Honesty always rewards. A dishonest person may appear to prosper for a short while, but finally it is the honest person who is rewarded. It is virtue that all of us must cultivate even though we may have to suffer in the beginning.
Once there was a poor woodcutter. He would go to the forest every morning, cut wood and sell it in the market at the end of the day. This was his only source of livelihood.
One day as he climbed up a tree to cut wood, his axe fell into the deep river below. He jumped into the river but he could not find his axe. Disappointed and dejected, he sat down on the bank of the river and started crying. The river Goddess took pity on him. She came out of the river holding a golden axe in her hand. “Is this axes yours?” she asked the poor woodcutter again. “No,” he replied. ”My axe was an ordinary one.”
The next time, the river goddess appeared with the real axe and asked the woodcutter, “Is this axes yours?” “Yes, yes,” he replied. “This is indeed my axe. Thank you for restoring it to me.” The river goddess was so pleased with the poor woodcutter’s honesty that she gifted all the three axes to him.
Another woodcutter came to know to this. But he was not honest. He went to the same spot in the forest and climbed up the same tree. Then he purposely dropped his old axe into the river, sat on the same spot and started crying loudly. The river goddess appeared with a golden axe in her hand. “Is this axes yours?” she asked him “Yes, Yes,” the dishonest woodcutter replied. “Not only this. I dropped silver and an iron axe into the river also? Could I please have all the three?” “No,” replied the river goddess. “Since you are dishonest, you will lose your own axe also.”
Saying this, the river goddess disappeared and the dishonest woodcutter sat there bemoaning the loss of his original axe. Dishonesty had lost him heavily, whereas the first woodcutter was rewarded for his honesty.
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