The Honest Woodcutter

The Honest Woodcutter The story you will be listening to today is The Honest Woodcutter and is being read to you by Daniel. A poor woodcutter was cutting down a tree near the edge of a deep pool in the forest. It was late in the day and the woodcutter was tired. He had been working since sunrise and his strokes were not so sure as they had been early that morning. So it happened that his axe slipped and flew out of his hands into the pool. The woodcutter was extremely anxious and sad. The axe was all he possessed with which to make a living, and he did not have enough money buy a new one. As he stood wringing his hands and weeping, a magical mermaid suddenly appeared and asked the woodcutter what the trouble was. The woodcutter told her what had happened, and straightway the kind mermaid dived into the pool. When she came up again she held a wonderful golden axe. "Is this your axe?" The mermaid asked the Woodcutter. "No," answered the honest woodcutter, "that is not my axe.” The mermaid laid the golden axe on the bank and sprang back into the pool. This time she brought up an axe of silver, but the woodcutter declared again that his axe was just an ordinary one with a wooden handle. The mermaid dived down for the third time, and when she came up again she had the very axe that had been lost. The poor woodcutter was overjoyed that his axe had been found and was dancing and shouting with glee. He could not thank the kind mermaid enough. “Thank you so much!” He said. The mermaid was greatly pleased with the Woodcutter's honesty. "I admire your honesty," she said, "and as a reward you may have all three axes, the gold and the silver as well as your own." The happy woodcutter returned to his home with his treasures, and soon the story of his good fortune was known to everybody in the village. Now there were several other woodcutters in the village who believed that they could easily win the same good fortune. They hurried out into the woods, one here, one there, and hiding their axes in the bushes, pretended they had lost them. Then they wept and wailed and called on the mermaid to help them. And indeed, the mermaid did appear, first to this one, then to that one. To each one she showed an axe of gold, and each one eagerly claimed it to be the one they had lost. But the mermaid did not give them the golden axe. Oh no! Instead she gave them each a hard bonk over the head with it and sent them home. And when they returned next day to look for their own axes (each suffering a massive pounding headache from their injuries), the axes were nowhere to be found. And, the lesson for today’s story is: Honesty is the best policy. The End