The ruler of an ancient kingdom wanted to disprove the statement that the men of his domain¹ were ruled by their wives．He had all the males in his kingdom brought before him and warned that any man who did not tell the truth would be punished severely²．

Then he asked all the men who obeyed their wives' directions and counsel to step to the left side of the hall． All the men did so but one little man who moved to the right．

“It's good to see，”said the king，“that we have one real man in the kingdom．Tell these chickenhearted dunces why you alone among them stand on the right side of the hall．”

“Your Majesty，”came the reply in a squealing³ voice，“it is because before I left home my wife told me to keep out of crowds．”

古代有一个国王，他想证明他领土内的男人并非像人们传说的那样，受到老婆的管制。他把王国里所有的男人都召到跟前，警告说，哪个男人胆敢不说实话，就会受到严厉的惩罚。

然后，他叫所有听从妻子的命令和意见的男人都走向大厅的左侧。所有的男人都站到了左侧，只有一个小个子男人站到了右侧。

国王说：“看到我们国家里还有一个真正的男子汉，真是令人高兴。告诉这些胆小的笨蛋，为什么在他们当中只有你一个人站在大厅的右侧。”

“陛下，”那人尖声地回答：“因为在我出门之前，我老婆告诉我不要扎堆。”