The difference between men and women (Tun. Stories No. 16)

Are you aware that each time a woman talks about something that a man has done wrong, she says: “Men will be men!” However, if she talks about some woman who has betrayed her husband or done him some real wrong, she will never say: “Women can’t be trusted.” The truth is, good and bad exist within both men and women. Honestly, it’s just that women focus more on the bad in men, and men focus more on the bad in women.
We have been told, that there was once a well-to-do man who was very wealthy, but whose wife was unable to bear children. They had been together for five or six years without her getting pregnant. She was afraid that he would leave her for another woman and that she would be cut off without a penny from all that money. So, she devised a plan with her mother and with a midwife to find them a baby.
A few days later, the midwife told them about a pregnant woman who didn’t want her baby. From that point on, the wife began to throw up, to feel dizzy and to have a pale face.
“What’s wrong with you, honey?,” asked the husband.
“I don’t know. Apparently, I am pregnant.”
He felt on top of the world, like he was on cloud nine. He cherished her, while each new day she added sheets under her clothes to grow her stomach. The pregnant woman reached her fourth month, so did the wife; then the fifth month and so on. She added sheets every day, while her husband was completely unaware. What is more, he was lonely with no mother or sister, being completely rootless. This continued until her stomach appeared to be a balloon ready to pop. The wife was now in her final months, just like the actual pregnant woman.
One evening, the man came home and then went back out. But, having forgotten something, he returned home without his wife noticing. She was in the room in front of the servant’s quarters, when he noticed his brother-in-law entering the house in a rush.
“Hurry up!” he said to the wife. “The woman just gave birth, get into bed.”
Then, he ran to the servant’s quarters, stood by the door, went in, came back out, went in again, and finally came back out. Then, his wife’s mother came out along with another woman, the midwife, who was carrying something into the house.
“Oh my goodness!” screamed her mother from inside the house.
They entered the wife’s room where the cries commenced.
Meanwhile, as the husband had finally caught on to what was happening, he returned back to the front of the house and acted like he had just opened the door and came in.
“What’s going on? Is everything alright?”
“Stay there, don’t come in. Your wife is giving birth,” said her mother.
Then, the cheers started.
“What?”
“A boy,” they said.
He came in, kissed her on the forehead, and went back out to buy what was needed. He was out for about an hour, until they found him entering with two policemen, a commissioner, and a doctor who checked his wife and found that she had never given birth in her life nor become pregnant.
As for the baby, he was taken to the hospital and the others were arrested, including the midwife.
So, as soon as I finished telling this story, a woman said: “Men will be men!”
“Are you kidding me?” Despite all that the first, second and third woman did, and after all the schemes that the wife, the mother and the midwife had done to the man, he’s the one that can’t be trusted in the end? Actually, it’s the three women who can’t be trusted. As for him, he just defended himself against their deceptions and efforts to give his inheritance to a stranger.
Let me tell you a story. Once there was a man, this is also a real story, who had passed away leaving behind a wife and two children. After the wife had finished the funeral and receiving visitations, she gave up her children to her brother-in-law, and went away. It could be that she headed to Nabul, Sousse, Sfax, Gabes, or whatever, it doesn’t matter. The first year passed, then the second, the third, the seventh, the eighth…, until she was broke and returned back.
One day, as her brother-in-law was entering the house, his wife said:
“Your brother’s wife came by earlier and she says hello.”
“What? What was she here for? I don’t want her to step foot into this house again, understood?”
“Alright.”
The next day, his wife said:
“She came by again today. To be honest, I couldn’t kick her out. She’s still your brother’s wife. Her children are fatherless and they’re all that’s left of her husband.”
“I still don’t want to see her or know that she exists!”
As for the woman, she got used to coming over almost every day, either for lunch or for dinner. One night, when it was late, the wife said to her: “Why don’t you stay over tonight?”
As soon as her husband got home, she said: “I need to be honest with you. I’ll tell you but don’t get mad, your brother’s wife is staying over tonight.” When he heard this, he started to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m not staying in this house.”
He got mad and shouted. But as everyone knows, women usually win, and he calmed down. Yet, he did not meet her, each staying in different rooms.
She got used to staying over from time to time. And as this continued, he eventually ran into her. Women usually win. Eventually, they got used to having lunch and dinner together since she was with them all the time. Life carried on in this way until one day he took his wife back to her family’s house early in the morning.
In the evening, he returned and handed her divorce papers. What happened?
The man took his brother’s wife, whom he had previously only wanted to ignore, and divorced his wife. Despite all the good that his wife had done for this woman, raising her children, feeding her, keeping her and insisting on defending her… How did she reward her?
She neglected her, stole her man and her home, and left her for ruin.
So, who’s the one not to be trusted here? The man or the woman?
The camel was once asked: “What do you prefer, bending down or getting up?”
“Curse them both!” he answered.