Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables, Part B

From Aesop's Fables unit I choose stories about humans and Gods.  I choose The Man and the Satyr as well as Hot and Cold.  The first fable is in The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs and the second is from The Baby's Own Aesop by W. J. Linton and illustrated by Walter Crane.

Image from Fables of Aesop

The Man and the Satyr (Jacobs 56)A Man loses his way and a Satyr finds him.  Man blows on his hands to warm them but then blows on his porridge to cool them. The Satyr is like what?  You’re weird and gotta be bad news if you can blow both hot and cold.

Hot and Cold (Crane 44)
It is such a cute little rhyme and really just echoes the story of the man and the satyr.

Brainstorming:
Satyr squinted his eyes when Man blew on his hands.  The flesh was pink and his bones were shivering all throughout the body connected to those hands.
“What are you doing?”
Man smiled.  It was soft as if he had been waiting for Satyr to ask.
“I am warming my hands.  They are numb from the cold.”
Satyr asked no more questions.  They came to the satyr’s home, which was not much.  It was made from the hill, a hole dug deep to make his few rooms.  Satyr ushered his guest inside, although he was filled with reluctance.  Man stepped into the home with the grace of one who owned all they surveyed.  When their stomachs rumbled, Satyr fixed the pair some soup.  When he handed a bowl to Man, the other’s brows drew together and he brought the steaming bowl to his mouth.
“What are you doing?  It is already hot!” Satyr exclaimed in shock.
Man laughed as if he had been waiting for Satyr to say that.
“I am cooling the soup.”
Satyr shook his head, chest puffed up with air, and shooed Man from his chair…


The Man is really a Dragon who can breathe fire and ice!  The Satyr is now faced with an insulted Dragon, who is demanding apologies in the form of the Satyr joining him at his mountain – as a servant!  Satyr is annoyed that his feelings were correct; no one who can blow both hot and cold is good news!

Artwork by Kukon

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