The Honest Woodcutter

There lived a woodcutter in a certain village. He was very simple and honest. One day the woodcutter was cutting wood near a deep pond. At the time of cutting wood, suddenly, his axe fell into the deep pond. As the pond was very deep, he cannot regain his axe from the fond. The woodcutter didn’t know how to swim or dive. So, the woodcutter was sitting there sadly.

Then a wonderful thing happened there. A beautiful fairy appeared before him. The fairy asked him in a sweet voice, “Why are you so sad man? Why are you not cutting wood?” The woodcutter sorrowfully replied, “My axe has fallen into the deep pond. As I don’t have another axe, I cannot cut wood now.” The fairy then showed him a silver axe and asked him if it was his axe. The woodcutter saw the axe and said, “It’s not my axe.” The fairy again showed him another axe made of gold and asked, “Is this the axe that you lost?” The woodcutter said, “No, it’s not. My axe is made of iron. The axe was very old.” Finally, the fairy showed him the lost axe with a wooden handle. Then the woodcutter happily said that it was his axe. However, the fairy became very pleased. Being pleased, she gave him the gold and the silver axes too. Then the woodcutter became rich and began to live more happily.



Moral : “Honesty is the best policy”