The honesty of a poor wood cutter

Once there lived a poor wood-cutter. But he was very honest. Everyday he went out to cut wood in the jungle. He earned his livelihood by selling wood in the market. One day while he was cutting wood beside a river, suddenly his axe slipped out of his hand and fell into deep water and he grieved and began to weep bitterly.

His bitter cry drew the attention of the water-goddess. She rose up and asked him, “Why do you weep, good man?” The wood-cutter told her of his serious loss. The water-goddess took pity on him. She dived into the water and brought one golden axe and asked him, “Is this your axe?”

“No”, replied the wood-cutter.

Then the goddess again dived into the water and brought a silver axe. This time also the wood-cutter said that it was not his axe. So the water-goddess dived for the third time and brought the actual axe of the wood-cutter. The wood-cutter was very glad to get back his axe but his joy knew no bounds when the water-goddess gave him all the three axes.

A neighbour of the wood-cutter was very greedy. He heard all these and wanted to have a golden axe. In similar way he went to cut wood by the side of the river. While cutting wood he threw his axe willingly into water. The water-goddess came before him with a golden axe and said, “Is this yours?” He said, “Yes”. The goddess became very angry at his greed and dishonesty and disappeared. He lost his own axe and did not get any. Thus the wood-cutter was rewarded for his greed.