Aesop's Fables

A Workman, cutting wood by the side of a river, accidentally let his ax drop into a deep pool. Being thus deprived of the means of his livelihood, he sat down on the bank and lamented his hard fate. Mercury appeared and asked the cause of his tears. After the Workman told him of his misfortune, Mercury plunged into the stream and, bringing up a golden ax, asked if that was the one he had lost. When he said that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a second time, returned with a silver ax in his hand, and again asked the Workman if it was his. When the Workman said it was not, Mercury dived into the pool for the third time and brought up the ax that had been lost. The Workman claimed it and expressed his joy at its recovery. Mercury, pleased with his honesty, gave him the golden and silver axes in addition to his own. When the Workman returned to his house, he told his companions all that had happened. One of them at once resolved to try to secure the same good fortune for himself. He ran to the river, threw his ax into the pool on purpose at the same place, and sat down on the bank to weep. Mercury appeared to him just as he had hoped he would, and, having learned the cause of his grief, he plunged into the stream and brought up a golden ax, asking if he had lost it. The Workman seized it greedily and declared that it was truly the very same ax that he had lost. Mercury, displeased at his dishonesty, not only took away the golden ax but also refused to recover for him the ax he had thrown into the pool.