As the 4th of July fast approaches most of the country is sweating its way through an early summer heat wave. It's understandably a common conversation topic. Aesop put in fable form something I recently talked about from a scientific point of view without knowing it.
Searching Aesop in Project Gutenberg produces 39 volumes. I wanted something with an illustration for the story and chose Aesop's Fables: A New Revised Version From Original Sources with Upwards of 200 Illustrations by Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset and Others.
Like most Aesop fables, how you tell the story is always open to the storyteller. Modern storytelling omits the moral, expecting the listener to form their own conclusion. That's not usually the case with the older versions available in Public Domain. If you want a one sentence moral, this is a fairly basic telling of both the fable and the moral. While the moral has nothing to do with the heat we're experiencing, it is interesting that our breath not only carries heat and cold, but stories, too!
The Man and the Satyr.
A Man and a Satyr once formed a bond of alliance. One very cold wintry day, as they talked together, the Man put his fingers to his mouth and blew on them. On the Satyr inquiring the reason, he told him that he did it to warm his hands. Later on in the day they sat down to eat, the food prepared being quite scalding. The Man raised one of his dishes towards his mouth and blew in it. On the Satyr again inquiring the reason, he said that he did it to cool the meat. "I can no longer consider you as a friend," said the Satyr; "a fellow who with the same breath blows hot and cold I could never trust."
A man who talks for both sides is not to be trusted by either.
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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.
At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience. Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week. This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here. (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.) Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
