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Once upon a time an honest man lived with his wife and children in a little house in the wood.
Now you must know that this man was very poor.
Early in the morning he went out with his ax to chop down the trees in the forest. All day he worked, until the night was so dark that he could see no longer.
Then he went home to his wife and children.
They, too, worked with all their might, but still they were very poor.
One day, as the woodman sat down at noon by the side of a river that ran through the woods, his ax slipped from his hands and fell into the water.
“Ah, me,” said the woodman, sadly, “it was hard to get my living with an ax, but without it we shall starve!”
And the poor man hid his face in his hands and groaned aloud.
Then a soft light fell on his bowed head; he heard the ripple of the water on the shore, and a sweet voice that said to him, “Look up, my friend; why do you mourn so bitterly?”
“Ah, me,” said the woodman, “I have lost my ax in the water. My ax I valued as a brother. Where can I get another?”
Now you must know that it was the water fairy who spoke to the woodman.
In a moment she was gone, and in another moment he saw her again, lifting her face from the surface of the water, and bearing in her hand an ax of gold.
“Is this your ax?” she asked; but the woodman shook his head.
“Ah, no; my ax was never half so fine as that.That would buy mine a thousand times over, but it is not mine, it is not mine.”
Then the fairy sank again beneath the water. In a moment she came with a silver ax.
“Is this your ax?” she asked again.
“No, it is not mine,” replied the woodman; “and yet it is worth much more than mine.”
Then the fairy sank again in the water. The third time she came up, she brought the woodman’s ax in her arms.
LOOK UP, MY FRIEND!
“Ah, that is my ax, that is my ax!” he cried joyfully.
“Yes,” said the fairy, “this is the honest ax with which you earn the bread to feed your hungry children. Because you would not lie, the silver ax and the gold one shall both be yours.”
The happy woodman thanked the good fairy, and bore his precious load to the little hut, only half believing the treasure to be his own.
On the way he met a neighbor, a man who never liked to work, and who had spent all that he owned years before.
“Oho!” said the neighbor, “where did you get those fine axes?”
Then the woodman told him. Away hurried the lazy man to try his luck at the river. Down went his ax into the water, and loudly did he cry.
The water fairy came at the sound, and asked him why he mourned.
“I have lost my ax! I have lost my ax!” he cried, weeping bitterly.
The fairy sank beneath the water. Soon she brought from the water an ax of gold.
“Is this your ax?” she asked.
“Yes,” cried he, greedily, “that is my ax.”
“No,” said the fairy, “this is my ax, and it shall lie upon the shelf, while you must dive for yours, yourself.”
1. Write the story of “The Boy and the Wolf.”
2. Answer these questions:
Who was the woodman?
What was his work?
Why did he work so hard?
What happened to his ax, one noonday?
Why did the woodman speak so sadly?
Who came to help him? Why?
What did the fairy do?
Why were the three axes given to the woodman?
What do you know about the woodman’s neighbor?
What did he do?
How did the fairy treat him?
What would you have done, in her place?
3. Find the hard words, and use them in sentences.
4. Copy the questions which you find in the story.