畜）」的全部交代，无一赘字，而其「依势以干非其类」的命题，已在这一「畜」字中悄然立起——麋鹿之祸，自被畜养之日已然注定。

The opening three words give the story's cause, the brush most economical, the foreshadowing already planted. 'A man of Linjiang' puts the place before the person, naming the story's setting, giving the fable the color of a record. 'Hunting caught a young elk' the catch of the hunt — 'hunting' the chase, 'young elk' the fawn; catching a fawn is accidental, and the words 'and raised it' strike the decisive blow: the man takes it not as prey, but raises it at home. This decision is the starting point of the whole tragedy. The word 'raised' is worth savoring: it writes the man's kindness, and his presumption — the elk is a creature of the hills, and the man forcibly changes its environment and fate, this both 'raising' and 'imprisoning'; and precisely this 'raising' cuts the elk off from its proper logic of life, henceforth entrusting life and death to the man's will. In three lines of nine words, Liu Zongyuan completes the whole account of 'time (hunting), place (Linjiang), person (the man), event (caught the elk and raised it)', not one superfluous word, and his theme of 'relying on power to approach the alien kind' is quietly established in this word 'raised' — the elk's doom is sealed from the day it is raised.

入门，群犬垂涎，扬尾皆来。其人怒，怛之。

When it came through the door, the pack of dogs gathered around, mouths watering, tails wagging. The man grew angry and frightened them off.

一进门，一群狗馋得直流口水，摇着尾巴都围了过来。那人发怒，把狗吓走了。

As it entered the door, the pack of dogs hungered, tails waving, all came up. The man grew angry and frightened them off.

此句写麋鹿入门的第一个险境，是「犬害」之伏的正式展开。「入门」二字紧接上文，麋鹿一进家门，便与「群犬」相遇；「垂涎」写狗馋得流口水——以最直白的生理描写写出狗的猎食本能，狗与麋鹿之间本是猎手与猎物的关系；「扬尾皆来」写群犬摇尾扑来，「扬尾」二字既写狗兴奋的姿态，又暗含攻击前的蠢动，「皆」字写一拥而上之势。正当险象环生之际，「其人怒，怛之」——主人发怒，将狗吓退。这一笔至关重要：主人以人的权威暂时压住了狗的天性，但这只是「压制」而非「改变」，狗的本能并未消失，只是被主人的威势暂时震慑；主人的庇护，为麋鹿制造了一个虚假的安全区。柳宗元此句以「垂涎」「扬尾」「怒」「怛」四个动词写尽三方（麋、犬、人）的处境与反应，无一字评说而张力自现，且为下文「外犬见而喜且怒」的结局预埋了伏笔——内犬之涎可被主人吓止，外犬之涎则无人可止。

This line writes the elk's first danger on entering the house, the formal opening of the 'dog-harm' foreshadow. 'As it entered the door' follows the above at once: the elk enters the house, and meets the 'pack of dogs'; 'hungered' the dogs drooling — the most plain physical writing of the dogs' hunting instinct, dog and elk being by nature hunter and prey; 'tails waving, all came up' the pack swarming with waving tails, 'tails waving' both the dogs' excited posture and the hidden stir before the attack, 'all' the rush of the whole pack. Just as the danger closes in, 'the man grew angry and frightened them off'. This stroke is crucial: the man's authority for the moment suppresses the dogs' nature, yet this is 'suppression' not 'change' — the dogs' instinct has not vanished, only cowed for the moment by the man's might; the man's protection manufactures a false safe zone for the elk. This line, through the four verbs 'hungered', 'tails waving', 'angry', 'frightened', writes the plight and reaction of the three parties (elk, dog, man), not one word of judgment, the tension showing itself, and plants the foreshadowing for the closing of 'the outside dogs, seeing it, joyful and angry' — the inside dogs' drool can be frightened off by the man, the outside dogs' drool there is no one to stop.

自是日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动，稍使与之戏。

From then on he carried the fawn in his arms to the dogs every day, showing it to them again and again, ordering them to leave it alone, and little by little letting them play with it.

从此每天抱着小麋鹿去接近狗，经常让狗看它，使狗不要动它，渐渐地又让狗和小麋鹿一起嬉戏。

From then on, every day he carried it to the dogs, showed it to them often, made them not move, and by degrees let it play with them.

