A woodcutter’s axe glances off a tree trunk and falls with a splash into the river, and he has no other one. As he sits grieving on the bank, Mercury appears beside him and dives into the water.
Once a woodcutter was chopping down a tree on the bank of a river. He swung hard, but the axe glanced off the trunk, flew out of his hands, and fell with a splash into the water.
The woodcutter stared down into the river. His axe was gone, and he didn’t have another one. He sat down on the bank and grieved over his loss.
Just then Mercury, the messenger of the gods, appeared beside him and asked the woodcutter why he was so unhappy.
“My axe has fallen into the river,” said the woodcutter, “and I’ll never get it back.”
Mercury felt sorry for him. He dived into the river, and when he came up again, he was holding an axe made of shining gold.
“Is this the axe you lost?” he asked.
“No, that isn’t mine,” said the woodcutter.
So the god dived a second time and came up with an axe made of silver.
“Is this the axe you lost?” he asked.
“No, that isn’t mine either,” said the woodcutter.
Once more Mercury dived, and this time he brought up a plain iron axe.
“Is this the axe you lost?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s mine!” cried the woodcutter. He was overjoyed to have it back, and he thanked Mercury with all his heart.
Mercury was so pleased with the man’s honesty that he gave him the golden axe and the silver axe as well.
The woodcutter went home happy and told his companions what had happened. One of them grew jealous of his good luck and decided to try his own. He went down to the river and began to chop at a tree on the bank, and before long he let his axe slip into the water on purpose.
Mercury appeared, just as before, and the man told him that his axe had fallen in. The god dived and came up with a golden axe.
The companion didn’t wait to be asked whether it was his. “That’s mine, that’s mine!” he cried, and he reached out to grab it.
But Mercury was disgusted by such a lie. He would not give the man the golden axe, and he would not dive for the man’s own axe either. So the companion went home with no axe at all.
Retold by Talerie from Aesop’s Fables: a new translation (opens in a new window) Public domain Copy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required. CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)