Adapted from Aesop
He lived deep in the dark forest. He cut wood day in and out. The woodsman was working as he always did, but this time he forgot the rosin and his axe flew through the air into the lake. He sat, bereft, at the edge of the water. The axe was his only means to survival for both his family and himself.
From the middle of the lake — with an eruption — a god arose from the water. When the forester told of his plight, the god dived deep in the water and arose with a brilliant golden axe. “Is this your axe?” he asked the man.
The golden axe could have easily fed the poor man’s family for a year, but he valued honesty more than money, and he replied truthfully that it was not.
Again the god went under and came back up, this time with a silver axe. “Is this your axe?” he inquired. Again the woodsman knew he could have used the money, and this time he thought perhaps the god knew and wanted him to have the prize, but veracity won out again. “No, it is not mine,” he told the deity.
The god, well pleased, returned a final time with all three axes and said, “Because you were honest, you may have all three of these axes. You are an honorable man.”
The woodsman left in gratitude and told his tale at a local tavern. A greedy man sat in the back and calculated a plan of his own. The avaricious man sneaked out of the tavern and down to the lake. He took his best axe, believing he would get triple for it, threw it headfirst into the depths of the lake, put his head in his hands, and then feigned tears.
Again the god rose out of the water. Again the god questioned the bereaved. Again he dived deep, and again he rose with a dazzling golden axe. “Is this the axe you lost?” queried the god. The covetous man, with desire in his eyes, bound forward at the gilded tool and shouted, “Yes!” But the god knew better, and in an instant he disappeared. The greedy man lost not only the axes he desired, but his best one as well.
At some point throughout our lives, we have all stretched the truth to some degree, perhaps with the rationalization that we “deserved” whatever it was that we coveted. Greed can overcome us, blind us, and lead us down a path of self-destruction.
From the focus of our conversations to material things we might desire – – let’s all be mindful about being a little less greedy….
