The Man and His Two Wives / 一夫兩妻

The Man and His Two Wives Aesop’s Fables	一夫兩妻 伊索寓言
There was once a time when a man was allowed more wives than one, and a middle-aged bachelor, who could be called neither young nor old, and whose hair was just beginning to turn gray, fell in love with two women at the same time and married them both. One was young and lively and wanted her husband to look youthful; the other was somewhat more advanced in age and was concerned that her husband look about the same age as she did. So, the young wife seized every opportunity to pull out all her dear husband’s gray hairs, while the older one zealously plucked out every black hair she could find. For a while the man was highly flattered by their attention and devotion until, one morning, he discovered that, thanks to his two wives, he did not have a hair left on his head.	舊時男子娶妻，可不限一人。有一中年光棍，歲數可謂不大不小，頭髮正當由黑轉白；同時愛戀兩女，遂一併娶來。一女年少活潑，願夫君形象青春；另一女已頗為老大，急欲夫君相貌年齡與己相仿。於是少妻每得機會，即將良人之白髮悉數擢去，而老妻亦孜孜不倦，盡力將其黑髮逐一揀出拔除。男子兼享兩妻關愛呵護，一時大為自得；直至某日清晨，始知經兩妻如此照顧，自家頭頂竟已毫髮不存。
Whoever allows his principles to be swayed by the influence and different needs of conflicting parties will end in [sic] having no principles at all.	凡有人願受諸方勢力所左右，而不顧各方要求之彼此牴觸，則其自身行止，終將至於全無操守。
[From Aesop’s Fables, Selected and Adapted by Jack Zipers, Penguin Books, 1996]	( Allen Zhuang 譯)