The Man between Two Ages, and his Two Mistresses

Name: The Man between Two Ages, and his Two Mistresses
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

A middle-aged man with greying hair considers marriage and attracts many possible partners. Two widows especially win his affection: one still youthful, the other older but skilled at concealing nature’s decline through art. While teasing and caressing him, both women try to make his appearance resemble their own. The older widow secretly plucks out his black hairs, while the younger removes his white ones. Their combined efforts leave him completely bald. The man sarcastically thanks them for their “gentle pranks,” saying that his shaving has saved him from a greater loss. He declares that he will not marry either woman, having learned from the hair they took that the path of marriage suits them, not him.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Satire · 365 words

First lines

A man of middle age, whose hair / Was bordering on the grey, / Began to turn his thoughts and care / The matrimonial way. / By virtue of his ready, / A store of choices had he / Of ladies bent to suit his taste; / On which account he made no haste. / To court well was no trifling art. / Two widows chiefly gain'd his heart; / The one yet green, the other more mature, / Who found for nature's wane in art a cure. / These dames, amidst their joking and caressing / The man they long'd to wed, / Would sometimes set themselves to dressing / His party-colour'd head. / Each aiming to assimilate / Her lover to her own estate, / The older piecemeal stole / The black hair from his poll, / While eke, with fingers light, / The young one stole the white. / Between them both, as if by scald, / His head was changed from grey to bald. / 'For these,' he said, 'your gentle pranks, / I owe you, ladies, many thanks. / By being thus well shaved, / I less have lost than saved. / Of Hymen, yet, no news at hand, / I do assure ye. / By what I've lost, I understand / It is in your way, / Not mine, that I must pass on. / Thanks, ladies, for the lesson. '[1]

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Similar titles

Genres

Fable — A brief allegorical narrative adapted from the Aesopic and Phaedran tradition, using a comic situation to convey a practical lesson about incompatible desires and aging.
Didactic Literature — The poem ends with the man explicitly drawing a lesson from his experience, warning that others may impose their own interests on him.
Satire — It humorously mocks vanity, romantic calculation, age-conscious courtship, and the self-serving behavior of the two prospective brides.
Comic Poetry — The central joke is physical and ironic: the older widow removes his dark hairs while the younger removes his gray hairs, leaving him bald.

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The Man between Two Ages, and his Two Mistresses is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Satire, Comic Poetry, Narrative Poetry
Length: 365 words
Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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