The Honest Woodcutter
The Honest Woodcutter | |
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Grandville's illustration to La Fontaine's fable | |
Folk tale | |
Name | The Honest Woodcutter |
Also known as | Mercury and the Woodman; The Golden Axe |
Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 729 (The Axe falls into the Stream)[1] |
Region | Greece; Worldwide |
The Honest Woodcutter, also known as Mercury and the Woodman and The Golden Axe, is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 173 in the Perry Index. It serves as a cautionary tale on the need for cultivating honesty, even at the price of self-interest. It is also classified as Aarne-Thompson 729: The Axe falls into the Stream.[2]
The story
The Greek version of the story tells of a woodcutter who accidentally dropped his axe into a river and, because this was his only means of livelihood, sat down and wept. Taking pity on him, the god Hermes (also known as Mercury) dived into the water and returned with a golden axe. "Was this what you had lost?", Hermes asked, but the woodcutter said it was not, and returned the same answer when a silver axe was brought to the surface. Only when his own tool is produced does he claim it. Impressed by his honesty, the god allows him to keep all three. Hearing of the man's good fortune, an envious neighbor threw his own axe into the river and wailed for its return. When Hermes appeared and offered him a golden axe, the man greedily claimed it but was denied both that and the return of his own axe.
Though the tale's moral is that 'Honesty is the best policy', as the English proverb has it, there existed a medieval Byzantine proverb apparently alluding to the fable, which stated that 'A river does not always bring axes'. But since this was glossed to mean that no person always acts consistently, it is obviously at a considerable remove from the story's application.[3] The sequence of ideas that led to this understanding of the fable also exposes the gap in the envious neighbor's logic. He had observed the proximate cause for enrichment, namely dropping an axe in the river, and overlooked the ultimate cause - the need for scrupulous honesty. The right combination of circumstances had to be there for Hermes to act as he did. Without them, as the neighbor eventually learned, 'the river does not always bring (golden) axes'.
A burlesque retelling of the fable occurs in François Rabelais's 16th-century novel Gargantua and Pantagruel. It takes up most of the author's prologue to the 4th Book and is considerably extended in his typically prolix and circuitous style. The woodcutter's cries disturb the chief of the gods as he deliberates the world's business and he sends Mercury down with instructions to test the man with the three axes and cut off his head if he chooses wrongly. Although he survives the test and returns a rich man, the entire countryside decides to follow his example and gets decapitated. So, Rabelais concludes, it is better to be moderate in our desires. Much the same story is told in La Fontaine's Fables (V.1) but in more concentrated form.[4] However, rather than beheading the woodman's imitators, Mercury merely administers a heavy blow.
The fable in the arts
Some paintings named from the fable have been broad landscapes with small figures added in the middle plane. Salvator Rosa's Mercury and the Dishonest Woodman in the National Gallery, London, dates from about 1650.[5] An 18th-century watercolour by George Robertson (1748–88) seems to derive from this.[6] Charles-André van Loo gives greater prominence to the figures in his Mercure présentant des haches au bûcheron in the Hôtel de Soubise.[7] In this the god hovers in mid-air and presents the axes to the surprised and kneeling woodman.
Illustrations of the fable on English chinaware draw on the woodcut in Samuel Croxall's edition of Aesop. A Wedgwood plate of about 1775 displays a red picture in a square, garlanded frame. The rim has a wavy edge printed with detached sprays of flowers. Much the same picture as there, printed in green, is used on a contemporary Liverpool tile.[8] In the left foreground, Mercury is presenting an axe to the seated woodman. In the distance, on the opposite bank, his dishonest neighbour has raised his axe before throwing it into the river.
In 1987 the story was included on the 40 drachma value of the eight-stamp set of Aesop's fables issued by Greece and features the naked god seated on a rock in the river and offering the three axes to the bearded woodman on the bank.[9]
Other versions
Though there are other tellings of the story, with local variations, from Nigeria,[10] Thailand,[11] Tibet[12] and Japan,[13] the main plot line in all of them is the same as in the Aesopic version, which suggests their European derivation. A certain kinship has also been observed between the fable and the account of the miraculous recovery of an axe from a river in the Jewish Bible.[14] There the prophet Elisha caused an axe blade lost in a river to float to the surface.[15]
References
- ^ The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths. Edited, translated and introduced by William Hansen. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2019. p. 446. ISBN 978-0-691-19592-6
- ^ Lesebuchgeschichten: Erzählstoffe in Schullesebüchern, 1770-1920. Ingrid Tomkowiak. Berlin: De Gruyter. 1993. p. 256
- ^ William F. Hansen (2002). "Hermes and the Woodcutter". Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature. Cornell University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-8014-3670-2. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "An English version". Readbookonline.org. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "Salvator Rosa | Landscape with Mercury and the Dishonest Woodman | NG84 | The National Gallery, London". Nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "George Robertson (1748-1788) watercolour, Mercury and The Woodman, 9.5 x 15.5 ins". Icollector.com. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "Mercure présentant des haches au bûcheron". Insecula.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "Both are on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum". Collections.vam.ac.uk. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ Creighton University
- ^ Aare, Emmanuel (1 December 2008). "Honesty and Dishonesty". African Tales. WriteLife LLC. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-60808-000-7. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ Vathanaprida, Supaporn; MacDonald, Margaret; Rohitasuke, Boonsong (1994). "The Honest Woodcutter". Thai Tales. Libraries Unlimited. p. 42. ISBN 1-56308-096-6. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
honest woodcutter.
