A king, who had only one son fond of martial exercises, had a dream in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid the dream might come true, he built a pleasant palace for his son and adorned its walls with life-sized pictures of various animals, including a lion. When the young prince saw this, his grief at being confined burst out afresh. Standing near the lion, he spoke:
“O you most detestable of animals! Because of a lying dream my father saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account in this palace as if I were a girl. What shall I now do to you?”
With these words, he stretched out his hands toward a thorn tree, intending to cut a stick from its branches to beat the lion. However, one of its sharp prickles pierced his finger, causing great pain and inflammation. The young prince fell down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set in, from which he died not many days later.
It is better to bear our troubles bravely than to try to escape them