The Woodcutter and his Axe
Rewritten by Soniya Tamang
The Woodcutter and his Axe
One day, a very poor woodcutter was chopping the trees in a deep forest. He had to cut the trees and make furniture to
sell so he could feed his family. The sun was scorching hot. He was tired and hungry. He decided to have his lunch on
the shore of the big lake. He sat down and started munching his food. After he’d finished eating, he got back to work.
His hands were getting sweaty. Then suddenly, the axe slipped out of his hands and fell into the lake. The woodcutter
couldn’t swim and get his axe so he sat down and started to cry. Just then he heard a splashing noise coming from the
lake. He opened his eyes and couldn’t believe them. There was a god covered in jewels sitting on a huge lily pad looking
straight at him! There was silence. Then, the god spoke.
“ I am the watergod and I have come to help you.” The woodcutter was thrilled to hear that. “My axe has fallen into the lake
and if I don’t have it my family will starve! If you’d help me, that’d be great!” the woodcutter sobbed.
“I will dive in and show you an axe. You will have to tell me if it is yours or not.” the watergod said. He dived in and seconds
later, he was back. He showed the woodcutter a beautiful axe made of gold. The woodcutter looked at it and said a direct ‘No’.
The watergod dived again and came up with another axe. This time it was made of silver. Still the woodcutter shook his head
and said ‘No’. Again the watergod dived in and brought another axe.
It was made of iron and it looked just like the woodcutter’s axe. The woodcutter nodded his head with delight and said
“That ones my axe! Oh I will never forget your help! Thank you my lord!”
The god smiled and said “ I am very proud of you. You didn’t take the precious ones with greed so as a reward I am
going to give you all three axes.”
And with that the woodcutter disappeared into the water and the woodcutter took his three axes and went home
happily ever after.