Aesop's Fables

A king, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid that the dream might come true, he built a pleasant palace for his son and, for his amusement, adorned its walls with all kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a lion. When the young prince saw this, his grief at being confined in this way burst out anew, and, standing near the lion, he said, “Oh, you most detestable of animals! Because of a lying dream that my father had in his sleep, I am shut up in this palace on your account as if I were a girl. What shall I do to you now?” 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 faint. A violent fever suddenly set in, and he died of it not many days later.

It is better to bear our troubles bravely than to try to escape them.