A woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe1,glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water. As he stood by the water's edge lamenting2 his loss, mercury appearedand asked him the reason for his grief. On learning what had happened,out of pity for his distress3, mercury 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 secondtime, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. "No,that is not mine either," Said the woodman. Once more mercury divedinto the river, and brought up the missing axe. The woodman wasoverjoyed at recovering his property, and thanked his benefactorwarmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he madehim a present of the other two axes. When the woodman told the storyto his companions, one of these was filled with envy of his goodfortune and determined4 to try his luck for himself. So he went andbegan to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrivedto 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 agolden axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waitingto 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: butmercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declinedto give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover for him theone he had let fall into the stream. 
Honesty is the best policy. 