the story of the honest woodcutter
There was a poor woodcutter who would go to the forest to chop wood and sell it to earn money. He runs his house with that money. He had an ax with the help of which he used to cut trees.
One day he climbed a tree on the bank of the river and started cutting its branches. While chopping the twigs, suddenly the ax slipped from his hand and fell into the nearby river. The woodcutter had only one ax which fell into the river.
The flow of the river was very fast and that river was also very deep. That is why the woodcutter could not bring down the ax in the river. Thinking of this, he started crying while sitting on the bank of the river. He was now worried that how would he cut wood there and from where would he get the money to run his house?
While he was crying, the god of water appeared in front of him and asked him, "What is the matter man. why are you crying?"
The woodcutter wept and said, "I had only one ax. That ax has fallen in the river. Now how will I chop wood and run my house? I am sitting here crying because of this worry."
After hearing all this the god of water said to the woodcutter, "Don't you worry. I'll get your ax now."
Saying this the god of water went down to the river and came back from there. He had an ax in his hand but that ax was of gold. The god of water said to the woodcutter, "Here is your axe. Now you can do your job with it."
The woodcutter saw the gold ax and said to the water god, "Sorry, this is not my axe."
After hearing this the water god again went downstairs and brought another axe. This time the ax was of silver. The god of water said to the woodcutter, "Here is your ax, take it and start your work."
Seeing that silver ax, the woodcutter again said to the god of water, "Excuse me but this is also not my axe. My ax was made of iron with a wooden handle. This ax is of silver."
Hearing the woodcutter, the water god went down again and this time came back with an iron axe. The woodcutter said, "Yes, this is my axe. Thank you very much for bringing this to me. I am grateful to you."
The lumberjack was honest. Seeing the honesty of that woodcutter, the water god was very pleased and he gave the woodcutter an ax made of gold and silver. The god of water said to the woodcutter, "Take this, I am gifting you these two other axes because you are very honest."
The woodcutter took himself and the other two axes and went back to his house. On the way, he told all the people of the village what had happened to him in the forest.
Nearby was a greedy person who was listening to the honest woodcutter. Hearing about the gold and silver axes, he too went towards the forest. He climbed the same tree on which the honest woodcutter had climbed.
Climbing on top of the tree, the man pretended to chop wood and deliberately threw the ax into the river. After doing this he got down and started crying while sitting on the bank of the river. Then again the god of water appeared in front of him and in his hand was a golden axe. The god of water asked him, "Is this your ax for which you are crying so much?"
"Yes, it's my axe." The man got greedy and said to the god of water.
The gods of water had understood that that person was a greedy person and was doing dishonesty by getting greedy. That's why he left from there and that person had to return home empty handed. Now he didn't even have his ax.
Moral of the story - We should always be honest with others and by being greedy we can lose even what we have.
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