此句写主人的驯化过程，是全文设伏的枢纽，也是最见讽刺力的一笔。「日抱就犬」写主人每日抱着麋鹿主动去靠近狗——一个「日」字写其坚持不懈，「抱」字写其呵护备至，「就犬」写其主动接近危险，主人越是尽心，越是把麋鹿推向深渊；「习示之，使勿动」写主人反复让狗观看麋鹿、命令狗不许伤害——他试图以训练抹掉狗的天性，却不知狗的天性从未消失，只是被暂时压制；「稍使与之戏」写他渐渐放松约束，让狗与麋鹿嬉戏——「稍」字写渐进的过程，主人自以为驯化成功，实则把麋鹿最后的警惕心也消磨殆尽。这一句的讽刺在于「善意与恶果的错位」：主人的每一步都出于爱，而每一步都在制造灾难——麋鹿习惯了与狗和平共处，便彻底丧失了恐惧与逃生的本能，这正是「依势以干非其类」者的宿命：当它完全依赖主人的安排、忘记自己与狗本是异类时，一旦失去庇护（主人外出），便必遭「外犬」之祸。柳宗元以「日、习、稍」三个时间副词写足驯化的层层深入，笔法之细、用意之深，堪称寓言典范。

This line writes the man's taming process, the pivot of the fable's foreshadowing, and the most satirical stroke. 'Every day he carried it to the dogs' — the man daily carrying the elk to approach the dogs; the one word 'every day' his persistence, 'carried' his tender care, 'to the dogs' his proactive approach to danger — the more devoted the master, the more he pushes the elk toward the abyss. 'Showed it to them often, made them not move' — the man repeatedly letting the dogs see the elk, ordering the dogs not to harm it; he tries to train away the dogs' nature, not knowing the nature has never vanished, only suppressed for the moment. 'By degrees let it play with them' — he gradually loosens the restraint, letting the dogs play with the elk; the word 'by degrees' the gradual process, the master thinking the taming a success, in fact wearing away the elk's last wariness. The satire of this line lies in the 'misplacement of kindness and consequence': the master's every step springs from love, and every step manufactures disaster — the elk, used to living in peace with dogs, utterly loses the instinct of fear and escape, precisely the fate of those who 'rely on power to approach the alien kind': when it wholly depends on the master's arrangement and forgets that it and the dogs are alien kinds, once the protection is lost (the master away), it must meet the doom of the 'outside dogs'. Liu Zongyuan, through the three time adverbs 'every day', 'often', 'by degrees', writes the layers of the taming, the fineness of the brush and the depth of intent, the model of the fable.

Study

Word focus

畜 To raise, keep as livestock — the verb quietly frames the whole tragedy: a wild creature forced into domestic order, its fate bound to a master's will. It holds both the man's kindness and his fatal transgression. 「畜之」之「畜」字，是全文悲剧的起点，也是讽刺锋芒所聚的关键字。「畜」本义为饲养家畜，柳宗元以此字写人豢养幼麋，看似寻常，实则暗藏深意：麋鹿本是野生的山林之兽，与「畜」（家养）二字格格不入，而人偏以「畜」的方式对待它，强行将其纳入家畜的秩序，这就注定了麋鹿的悲剧——它将被剥夺野性，丧失自我保护的机制。此字之妙有三：其一，「畜」写人之善意，也写人之僭越，人自以为「养」它，实则是「害」它，善意与恶果在「畜」字中已然错位；其二，「畜」字为后文「日抱就犬，习示之，使勿动」的驯化过程定下基调——既然视为「畜」，便要以驯畜的方式对待，狗可驯，麋亦可「驯」，而驯化麋鹿亲近犬类，正是「依势以干非其类」的荒谬所在；其三，在文化语境中，「畜」与「养」相对，暗含等级之别——主人「畜」麋，麋遂依附主人而生，其命运系于一人之手，柳宗元以此暗讽那些「畜」于权门、倚势自固的依附者。一个「畜」字，为全篇「依势以干非其类」的命题立下了第一块基石。

稍 Gradually, little by little — marks the step-by-step loosening of safeguards; each small relaxation erodes the fawn's wariness and hastens the disaster, the fable's dread compressed into one adverb. 「稍使与之戏」之「稍」字，是写驯化渐进过程的关键副词，其字面义为「渐渐、逐渐」，而讽刺之力尽在其中。「稍」字之妙在于：它写出了主人「驯化」的耐心与得计——先是「日抱就犬」的接近，再是「习示之」的反复演示，然后是「使勿动」的命令约束，最后才「稍使与之戏」，步步为营，层层放宽，主人自以为已彻底驯服群犬，麋鹿可以安全地与狗嬉戏了；然而「稍」字的每一寸放宽，都是麋鹿警惕心的一寸消磨，都是灾难的一寸逼近。主人越是「稍」得从容，读者越觉危机四伏——这种「以缓写急、以安写危」的笔法，正是柳宗元寓言的高妙处。在结构上，「稍」字又与开篇「畜之」的「畜」字遥相呼应：因「畜」而有「驯」，因「驯」而至于「稍使与之戏」，一「稍」字串起全篇驯化的过程，也串起从「假安」到「真祸」的必然逻辑。更见功力的是，「稍」字暗示了时间的推移，而时间越久，麋鹿与犬的「和平」越巩固，麋鹿的本能越退化——柳宗元以一字写尽「积渐成祸」的普遍规律，令人读之毛骨悚然。