A poor Woodman was cutting down a tree near the edge of a deep
pool in the forest. It was late in the day and the Woodman was
tired. He had been working since sunrise and his strokes were not
so sure as they had been early that morning. Thus it happened
that the axe slipped and flew out of his hands into the pool.
The Woodman was in despair. The axe was all he possessed with
which to make a living, and he had not money enough to buy a new
one. As he stood wringing his hands and weeping, the god Mercury
suddenly appeared and asked what the trouble was. The Woodman
told what had happened, and straightway the kind Mercury dived
into the pool. When he came up again he held a wonderful golden
axe.
“Is this your axe?” Mercury asked the Woodman.
“No,” answered the honest Woodman, “that is not my axe.”
Mercury laid the golden axe on the bank and sprang back into the
pool. This time he brought up an axe of silver, but the Woodman
declared again that his axe was just an ordinary one with a
wooden handle.
Mercury dived down for the third time, and when he came up again
he had the very axe that had been lost.
The poor Woodman was very glad that his axe had been found and
could not thank the kind god enough. Mercury was greatly pleased
with the Woodman’s honesty.
“I admire your honesty,” he said, “and as a reward you may have
all three axes, the gold and the silver as well as your own.”
The happy Woodman returned to his home with his treasures, and
soon the story of his good fortune was known to everybody in the
village. Now there were several Woodmen in the village who
believed that they could easily win the same good fortune. They
hurried out into the woods, one here, one there, and hiding their
axes in the bushes, pretended they had lost them. Then they wept
and wailed and called on Mercury to help them.
And indeed, Mercury did appear, first to this one, then to that.
To each one he showed an axe of gold, and each one eagerly
claimed it to be the one he had lost. But Mercury did not give
them the golden axe. Oh no! Instead he gave them each a hard
whack over the head with it and sent them home. And when they
returned next day to look for their own axes, they were nowhere
to be found.
Honesty is the best policy.
Discussion
Comments
Re: Paul is dead
I think I wore the needle out when I got that record many years ago.
What prompted this post?
The two most imaginative, creative members of the band are dead.
Well, well, well. Oh well.
By jody on 26 March 2007 · 03:54
Re: Paul is dead
I was just thinking about influential popular culture voices against the “war” and I could not think of a single convincing one. And I started to wonder why that was so and I realized it wasn’t always.
Now I’m just making myself sad. Well, at least I know the person who made the hamster dance web page will go to Hell. That cheers me up a little.
By A is A on 26 March 2007 · 10:33
Re: Paul is dead
> influential popular culture voices against the “war”
Justin Timberlake, ya loser!
Seriously though, Neil Young comes to mind.
By jody on 26 March 2007 · 11:35
Re: Paul is dead
If a few of the younger superstars like Timberlake would be very vocal about it I’d count them. Staging love-ins, doing the talk-shows and talking about it instead of their new ______s. Activism requires actual activity. Kind of mumbling, “Yeah, war sucks,” now and then is nothing. The vocal celebs like Sarandon and Depp flub the message by basing Bush and Co instead of the warlike behavior that all the serious Democratic candidates have promised to perpetuate and all but a handful voted for from the jump.
I liked Neil Young dearly but I consider him something of an uber-has-been who is so busy fading away he doesn’t realize how burned out he’s become. Ho-ho. I blame him for ruining Pearl Jam. A band with 500 or so albums and approximately 15 songs you can listen to, and most of them were on Ten.
By A is A on 26 March 2007 · 14:43
Re: Paul is dead
To be fair, Paul has not been completely mute on the subject of war, as in this snippet from his 1997 Calico Skies:
Long live all of us crazy soldiers Who were born under calico skies May we never be called to handle All the weapons of war we despise
but this admittedly feels like a halfhearted diversion in the context of a larger love song. Maybe he thinks the public would only accuse him of trying to follow in the shadow of his former band mate, and so he's relegated himself to the world of landmines and baby seal clubbing.
As for today, Arlo Guthrie comes to mind as a pretty vocal demonstrator. He just had - or might still be in the midst of - his Alice's Restauraunt revival tour.
By Joseph on 27 March 2007 · 16:49
Re: Paul is dead
I really dig Arlo. One of the few acts from back in the day I’ve seen live (a story sort of about it)… I doubt 10% of Americans even know who he is though. :( Or his dad.
And I do like Paul. I just miss John and really do wonder.
By A is A on 27 March 2007 · 17:51