Once upon time, there was a prince.

When he came to the age of twenty, suddenly his father the king passed away.

He had to take over as the king of the country.

But, the elders and the ministers told him that there was one condition
to become the king, there was a rule in that country.

He had to prove his courage by facing and fighting a lion in front of everyone.

Only if he is able to defeat the lion, he can become the king.

This really scared the prince.

How can he he face a fierce lion and beat it?

He had sleepless nights.

He became so scared that he lost his appetite, he stopped eating.

He could only visualize the lion jumping at him and tearing him apart.

The date for the event was announced.

On the previous night, the prince mounted a horse and sped away.

No, I don’t want to get killed.

He disguised himself as a merchant and started roaming around from place to place.

Living off charity food that other people offered.

Once, he saw a small boy grazing cattle in a village.

He went and told the boy: I am hungry, who will give me some food?

The boy said: my father is very kind, he will give you food.

They both went to the boy’s hut.

There, the boy’s father fed him and told him that you can be our guest and stay with us as long as you want.

Soon, the prince and the young boy became friends.

But he never disclosed that he was a prince.

He was ashamed to say that he ran away in fear.

The prince started accompanying the boy every day when he took out the cattle for grazing.

One day, when they were resting under the shade of a tree, suddenly they heard loud shouts: lion, lion.

The prince climbed up the tree in fear.

The small boy took his stick and started running towards the place where the shouts came from.

The prince tried stopping the boy: don’t go there, the lion will kill you.

The small boy didn’t listen.

The prince was astonished to see the boy facing the lion with his stick.

He could see from the top of the tree.

They small boy went and faced the lion eye to eye and started beating the lion with his stick.

The lion ran away.

This is not just a story.

This happens for real also.

If you see the national geographic or discovery channel, you will find that there are tribes in Africa who face lions with stones and sticks to protect their cattle.

Here for the young boy, what mattered was his cattle should not be harmed.

So, he went and chased away the lion with a stick, just with a stick.

The lion also must have been shocked to see such courage.

The prince felt ashamed of himself: I am twenty years old, much bigger and stronger than that young boy.

Still, what did I do and what did that boy do?

He left that place in shame and went further.

On the way, in another village he saw some soldiers looking around for something.

He asked them what they were looking for.

They said: lions are troubling these villagers.

We are looking for them.

The prince was surprised.

Here these soldiers are risking their lives to protect other fellow beings and as a matter of duty.

What are they getting in return?

Some wages.

There I was offered a whole kingdom for facing a lion and I ran away.

He again felt ashamed.

He proceeded further.

Then he reached a city.

It was the capital of small kingdom.

There, he was invited to the palace.

Soon he and the princess became friends.

While they were talking to each other, a loud roar was heard from the adjacent room.

The prince became scared again and asked the princess what it was.

She said: nothing, it was just someone yawning.

The prince thought it must be some big muscular servant of the palace.

But after some time, the princess took him to the adjacent room.

It was a lion in that room.

The lion was the pet of the princess.

She went and started fondling that lion.

She said: come near, come near, nothing will happen, he is very friendly.

The prince very hesitantly went near and touched the lion.

As she said, it was very friendly.

The prince started wondering: I am much stronger than that young boy and even this girl.

Why am I so scared?

What is it that is in these two and the soldiers that I don’t have that they are ready to face and deal with lions?

He realized that it was only courage, nothing else.

So, he decided to go back to his place.

He went there and told the elders and ministers: I am ready to face any challenge now.

The date for the encounter with the lion was again fixed.

The lion was brought in a cage and set free.

The prince looked the lion in the eyes, but soon he realized that it was very quiet and not at all harmful.

He won the test, even without fighting.

Courage is very very important.

Had it been an aggressive lion, he would have had to fight it.

He would have won, he would have lost; that doesn’t matter.

When he travelled around, from his experiences he learned that people much weaker than him faced life boldly only because they had courage in their heart, only because they did not have fear in their heart.

You must have seen those ring masters in circus; managing lions, tigers, leopards.

They are also humans, they are also just as tall and as big as anyone else.

How do they do it?

Because they have courage in their heart, they are fearless.

We have our strong firemen.

When there is a fire, when others are crying for help, they would walk in and save them.

Same fire, someone is crying for help someone else is walking in boldly and saving them.

Both are humas.

What is the difference?

Courage.

You should understand this.

If you want to achieve in life, then you should never have fear for anything.

Most of the things that we are scared of are not even worthy of fear.

See that lion the prince had to face and fight, it was harmless.

But,first he got scared and ran away.

Nine out of ten things that we are scared of are not even harmful.

You will see others handling them easily.

So, you should also grow up without any kind of fear.

This is essential for success in life and for your own self-esteem.

Nothing can affect a bold person.

He or she can face any situation and emerge victorious.