Contrasting Version

Now I would like to follow that with Laura Gibb’s translation. I like this translation because it combines aspects of the original Greek and Roman texts. She keeps much of the imagery and detail of the original versions. The difference between this and the more widespread versions is obvious.

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

368. THE SATYR AND HIS GUEST
As winter grew rough with heavy frost and every field stiffened as the ice grew hard, a traveler was brought to a halt by thickening fog. He could no longer see the trail in front of him, making it impossible to go on. A satyr, one of the guardians of the woods, is said to have taken pity on the man and offered him shelter in his cave. This child of the fields was then amazed by the man and terrified by his prodigious powers. First, in order to restore his frozen limbs to life's activities, the man thawed his hands by blowing hot air on them from his mouth. Then, when the man had begun to get warm and was eager to enjoy his host's extravagant hospitality (for the satyr wanted to show the man how country folk lived, offering him the forest's finest products), he brought out a full bowl of warm wine whose heat could spread throughout the man's body and dispel the winter's chill. But the man hesitated to touch the steaming cup with his lips and this time his mouth emitted a cooling breath. The man's host shook with terror, dumbfounded at this double portent. The satyr drove his guest out into the woods and ordered him to be on his way. 'Do not let any man ever come near my cave again,' said the satyr, 'if he can breathe in two different ways from the very same mouth!'

Note: Satyrs were mythical creatures who were part human and part animal. They were usually represented as men with the legs and tail of a goat, or sometimes the tail of a horse.