Aesop Fable information part 8
8|Mercury and the Workmen|FORE=11|BACK=1|MARG=5|SCFX=8
Mercury and the Workmen^15
A workman, felling wood by the side of a river, let his axe drop - by
accident 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 demanded the cause of his tears. After he told
him his misfortune, Mercury plunged into the stream, and, bringing up
a golden axe, inquired if that were the one he had lost. On his
saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a
second time, returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again asked
the Workman if it were his. When the Workman said it was not, he
dived into the pool for the third time and brought up the axe 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. The Workman, on his return to his
house, related to his companions all that had happened. One of them
at once resolved to try and secure the same good fortune for himself.
He ran to the river and threw his axe on purpose into the pool at the
same place, and sat down on the bank to weep. Mercury appeared to him
just as he hoped he would; and having learned the cause of his grief,
plunged into the stream and brought up a golden axe, inquiring if he
had lost it. The Workman seized it greedily, and declared that truly
it was the very same axe that he had lost. Mercury, displeased at his
knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to recover for
him the axe he had thrown into the pool.
Mercury and the Workmen^15
A workman, felling wood by the side of a river, let his axe drop - by
accident 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 demanded the cause of his tears. After he told
him his misfortune, Mercury plunged into the stream, and, bringing up
a golden axe, inquired if that were the one he had lost. On his
saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a
second time, returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again asked
the Workman if it were his. When the Workman said it was not, he
dived into the pool for the third time and brought up the axe 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. The Workman, on his return to his
house, related to his companions all that had happened. One of them
at once resolved to try and secure the same good fortune for himself.
He ran to the river and threw his axe on purpose into the pool at the
same place, and sat down on the bank to weep. Mercury appeared to him
just as he hoped he would; and having learned the cause of his grief,
plunged into the stream and brought up a golden axe, inquiring if he
had lost it. The Workman seized it greedily, and declared that truly
it was the very same axe that he had lost. Mercury, displeased at his
knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to recover for
him the axe he had thrown into the pool.
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