FABLES. 



279 



THE YOUNG MAN AND THE LION. 



AN opulent Old Man, who believed in omens and 

 dreams, had an only Son, of whom he was dotingly 

 fond. One night he dreamt that he saw the Young 

 Man, while he was eagerly engaged in the chase, 

 seized upon and torn in pieces by a Lion. This 

 operated upon his fears to such a degree, that he 

 instantly determined upon breaking off his Son's 

 strong propensity to hunting, that he might be 

 kept out of harm's way. For this purpose he spared 

 neither pains nor expense to make home agreeable 

 to him. He had the rooms decorated with the 

 finest paintings of forest scenery, and the hunting 

 of wild beasts, with the reality of which the youth 

 had been so much delighted; but the Young Man, 

 debarred from his favourite pleasures, considered 

 the palace a prison, and his father as the keeper. 

 One day, when looking at the pictures, he cast his 

 eye upon that of a Lion, and, enraged that he was 



