Aesop's Fables (Joseph Jacobs)
Jacobs 56. The Man and the Satyr (Perry
35)
A Man had lost his way in a wood one bitter winter's night. As he was
roaming about, a Satyr came up to him, and finding that he had lost his
way, promised to give him a lodging for the night, and guide him out of
the forest in the morning. As he went along to the Satyr's cell, the Man
raised both his hands to his mouth and kept on blowing at them. "What
do you do that for?" said the Satyr.
"My hands are numb with the cold," said the Man, "and
my breath warms them."
After this they arrived at the Satyr's home, and soon the Satyr put a
smoking dish of porridge before him. But when the Man raised his spoon
to his mouth he began blowing upon it. "And what do you do that for?"
said the Satyr.
"The porridge is too hot, and my breath will cool it."
"Out you go," said the Satyr. "I will have nought to do
with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath."
The
Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by
Richard Heighway (1894). The page images come from Google
Books. The digitized text comes from Project
Gutenberg. You can purchase this inexpensive Dover edition, The
Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs from amazon.com.
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