Blowing Hot and Cold

This is really getting annoying. I am thankful now that the weather turned cold again so I don't have to feel bad about dragging around! This time it's a head cold, nothing serious but no fun either.

The funny thing about a cold is that while it is called a cold, I feel hot. My head feels warm, my breath heated. At the same time, my feet and hands are cold and I want to bundle up in a sweatshirt and blanket and huddle by the fire.

Which reminded me of this story from Aesop:

Hot and Cold with the Same Breath

A man and his new friend once sat down to drink a toast to their friendship. It was a cold winter day, and the man put his fingers to his mouth and blew on them.

"Why are you blowing on your fingers?" the friend asked.

"My fingers are so cold, I am blowing on them to warm them up," the man explained.

Later that day the man and his friend sat down to eat. Steam rose from their bowls; the food was very hot. So the man held the bowl to his lips and blew across the soup.

"What are you doing?" asked the friend. "Are you trying to warm your soup? I assure you, it is boiling hot already!"

"Oh no," said the first man, "I am blowing on it to cool it down. It is so hot it would burn my mouth."

"Well, I cannot remain friends with you," said the second man. "One who blows hot and cold with the same breath is not one to be trusted."

Have you heard the saying, "he blows hot one minute and cold the next"?  Now you know its source.

I am off to have some more chicken noodle soup. I made a new pot today as it seems to be the only thing I really want to eat right now. So soup, and tea, and fire, and a good book are my prescription for the rest of today.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Good Old Aesop: The Man and the Snake

Aesop certainly knew how to tell a tale, and how to pinpoint human behavior. This tale, which has been told and re-told in many cultures (some probably even pre-dating Aesop--he got his tales from somewhere, after all!) was mentioned by a storytelling friend recently, and it seems apt for our times.

The Man and the Snake

 A man was out walking one cold winter day when he heard a rustling sound nearby. he investigated and found a snake, curled up near a rock. 

The snake looked up and spoke. "I am about to die. It is too cold for me. Please, put me under your coat and warm me."

"No," said the man. "I know you. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite will kill me."

"No," said the snake. I promise I will not bite you if you will save my life."

Finally the man gave in. He picked up the snake and tucked it into his jacket, where the heat from his body would provide warmth. When he reached his home he walked over to the fireplace and unbuttoned his jacket. As he pulled the snake out the snake struck, sinking its fangs deep into the man's arm.

"What did you do?" the man cried. "Why did you bite me? I saved your life! I trusted you!"

"Ah," said the snake. as the man laid dying on the floor. "Yes, you saved me. But you knew I was a snake when you picked me up."

This story is often told by storytellers as a warning against drugs and other potential addictions and addictive behaviors.

There are many other versions of this story. Here are a half dozen of online sources:

Wikipedia offers a wide variety of versions of the story.

Fables of Aesop includes this story along with many more.

First People website has a Cherokee tale with the same theme.

Storyteller Mike Lockett offers his adaptation of the story on his site.

The venerable Snopes explores a few variants with different creatures in the starring roles. 

There's even a song by Johnny Rivers about this fable:

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Good Ol' Aesop: The Rabbit With Many Friends

I found this little story in my files. I adapted it from Aesop for a participation story. It's easy to tell with children because of the repetition.

Once in the days before we were born, there lived a Rabbit was very popular with the other animals. All of them claimed to be her friend. One day she heard dogs running and barking and she was afraid.

“My friends will help me escape!” she thought. She hurried up to the horse.
“Please carry me on your back, away from these ferocious dogs!”

But the horse said, “I am very busy. You have so many friends, one of them will surely help.”

The rabbit ran to the bull. “Please chase away these terrible dogs with your big, sharp horns.”

The bull replied, “I am very busy. You have so many friends, one of them will surely help.”

Poor Rabbit! She ran as fast as she could to the goat.

“Please goat, you have good horns. Chase these dogs away for me!”

The goat said, “I am very busy. You have so many friends, one of them will surely help.”

The terrified Rabbit scurried to the ram, who was grazing with the other sheep. “Ram, please help me! Those dogs will eat me!”

The ram thought about it, but he knew that dogs sometimes ate sheep as well as rabbits. He said, “I am very busy. You have so many friends, one of them will surely help.”

The Rabbit ran to her last friend, the baby calf. "Please help me, calf!"

The calf thought, “I am so small, and if those bigger animals could not help, how can I?” So he said, “I am very busy. You have so many friends, one of them will surely help.”

By this time the hounds were very close near. Rabbit cried,
“Sometimes having many friends is worse than having no friends at all!”

And she took off running as fast as she could, popped into her rabbit hole and escaped—all by herself.

Good Ol' Aesop: The Peasant and the Apple Tree

I found this story by accident, and since we just started some hives, it caught my interest. Trust Aesop to cut to the truth of the matter.

A peasant had growing in his garden an apple tree which bore no fruit at all. It served only as a place for crickets, grasshoppers and sparrows to get out of the heat. The little creatures often sat chirping in the tree's branches.

Disappointed that the tree produced no fruit, the man decided to cut it down.

"Please don't destroy our tree," the grasshoppers said. "Where will we sit and chirp if there is no tree here?"

"Please don't cut this tree," begged the birds. "We sit in its branches and sing to you every day. Would you not miss our songs?"

"Please leave the tree alone," said the crickets. "We rest on its bark and make our music to lighten your work. Where will we go if you cut the tree?"

"No," said the man. "The tree gives me nothing. Why should I keep it in my garden? At least its wood will warm me in my fires this winter."

The man picked up his axe and gave a mighty swing. He quickly discovered that other creatures were living in the hollow center of the tree: honeybees! The large swarm buzzed angrily as it protected its large store of honey.

