The
Woodcutter’s Three Axes
Ivan was so poor that the owned nothing expect the
axe he need to earn his living as a woodcutter.
One day, by a stroke of ill fortune, while he was
working on the ank of river, the blade of his axe flew off the handle and sank
in the river. Poor Ivan was desperately unhappy; now how could he cut the wood
which had always earned him the little food that he ate?
His heart felt signs were overheard by a strange,
old man. As soon as he was told what happened, the old man dived into the river
and reemerged a few moments later, holding up a golden hatchet.
“Is this the one you lost?” he asked. “No, that’s
not my hatchet,” Ivan replied.
The old man dived into the river again and came up
holding a silver hatchet. “No, that’s not mine either,” the woodcutter
confirmed. On the third occasion, the old man came out holding Ivan’s blade.
“Yess, that’s mine!” laughed the happy wood cutter.
“Take it. You owe me nothing for the help I have
given you. Rather, since you have shown yourself to be neither greedy nor
dishonest, you deserve to be rewarded. You can also keep both the golden and
the silver axes.”
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