A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe, glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water. As he stood by the water's
edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared and asked him the
reason for his
grief; and on learning what had happened, out of
pity for his
distress he dived into the river and, bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had
lost. The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second time, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. "No, that is not
mine either," said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived into the river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed at recovering his
property, and thanked his
benefactor warmly; and the
latter was so pleased with his
honesty that he made him a present of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story to his companions, one of these was filled with
envy of his good
fortune and
determined to try his luck for himself. So he went and began to fell a tree at the
edge of the river, and
presently contrived to let his axe
drop into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe had
fallen in, he dived and brought up a golden axe, as he had done on the
previous occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether it was his or not the fellow cried, "That's
mine, that's
mine," and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined to give him the golden axe, but also refused to
recover for him the one he had let fall into the
stream.