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ONCEupon a time there lived, in a land beyond the seas, a poor man who went each day to the forest to cut wood. He made little money at this and often wished that he could find other work to do
One evening, as he was returning from his labour, he met a beautiful woman dressed in white.
“Good-evening,” said he as he took off his cap to her
“Goodevening”“-, said the lady. What has kept you so late?”
“I have been cutting wood in the forest, and I have to work long hours to make even a poor living,” said the man. “Mine is a hard fate.”
“You would like other work with better pay?”
“Indeed I would, and I am not hard to please.”
“Suppose,” said the lady, “I were to fill your pail with gold, would you be satisfied?”—and she pointed to the little pail in which he carried his dinner each day.
“Indeed I would,” said the surprised man.
“Look inside.”
He took off the cover and found the pail full to the brim of gold coins. He was nearly overcome with the sight. Then he thought: “Oh, if it had been a big pail! The fairy could have filled it just as easily and then I should have been rich for life.”
He took off his cap again and thanked the lady for her gift
“It is but a small pail,” said he, “and though there is much money in it, I should like to run home and get a larger pail.”
“As you wish,” said the fairy.
Away he ran at the top of his speed to his home, and soon came back again with a large bucket.
But, when he came to the spot where he had left the fairy, she was not there, nor was she anywhere to be seen, though the grass had a yellow tinge where she had stood. He looked anxiously into his dinner pail, but there was no gold there—just the remains of his dinner. He was poor as before, poorer and sadder.
— BALE
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
— LONGFELLOW