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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

563. HERMES, THE SCULPTOR AND HIS DREAM
Perry 307 (Babrius 30)

A sculptor was selling a white marble statue of Hermes which two men wanted to buy: one of them, whose son had just died, wanted it for the tombstone, while the other was a craftsman who wanted to consecrate the statue to the god himself. It was getting late, and the sculptor had not yet sold the statue. He agreed that he would show the statue again to the men when they came back the next morning. In his sleep, the sculptor saw Hermes himself standing at the Gate of Dreams. The god spoke to him and said, 'Well, my fate hangs in the balance: it is up to you whether I will become a dead man or a god!'


Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.