A lion, having fallen in love with a ploughman's daughter, asked for her hand in marriage; but the man, unable either to bring himself to give his daughter to a wild beast, or to refuse her out of the fear he had of it, hit on the following expedient. As the lion kept pressing him, he told him that he judged him worthy to be his daughter's husband, but that he could give her to him only on one condition, namely that he should pull out his teeth and trim his claws; for it was these that frightened the girl. The lion, because he was in love, readily resigned himself to this double sacrifice. From then on the ploughman had nothing but contempt for him, and, when he presented himself, drove him out with blows of a stick.
Those who surrender their own advantages through excessive trust are easily overcome by people who once feared them.
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