- ^ Goldstein, Melvin; Rimpoche, Gelek; Phuntshog, Lobsang (7 August 1991). "The Golden Axe". Essentials of modern literary Tibetan: a reading course and reference grammar. University of California Press. p. 208. ISBN 0-520-07622-2. Retrieved 2013-04-14.
- ^ "The Golden Hatchet". Yanagita, Kunio; Translated by Fanny Hagin Meyer (1986). Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale. Indiana University Press. pp. 87-88. ISBN 0-253-36812-X,
- ^ William F. Hansen, Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature, Cornell University Press, 2002, pp.42-4
- ^ Kings II, 6.4-6
External links
- 15th–20th century book illustrations online
- 19th–20th century book illustrations online
- Illustrations of La Fontaine's fable by Gustave Doré
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Fables
- The Ant and the Grasshopper
- The Ass and his Masters
- The Ass and the Pig
- The Ass Carrying an Image
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin
- The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
- The Bear and the Travelers
- The Belly and the Members
- The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
- The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- The Cat and the Mice
- The Cock and the Jewel
- The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Crow and the Snake
- The Deer without a Heart
- The Dog and Its Reflection
- The Dog and the Wolf
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Farmer and the Stork
- The Farmer and the Viper
- The Fir and the Bramble
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish
- The Fowler and the Snake
- The Fox and the Crow
- The Fox and the Grapes
- The Fox and the Lion
- The Fox and the Mask
- The Fox and the Sick Lion
- The Fox and the Stork
- The Fox and the Weasel
- The Fox and the Woodman
- The Frog and the Ox
- The Frogs Who Desired a King
- The Goat and the Vine
- The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
- The Honest Woodcutter
- The Horse and the Donkey
- The Horse that Lost its Liberty
- The Lion and the Mouse
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
- The Man with Two Mistresses
- The Mischievous Dog
- The Miser and his Gold
- The Moon and her Mother
- The Mountain in Labour
- The Mouse and the Oyster
- The North Wind and the Sun
- The Oak and the Reed
- The Old Man and Death
- The Old Woman and the Doctor
- The Rose and the Amaranth
- The Satyr and the Traveller
- The Sick Kite
- The Snake and the Crab
- The Snake in the Thorn Bush
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Town Mouse and Country Mouse
- The Travellers and the Plane Tree
- The Trees and the Bramble
- The Two Pots
- The Walnut Tree
- Washing the Ethiopian White
- The Weasel and Aphrodite
- The Wolf and the Crane
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- The Woodcutter and the Trees
- The Young Man and the Swallow
- An ass eating thistles
- The Bear and the Gardener
- Belling the Cat (also known as The Mice in Council)
- The Blind Man and the Lame
- The Boy and the Filberts
- Chanticleer and the Fox
- The Dog in the Manger
- The drowned woman and her husband
- The Elm and the Vine
- The Fox and the Cat
- The Gourd and the Palm-tree
- The Hawk and the Nightingale
- The miller, his son and the donkey
- The Monkey and the Cat
- The Priest and the Wolf
- The Scorpion and the Frog
- The Shepherd and the Lion
adaptations
- Aesop's Film Fables
- The Grasshopper and the Ants
adaptations
- Demetrius of Phalerum
- Phaedrus
- Babrius
- Avianus
- Dositheus Magister
- Alexander Neckam
- Adémar de Chabannes
- Odo of Cheriton
- John Lydgate
- Kawanabe Kyōsai
- Laurentius Abstemius
- Roger L'Estrange
- Gabriele Faerno
- Hieronymus Osius
- Marie de France
- Robert Henryson
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Ivan Krylov
- Nicolas Trigault
- Robert Thom
- Zhou Zuoren