________________
DECEIT/HONESTY
The Honest Woodcutter
“What will I do?” the woodcutter cried. "I've lost my axe! How will I feed my children now?"
c hildren now?"
Just as he was talking to himself, a beautiful lady rose from the flowing river. She was the fairy of the river and had come to the surface when she heard the woodcutter's sad cries.
Once upon a time out in the green, silent woods near a rushing river that foamed and sparkled as it hurried along, a poor woodcutter worked hard to make a living for his family. Every day he would trudge into the forest with his strong, sharp axe over his shoulder.
“Why do you weep?" she asked kindly. The woodcutter told her what had happened. At once, the fairy sank beneath the flowing river and reappeared with an axe made of silver.
Is this the axe you lost?” she asked the woodcutter
He always whistled happily as he went because he was thinking that as long as he had his health and his axe he could earn enough to buy all the food his family needed.
One day he was cutting a large oak tree near the riverside. The chips flew fast at every stroke and the sound of the ringing axe echoed through the forest.
The woodcutter thought of all the fine things he could buy with all that silver! However, as the axe was not his he shook his head and answered, “My axe was made of metal and wood."
By and by, the woodcutter thought he would rest for lunch. He leaned his axe against the tree and turned to sit down. Just then he tripped over an old, gnarled root and before he could catch it his axe slid into the river! The poor woodcutter gazed into the river trying to look for the axe. But it was very deep in that part of the river. The river flowed over the axe.
The water fairy laid the silver axe on the riverbank and slid into the river again.
In a moment, she rose and showed the woodcutter another axe. “Maybe this one is yours?" she asked.
86
THE FIRST STEP OF JAINISM
For Private & Personal Use Only
Jäin educatior
a tionaf
www.ainelibrary.org
