A KING, whose only son was fond of martial1 exercises, had a dream
in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion.
Afraid the dream should prove true, he built for his son a
pleasant palace and adorned2 its walls for his amusement with all
kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a
lion. When the young Prince saw this, his grief3 at being thus
confined burst out afresh, and, standing4 near the lion, he said:
"O you most detestable of animals! through a lying dream of my
father's, which he saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account
in this palace as if I had been a girl: what shall I now do to
you?' With these words he stretched out his hands toward a
thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he
might beat the lion. But one of the tree's prickles pierced his
finger and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young
Prince fell down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set
in, from which he died not many days later.
We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.
