King Nanda and His Minister Vararuchi
Two men are each set an absurd condition by an angry wife, and each agrees. In open court the next morning, one of them explains the other's shaved head.
There was a king named Nanda, lord of the earth, at whose feet many kings bowed. His minister was Vararuchi, a master of every science.
Once Vararuchi's wife was angry with him. He tried many ways to please her, and she would not be pleased. So he said: "My dear, tell me how you will be pleased." She said: "If you shave your head and fall at my feet, then I shall be pleased." He did exactly that, and she was pleased.
In the same way King Nanda's wife was angry with him, and no amount of coaxing pleased her. The king said: "My dear, I cannot live without you; I fall at your feet to please you." She said: "If you let a bridle be put in your mouth, and I sit on your back, and you go about neighing like a horse — then I shall be pleased." And the king did exactly that.
The next morning, seated in the assembly, the king saw Vararuchi arrive with a shaved head and asked: "Vararuchi! For what festival have you shaved your head?"
Vararuchi answered: "What will a man not give, and what will he not do, when women ask it of him? Where one who is no horse goes about neighing, there heads get shaved as well."
न किं ददाति किं कुर्यात् स्त्रीभिरभ्यर्थितो नरः । अनश्वो यत्र हेषेत शिरः पर्यन्ते मुण्डितम् ॥
Moral: What will a man not give, and what will he not do, when women ask it of him? Where one who is no horse goes about neighing, there heads get shaved as well.
From the Panchatantra, Book IV — Loss of Gains.
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