Honesty is the best policy
Honesty is the best policy
Once there
lived a woodcutter. He was very poor but honest. He lived on the bank of
a river near a Jungle. He used to cut wood in the Jungle. By doing this
hard task, he earned very little and somehow maintained his family. One
day he went to the jungle to cut wood. While he was cutting wood, all
on a sudden the axe fell into the river. There was strong current in the river.
The woodcutter tried heart and soul to find out his axe but failed. It
was the only means of his livelihood. He was too poor to buy another
axe. He knew it very well that without this axe he and his family
members would starve. Thinking this he sat motionless and began to cry
like a child. A fairy heard him cry, She decided to test him. So, she
came to him and asked him why he was crying: The wood cutter told her
about his miserable condition and asked her if she could help him.
Hearing this. the fairy felt pity for him and wanted to help him. But as
she to test him, she dived into the river and returned with a golden
axe. Showing the golden axe she asked him if that was his axe. As he was
honest, he told her that was not his. The fairy again dived into the
water and came back with a silver axe and asked him
if that was his axe. The man again replied in the negative. The fairy
went into the river water for the third time and returned with the real
axe. Seeing his lost axe, the wood cutter become very happy and told
her that was his axe. He thanked her and showed his gatefulness to her.
The fairy was also very happy to see the honesty of the poor woodcutter
and wished to reward him. She offered him all the three axes as reward
and forbade him to say 'No'. The woodcutter happily accepted the award.
