Week 4 Story: The Woodcutter's Axe

 A Tale of an Honest Man

Once there lived a simple man who was a woodcutter by trade. Our Woodcutter would go into the forest near his village every morning and fell a number of trees which he would then log and sell for his livelihood. He was content with his lot, despite the fact he always lived near the edge of poverty. He sustained himself well, but one bad season could be irreparable. There were a number of other woodcutters in the village with whom he was quite good friends, despite their obvious disdain for their profession and less-than-desirable reputation as gamblers and cheats. Notwithstanding his company kept, our Woodcutter was a good man who enjoyed his life.

One blustery autumn morning, he took his axe in hand and made for the forest. The axe had been his only means at maintaining his quality of life since he had been a youth. The old, weathered handle was simple oak, but was smoothed with years of usage and was as familiar to him as his own hands. Once he arrived in the section of the forest he was to begin cutting, our Woodcutter took a few moments to scout the few trees he wished to fell that day. Having taken a moment to plan, he set to work. And work he did, all day he worked diligently felling the trees and deftly moving to the next. He worked until the sun began to lower on the western horizon. 

He was nearly finished with his final tree at this point and set himself to finish it quickly before the sun set, for he had not expected the chill weather and had not dressed well or brought any gloves. As a result, his hands were quite cold and his grip occasionally slipped on the handle of the axe. Hurrying to finish, he began throwing heavy strokes at the final tree. It was on one particularly powerful strike that our Woodcutter allowed his grip to loosen slightly and, with a cry of distress, let the axe fly off through the trees. Then, with an even greater cry from the Woodcutter, it fell with a loud splash into a deep pool of water.

      

Seeing his only means at providing food and shelter for himself disappear beneath the chilly waters, the Woodcutter began to cry loudly into the forest. He could not believe that the world was so cruel as to take his livelihood from him in such an unceremonious way. His crying was so loud that even the gods heard him. One of these gods, by the name of Mercury, came down to see what was causing such a terrible noise. Seeing the Woodcutter knelt by the edge of the deep pool with trees felled all around him, the god approached the man and asked what had happened to cause him such despair.

Upon hearing the story, and the man's numerous proclamations of his devotion and austerity in life, the god had an idea. He told the man he would retrieve the axe and immediately dove into the water. Mere moments later he returned with a golden axe and proffered it to the man. Our noble Woodcutter told the god that this axe was not his. Pleased, the god lay the golden axe on the bank and dove into the water again. This time, he returned with an axe of solid silver. Still keeping honest, the Woodcutter said that this axe was not his either. With a wicked, pleased grin on his face, Mercury dove a third time. And this time he returned with the simple wooden and iron axe which the man loved so dearly.

With an excited shout, our Woodcutter told the god that this indeed was his axe. Having tested the man's veracity, the god proffered all three axes to our humble Woodcutter; his own so that he may return to work and the ones of precious metals so that he need not work as hard in the future. Beside himself with joy and disbelief, our Woodcutter repeatedly thanked the god and began the trek back to his humble shack. He stopped there long enough to deposit the axes and made his way for the tavern where he often supped with the other woodcutters. There, he told them the story of the day and, they, knowing the man to be truthful to a fault, believed him. However, instead of being happy for their friend, they were jealous of his newfound wealth and sought to find similar prosperity for themselves.

With avarice in their hearts, the other woodcutters took to the forest early the next morning. They tried to recreate the fortune of our humble Woodcutter by hiding their axes under bushes or in the hollows of trees and crying loudly of their misfortune into the forest. Mercury descended to each of these woodcutters but, being well-versed with trickery and thievery, he saw their desires. However, he would play along until the point he proffered the golden axe to the woodcutter. When they would exclaim that the gracious god had found their lost axe, he would confront them about their avarice and treachery. At that point, Mercury would beat the men in the woods and tell them to never return to the wood again, for our humble Woodcutter was now the master of these woods and all that was within them was now his by right.

Author's Note

The original story did not go into near as much detail as this retelling, and that is primarily what was changed to the story. I fleshed out the motivations, and backstories of the characters and added more detail to the events. The only changes outside that to the original story was that I added more reward to that which had been given to the Woodcutter. In the original, his only reward was the golden and silver axes. By adding his lordship I wanted to denote that not only was he a good and truthful man, he was greatly more so than those who he shared his life with. In a setting such as that, it is all the more noteworthy when one lives well while living in proximity to those who do not. Thank you for reading!

Image Source 1: Pixibay

Image Source 2: Snappy Goat 

Story Source: Aesop's fables, illustrated by Milo Winter