"Aha!" said the man. "This tree is worth keeping after all. Who knew that it contained such treasure?" He picked up his axe and left the tree standing, and its inhabitants continued to sing, chirp and buzz.

Good Ol' Aesop: Mice in Council

My favorite collection of Aesop's fables are in an old, old book, so old there's no copyright date and the price written inside the cover in pencil is 12 1/2--is that cents? It's falling apart, I'm afraid, and I must handle it very carefully. But there is something special about reading the stories from old yellow pages, the spine stitching clearly visible on each page.

(Illustration from Joseph Jacob's collection of Aesop fables, illustrated by Richard Heighway, 1894)

This story is one of my favorites. I've edited to update the language, but the moral remains the same:

Once upon a time, the Mice were terribly persecuted by a Cat. A meeting was called to search for a resolution to the problem, and to decide on the best method of getting rid of the continuing annoyance.

Many plans were discussed and rejected. Finally a young Mouse stood up and spoke.

"I propose," he said, looking around to be sure he had everyone's attention, "I propose that a Bell be hung around the Cat's neck. A Bell would give us warning of the Cat's approach, and we will be able to escape." He sat down, feeling very pleased with himself for his wonderful idea.

The other Mice were impressed. To be so young and yet so wise! They agreed unanimously that this was the best solution to the problem.

An old Mouse had been sitting quietly, listening to the discussion. When the applause that followed the young Mouse's idea had died down, he stood up stiffly.

"It is a most excellent idea," he said slowly. "I am sure it will be very successful. We will always be able to hear the Cat's approach. I have only one question:

"Who will bell the Cat?"

No one had an answer to that.

(from the Jacob's book)

Some sources of Aesop Fables online:

Aesopica

Joseph Jacob's Aesop

Aesop's Fables from UMass

Apparently he also went to MIT

And the University of Virginia

Using Puppets to Tell Stories

A story leads the listener into an imaginary world, peopled by the imagination and the storyteller’s words. So why intrude into this world with puppets and other props? It's a good question, and there are several good answers. As a teller who likes to use puppets sometimes when tleling stories with children, I've found that puppets add a new dimension to some stories, and can provide an avenue for dramatic play if I incorporate audience members into the telling, as I often do.

There are other reasons for using puppets. Learning occurs in many ways. Some people are auditory learners, some are sensory, others are kinesthetic/tactile. In an audience of three children, a storyteller may face three discrete learning styles.

Puppets are visually attractive; they can move, speak or act, reaching each child’s individual learning style. A puppet varies the mental stimulus, thereby keeping attention focused for longer periods of time. A puppet can demonstrate an emotion that might not be clear to a child in the story's text, and can act out words that are beyond vocabulary levels of young audiences. Puppets also:

1. Give color, texture and dimension to story characters and actions.

2. Make a story come alive the same way pictures in books do

3. Provide visual clues to the story’s meaning while presenting the tale in a new format.

4. Add dialogue to a story and provide opportunities for audience interaction, creating a multi-dimensional experience.

5. Connect the storyteller with hard-to-reach audiences.

Here is an example of a story that can be told with a puppet. It's short, dramatic, focuses on one character, and has good dialogue. This is one of Aesop's fables--many other fables from Aesop are also adaptable for telling with a puppet. I am providing the "bones" of the tale--it's up to the teller to flash it out into a full story!

The Bat, the Birds and the Beasts

Once there was a big argument between the birds and the beasts. A battle was about to begin.

Bat hesitated, not sure which side to join.

The birds said: "Come fight with us."

Bat said, “I am a beast, not a bird.”

The beasts said: Come fight with us."

Bat said, “I am a bird, not a beast.”

Luckily peace was made and there was no battle.

Bat wanted to celebrate with birds, but the birds said, “You are not one of us. You are a beast.”

So Bat went to celebrate with the beasts, but the beasts told him, “You are a bird, not a beast. We will tear you to pieces.”

"Now I see," said Bat. "I must know who and what I am if I want to have friends."

The Golden Axe:An Adapted Fable from Aesop

I like telling this story. The images are great, and the moral is simple: don't be greedy, and don't lie. Aesop was one good storyteller.



A woodsman was cutting a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe glanced off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water.



"Oh what shall I do? That axe is how I earn my living. Without it I will starve!"



As he stood by the water's edge trying to see his axe in the murky water, a woods fairy appeared and asked him the reason for his distress.



"Oh, is that all? I can get your axe for you."



The fairy dove into the river and instead of the woodsman's old work axe, brought up a golden axe.



"Is this the one you lost?"



The woodsman shook his head. "No, it is not. I wish that it was. Mine was not so fine as that one. But mine was a good, sturdy axe, well-suited to my work."



The fairy dove a second time,and came up with a silver axe.



"Is this your lost axe?" the fairy asked.



"No, that is not mine either," said the woodsman.



Once more the fairy dove into the river, and this time brought up the missing axe.



'Thank you!" said the woodsman. "Now I can return to work. You have been very kind to me."



"You are an honest man," said the fairy. "You shall be rewarded for your good heart. You may keep all three axes." The fairy dove back into the water before the astonished man had time to say a word.



Later that day the woodsman told his story to some friends. Now one of these men was jealous and greedy; he thought he might get a couple of gold and silver axes for himself.



So he went to cut a tree at the edge of the river, and of course he managed to drop his axe into the water. The fairy appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe was lost, he dived and brought up a golden axe.



Without waiting for the fairy to ask him if it was his or not, the man cried, "That's my axe! Give it to me!" He reached out to take the shining tool.



"This is not your axe and you know it," said the fairy. "You are a dishonest, greedy man. You will get no axe at all from me."



The fairy dove back into the river, leaving the man standing on the bank.



For his dishonesty, this fellow now had no axe at all.



(adapted from Aesop's Fables by Susanna Holstein 10.2007)