In a small village by the mountains, lived three young men who not only were great friends but shared the same affliction, they were all bald. These men were often teased by other villagers, it came to a point that they decided to do something about their baldness. In the woods, lived an old hermit who was reputed to be very wise and the men decided to seek his counsel. The hermit advised them of the existence of a pond on the other side of the mountains, he said:
"You go to this pond and dip you heads once in the water and you will be rewarded with thick hair that will be the envy of every man in the village. Listen carefully do it only once!"
The three men, overjoyed with the news, thanked the hermit profusely and headed towards the pond immediately. It took them three days and three nights to reach their destination. At the sight of the pond, they rushed and dipped their heads and true to the hermit's words, each now had a full head of hair!
The men were admiring each other when the oldest one in the group said:
"I do not understand why the old man said to dip our heads once, is he afraid that we will be too handsome! Why don't we dip again so that we will be the three best looking men in the village and all the girls will fall love with us!"
At these words, they all dipped again and to their dismay, lost all their newly-acquired hair. They tried again and every time they came out, the men looked worst than before. Desperate, they ran back to the hermit who scolded them for their greediness and chased them out! The men did not have any choice but to return to their village where once again became subjects of ridicule.
