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256. Mercury And The Workmen

A Workman, felling wood by the sid
e of a river, let his axe drop by accident into a deep pool. Being thus deprived of the means of his livelihood, he sat down on the bank, and lamented his hard fate. Mercury appeared, and demanded the cause of his te
ars. He told him his misfortune, when Mercury plunged into the stream, and, bringing up a golden axe, inquired if that were the one he had lost. On his saying that it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the wate
r a second time, and returned with a silver axe in his hand, and again demanded of the Workman "if it were his." On the Workman saying it was not, he dived into the pool for the third time, and brought up the axe that had been lost. On the Workman claiming it, and expressing his joy at its recovery, Mercury, pleased with his honesty, gave him the golden and the silver axes in addition to his own.

The Workman, on his return to his h
ouse, related to his companions all that had happened. One of them at once resolved to try whether he could not also secure the same good fortune to himself. He ran to the river, and threw his axe on purpose into the
pool at the same place, and sat down on the bank to weep. Mercury appeared to him just as he hoped he would; and having learned the cause of his grief, plunged into the stream, and brought up a golden axe, and inquired if he had lost
it. The Workman seized it greedily, and declared that of a truth it was the very same axe that he had lost. Mercury, displeased at his knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to recover for him the ax
e he had thrown into the pool.
256. 财神和工人
一个工人在河边砍木头,他的斧头不小心掉落到河里去了。 他失去了吃饭的工具,便坐在河岸边悲泣他的不幸。 财神出现了,问他为什么哭泣? 他就将他的不幸告诉他,财神便没入河中,拿出一把金斧头来,问他这可是他失去的那一把。 在他回说那不是他的斧头时,财神第二次又没入水底下去,手中拿了一把银斧头回来,再问工人这把可是他的。 工人又说不是他的,当他第三次又没入水里去,带上他失掉的那把斧头。 工人承认是他的,流露出失而复得的快乐,财神喜欢他的诚实,除了他自己的那把之外,又将金的和银的两把都给他。
工人回家时,将所有的遭遇都告诉他的同伴。 其中有一个立刻决定试试他自己能不能够也获得同样的好运。 他跑到河边,故意把他的斧头丢到河里的同一个位置,坐在河岸上哭泣。 财神竟如他所希望地出现了,在知道他悲伤的原因之后,便没入河中,带了一把金斧头上来,问他是否失掉这一把,。 那工人贪心地拿着那把斧头,并且宣称确实是他所失掉的那把斧头。 财神讨厌他不诚实,不但将金斧头拿走,并且还拒绝替他去找回他丢到水中的那一把。



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