Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
In the old days, a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him and desired to see him like herself. The Man's hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too old. So, every night she picked out the white hairs. But, the elder Wife did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So, every morning she picked out as many of the black hairs as she could. The Man soon found himself entirely bald.
Townsend version
A middle-aged Man, whose hair had begun to turn gray, courted two women at the same time. One of them was young, and the other well advanced in years. The elder woman, ashamed to be courted by a man younger than herself, made a point, whenever her admirer visited her, to pull out some portion of his black hairs. The younger, on the contrary, not wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in removing every gray hair she could find. Thus it came to pass that between them both he very soon found that he had not a hair left on his head.
Moral
Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.
L'Estrange version
It was now cuckow-time, and a certain middle ag'd man, that was half-gray, half-brown, took a fancy to marry two wives, of an age one under another, and happy was the woman that could please him best. They took mighty care of him to all manner of purposes, and still as they were combing the good man's head, they'd be picking out here and there a hair to make it all of a colour. The matronly wife, she pluck'd out all the brown hairs, and the younger the white: so that they left the man in the conclusion no better then a bald buzzard betwixt them.
Moral
'Tis a much harder thing to please two wives then two masters; and he's a bold man that offers at it.
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved