Mercury and the Axe - Part I - Honesty is rewarded
Dear Kids,
We've always been told that Honesty is the best policy. Here's one more example of how honesty is rewarded:
Long ago in Greece there was once a man who was cutting wood by a river when his axe slipped from his hand and fell into the water. The river was deep and the current ran fast.
Hard as he looked the man could see no sign of his axe. It had disappeared forever beneath the swirling waters. Or so he thought. There was nothing he could do. As he sat on the bank, he thought of his lost axe and began to cry.
Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, happened to be passing by and saw the man crying by the riverside. He stopped and asked the man what had happened. When he was told, Mercury felt sorry for the man, so he dived into the fast flowing river. Soon he came up with a golden axe in his hand, and asked the man whether this was the axe he had lost.
'No,' said the woodcutter, 'this is not the axe I lost.'
So Mercury dived down again, and this time came up with a silver axe. 'No,' said the man, 'this is not mine either.'
So the winged god went down for a third time, and came up with the woodcutter's own axe. 'That's the one!' he said, and he thanked Mercury for all the trouble he had taken to find his lost axe. Mercury was so delighted with the honesty of the man that he made him a present of the gold and silver axes as well.
Happy reading!
Uncle N
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