Fuad was a man in no way different from other men. His heart almost stopped beating when he saw a beautiful woman. He told elegant Aisha he loved her. He told dark Sabah he loved her very much. He told blonde Nahla he loved her utterly. He told fair Hanan he loved her till death. And he told plump Fadwa his love was forever. Each of them had a different response, but they agreed without having met that he was not the valiant warrior who had it in him to pluck victory from decisive battle. Fuad kept away from these five women, but he realized that to win a woman he had to add a dash of polite daring to his conversation.
Staring at the bosom of fiery Maryam, he said, “I like to climb mountains.” He stared at her belly and said, “And I like to go down into valleys.” But with a frown on her face Maryam said in an angry voice, “I see you’re an idle fellow, content only with words without climbing mountains or going down into valleys.”
Fuad was now convinced women had changed. They had become warped and unfit for virile men. He married Raifa, who had dug deep into the earth for a man who would marry her, but they had not been married one week when she asked for a divorce. Her friends found that strange and pressed her to tell them the particulars, but she smiled slyly and said her husband was fond of standing in front of the mirror. She said she heard thunder and saw lightning, but no rain fell.