HOT & COLD, Poured acrylic painting by Cheryl Batavia
What a Strange Creature is Man!
A satyr rescued a freezing man and took him to his cave. The man began to blow on his fingers. The satyr inquired why the man was blowing on his fingers. “My hands are cold and I want to warm them up,” said the man.
The satyr prepared the man a bowl of steaming soup, and was surprised when the man began to blow on the soup. “Why are you blowing on the soup? “asked the satyr. “I am trying to cool the soup,” the man replied.
“What a strange creature is man!” the satyr remarked. “He blows hot and cold with the same breath!”
Retelling of an ancient Greek/ Roman myth. A satyr is a drunken, lustful woodland god with the lower body of a horse or goat and the upper body of a man. I read this myth in Illustrated Classics when I was about eight or nine years old. I have always remembered this story and gradually came to understand the meaning as I grew older.
What does the saying, “What a strange creature is man! He blows hot and cold with the same breath.” mean to you?
Gulf Coast Poet 