The Man and His Two Sweethearts

A man of middle age, with hair just beginning to turn gray, was being courted by two women at once — one young, one considerably older than himself — and visited each in turn, enjoying the attention of both.

The younger woman, wishing him to appear closer to her own age, would playfully pluck out his gray hairs each time he visited, leaving only his dark hair behind. The older woman, wishing him to appear closer to her own age instead, would pluck out his dark hairs, leaving only the gray.

Between the two of them, plucking in opposite directions every single visit, the poor man was left completely bald within a matter of weeks — each woman's attempt to shape him into what she personally preferred having, between them, destroyed the very thing both had originally been attracted to.