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 expence 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 confined for a dream about
such a beast, he struck at the painting with his fist, with all his
might. There happened to be a nail in the wall behind the canvas, which
lacerated the hand terribly. The wound festered, and threw the Young
Man into a fever, of which he died; so that the Father’s dream was
fulfilled by the very step he took to prevent it.