An Honest Woodcutter And The Beautiful fairy
Once there lived a poor woodcutter. But he was very honest. He earned his livelihood by selling wood in the market. One day while he was cutting wood near a pond, suddenly his axe fell into the pond. The pond was very deep. The woodcutter did not know how to swim or dive. So, he was sitting there sadly. Then a wonderful thing happened. A beautiful fairy appeared before the woodcutter. She asked him in a sweet voice, “Why are you so sad? Why are you not cutting wood?” The woodcutter replied sorrowfully. “My axe has fallen into the pond. I can’t cut wood now.” The fairy then showed him an axe made of gold. She asked him if it was his axe. The woodcutter saw the axe and said, “It’s not my axe.” The fairy showed him another axe made of silver, she asked. “Is this the axe that you lost?” The woodcutter said, “No, it’s not. My axe is made of iron.” The fairy showed him the lost axe. The woodcutter then said happily that it was his axe. The fairy became very pleased and gave him the gold and the silver axes too. Then the woodcutter became rich and began to live happily.
Money Cannot Bring Happiness/Happiness Lies in Contentment
There lived a happy cobbler who passed his days working and singing from morning till night. A rich neighbour of his was a banker who one day said to him, “How much a year do you earn? The cobbler replied, “I earn enough to make both ends meet.” “I am sorry for that. You must be living in great distress,” said the banker. “But I am used to this sort of life and I am happy,” said the cobbler.
The next day the rich banker again came to visit the cobbler. He came with ten thousand taka in a bag. He said to him, “Look, my friend! I’ve brought ten thousand taka for you. Keep this money and remove your distress.” The cobbler was greatly surprised. At first, he refused to take the money. The rich man told him that he could use the money in times of difficulties. The cobbler took the bag of money from the rich man and thanked him. Now a new issue of anxiety took hold of the cobbler. He said to himself, “Ten thousand taka is a lot of money.” He could not think where to keep the money. He did not find any safe place to keep the bag. He dug a hole in his hut and kept the money there. But he always thought that his money could be stolen any time. This anxiety kept him awake and his sleep fled away at night. He even could not devote himself to his work. As a result, his life became more miserable. Peace and happiness vanished from his life. The cobbler gradually realized that he had money, but no peace of mind.
TKI
