A maharaja had a son who was weak and sickly. The kingdom had enemies on all sides, and the maharaja worried constantly—when his son became ruler, how would he defend the realm? He asked his advisor for help. The advisor had a statue carved of an ideal man, perfectly proportioned and strong, and placed it in the boy's room. The boy lived with this statue. Every morning he saw it, and every morning he saw himself in the mirror next to it. Over time, without anyone bothering him, he became the man the statue depicted because he had found an ideal.