A Man had a Wife who made herself hated by all the members of his household. Wishing to find out if she had the same effect on the persons in her father’s house, he made some excuse to send her home on a visit to her father. After a short time she returned, and when he inquired how she had got on and how the servants had treated her, she replied, “The herdsmen and shepherds cast on me looks of aversion.” He said, “O Wife, if you were disliked by those who go out early in the morning with their flocks and return late in the evening, what must have been felt towards you by those with whom you passed the whole day!”
Credits
Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller, believed to have lived around 620–564 BCE, whose fables have been retold across cultures for over two millennia. His stories typically hinge on a single sharp observation about human nature, and "The Man and His Wife" is no exception — its lesson about self-awareness lands with understated wit rather than heavy moralising.
