Page:La Fontaine - The Original Fables Of, 1913.djvu/69

 XX

THE HOROSCOPE

( VIII.—No. 16)

destiny is frequently met in the very paths we take to avoid it.

A father had an only son whom he loved excessively. His devoted affection caused him to be so anxious as to the boy's welfare that he sought to learn from  astrologers and fortune-tellers what fate was in store  for the son and heir. One of these soothsayers told him that an especial danger lay with lions, from which  the youth must be guarded until the age of twenty  was reached, but not after. The father, to make sure of this precaution, upon the issue of which depended the  life of his loved one, commanded that by no chance  should the boy ever be permitted to go beyond the  threshold of the house. Ample provision was made for the satisfaction of all the wishes proper to youth  in the way of play with his companions, jumping,  running, walking, and so forth. As the age approached when the spirits of youth yearn for the chase, he was  taught to hold that sport in abhorrence.

But temperament cannot be changed by persuasion and counsel, nor by enlightenment. The young man, eager, ardent, and full of courage, no sooner felt the