Life Skills & Value Education – CLASS-I – UNIT- 2 The Honest Woodcutter

Once upon a time there lived two woodcutters, Raghu and Hira. They were neighbours and friends. Though Raghu was poor, he was an honest and hardworking man. Hira, on the other hand, was lazy and mean. Both earned their living by cutting woods in the nearby forest.

Once on a very hot summer day, Raghu took his axe and went to the forest in search of wood. He found a big oak tree near the riverside. Raghu started to chop the wood. As he was cutting, the axe slipped from his hand and fell into the river. The river was very deep, so Raghu couldn’t get into the water to take his axe out. Oh no! What have I done? Without the axe what will I do? Oh God, please help me,” Raghu felt sad and began crying.

Suddenly, a fairy appeared in front of him.
“Why are you crying, woodcutter?” she asked.
“I dropped my axe into the river,” Raghu told the fairy about how his axe had fallen into the water.

“Don’t worry; I will get you your axe,” said the fairy and dove into the water, and after sometime she reappeared with a golden axe in her
hands.
Raghu was surprised to see such a beautiful shining axe, but he refused to accept it.The fairy again disappeared into the water. This time she came with a silver axe and gave it to the woodcutter. Raghu again refused saying that his was not a silver axe. The fairy again dove into the water, and this time she came out with the woodcutter’s iron axe.
“Yes, this is my axe,” Raghu beamed with joy and happily accepted his
axe and thanked the fairy.
“Raghu, I am very pleased with your honesty. Take all the three axes as a reward for telling the truth.” The fairy rewarded the gold and silver axes too to the woodcutter.

Raghu couldn’t believe his good luck and went back excitedly to share the news with his wife. On the way home, he met Hira and told him about the whole incident. Hira, who was lazy and wanted to become rich without working hard, went to the forest next morning with his iron axe. He came to the riverside and climbed the tree. Without even taking the effort to cut the wood, he dropped his axe on purpose in the river and soon started crying.

“Oh fairy, please help me get my axe back.”
The fairy appeared and asked, “Why are you crying, woodcutter?”
“My axe fell into the river. Please help me,” Hira replied with untrue tears in his eyes. The fairy understood greedy Hira’s plan. She decided to teach him a lesson. The fairy went inside the river and took out Hira’s
iron axe first.
“Take your axe, Hira,” the fairy told Hira. He looked surprised as he was expecting a golden axe, and so he said, “This is not my iron axe.”
The fairy then took out the silver axe, but Hira refused to take that too because he wanted the golden axe. When the fairy got the golden axe, Hira jumped with joy.

“Yes, yes! The golden axe is mine,” Hira lied, which made the fairy angry.
“Why are you lying to me? You should be punished for being dishonest.”
Saying this, the fairy disappeared with all the three axes, leaving Hira stunned.
“Oh fairy, please forgive me for lying. Please give me my iron axe back,” Hira kept on pleading, but it all went unheard.

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