Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 1. Bottom, who doesn’t know yet that Puck has given him an ass’s head, innocently asks why his fellow craftsmen are running from him. He think that they are playing a practical joke to scare him, but we know the real reason. This is example of dramatic irony.