The Deer without a Heart is an ancient fable, attributed to Aesop in Europe, about a deer (or an ass in Eastern versions) who was twice persuaded by a wily fox to visit the ailing lion. After it was killed by the lion, the fox stole and ate the deer's heart. When the lion asks where it is, the fox argues that an animal so foolish as to visit a lion in his den cannot have had one. The fable reflects the ancient belief that the heart was the seat of thoughts and intellect. The story in numbered 52 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system.