​The Axe (Reading A2)

In a little house in the wood lives a wood-cutter. The wood-cutter works very hard. He is a poor but an honest man.

There is a big and deep river near the wood. And there is a big tree neat the river.

The wood-cutter wants to cut down the big tree near the river. His axe slips out of his hand. The axe falls into the water. The axe goes down to the bottom of the river. The poor wood-cutter cries. He is very sad and unhappy. He does not know what to do. He does not know who can help him. He has no money to buy a new axe. He is afraid to dive into the water because the river is very deep, and it is a dangerous river. It is Mercury’s river.

Mercury hears the poor man cry. He asks the poor wood-cutter why he is so sad and unhappy. The poor wood-cutter tells him everything.

Mercury listens to the poor man’s story. Then he dives into the river and brings up a golden axe. But the wood-cutter says that it is not his axe. Mercury dives a second time into the deep river and this time brings up a silver axe. Again the wood-cutter says that it is not his axe. So Mercury dives a third time, and at last he brings up the wood-cutter’s own axe. The poor man is very happy. He can work again.

So Mercury gives the wood-cutter his own axe, the golden axe and the silver axe.

The wood-cutter cuts down the big tree goes home. He is very pleased with his own axe, the golden axe and the silver axe. When he meets his friend, he tells them all about the three axes.

His friend is not an honest man. He wants to have a golden axe, too. So he goes to the same place, as if to cut down a tree. Then he drops his axe into the river. And he also begins to cry.

Mercury hears the man cry. Mercury asks him why he is so sad and unhappy. The man tells him about the loss of his axe. Then Mercury dives into the river and brings up a golden axe. When the man sees the golden axe, he says that it is his own axe.

“It is not the truth,” says Mercury. The man gets nothing.