Mercury and The Carpenter

Once upon time there was a poor carpenter who lived with his family near a deep river.

One day the carpenter was working by the river, when suddenly his axe fell into the river.

“Oh” he said to himself. “What can I do? I’ve lost my axe in the river and I don’t have any money to buy a new one.” Then he began to call for Mercury to help him.

Suddenly Mercury appeared and stood in front of the carpenter.

“What’s the matter?” asked the Mercury. “Why are you calling me?”

“Please help me, Mercury,” said the carpenter. “I’ve just dropped my axe into the river. I can’t buy a new one because I don’t have any money. I am very poor.”

“I’ll help you,” said the Mercury and he dived into the river. In just a moment he came up with a beautiful axe made of gold.

“Is this it?” he asked. The carpenter is an honest man. He shook his head.

“No, my axe isn’t made of gold. It’s just an ordinary one.”

The mercury dived into the river again and he brought a beautiful axe made of silver.

“Is this it?” asked the Mercury.

“No, this isn’t either,” answered the carpenter.

Then Mercury dived into the river for the third time and he brought an axe made of iron.

“Oh, this is mine,” said the carpenter happily. “Thank you very much.”

You are an honest man, so I’ll give you these three axe,” said the Mercury.

The carpenter was very pleased. He thanked Mercury and went home. The next day he sold the gold and silver axe. He got a great deal of money. He became a rich man.

The Carpenter’s neighbours and friends were very surprised when they heard about Mercury and the axes. One of the neighbours was a greedy man.

“Ah”, he said to himself. “Perhaps I can get a lot of money too. Then he went to the river. He threw his axe into the river. He began to cry and call for the mercury.

“Why are you calling me?” asked the Mercury. “What’s the matter?”

The greedy man told Mercury that he had lost his axe in the river. Then Mercury dived into the river and brought up of beautiful axe made of gold.

“Is this it?” he asked the man.

“O, yes, it is. This is my axe,” said the greedy man and he started to take the axe from Mercury.

“Oh no, it isn’t,” said Mercury. This axe isn’t yours. You are dishonest man and because you haven’t been honest I will no get your own axe for you. You threw it into the river yourself.”

The Mercury vanished and the greedy man didn’t see him anymore. He was very sad. He didn’t only get a gold axe but also lost his own axe.