The Golden Axe

 Hello everyone,

    The story that I am going to tell you today is based in Europe. I do not know where exactly. I had read this story when I was a little girl and I don’t even remember where I read it.

    It’s about a very poor woodcutter. He loses his axe in the river and then a fairy brings him a golden axe. Read on and find out whether he was honest or not.

The Golden Axe

    Once upon a time, there was a very poor old woodcutter. He went to the forest everyday and cut wood with a very old and broken axe. He cut wood with great difficulty with it. The poor man had no choice. He would sell whatever little wood he was able to cut and buy his food with the money he got. The money was so little that he was hardly able to buy enough food for himself let alone buy a new axe.

    One day, when he was cutting wood he suddenly felt so hungry and so tired that he decided to sit down and rest his aching arms before he continued with his work. Now as he sat down on the bank of a river to rest, his axe fell slipped from his hand and fell into the river. The woodcutter was devastated! He did not know what to do. So he sat down sadly on a tree stump with his head in his hands and began to think what to do.

     Suddenly, he heard a rustling and he looked up. To his utmost surprise he saw a fairy standing there!

    The woodcutter blinked his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real.

    “I am the wood fairy,” she said, in a very sweet voice and then asked, “Why are you so sad?”

    “Oh, nothing,” he replied, “It’s just that my axe has fallen into the river and I don’t know how to get it out.”

    “Is that all?” she asked, smiling at him.

    “Yes,” replied the woodcutter.

    “Well, I seem to have found an axe,” she said, and showed him a golden axe and asked. “Is this yours?”

    The old woodcutter looked at it and said at once, “No, it isn’t.”

    Then, the fairy showed him a silver axe.

    “Is this yours?” she asked him again.

    “No, it isn’t,” the woodcutter replied again at once.

    Then, the fairy showed him his old broken axe!

    “Is this your axe?” she asked.

    “Yes, it is,” replied the woodcutter, joyfully.

    The fairy looked at him and then she said, “You are a very honest man, and because of that you can have both the golden axe and the silver axe.”

    The woodcutter opened his mouth to thank her but she had already disappeared.

    The woodcutter took all three axes and went home joyfully.

    From that day onwards he never had to work so hard any more.