A man who was cutting wood on a riverside lost his axe in the water. There was no help for it; so he sat down on the bank and began to cry. Hermes appeared and inquired what the matter was. Feeling sorry for the man, he dived into the river, brought up a gold axe, and asked him if that was the one he3 had lost. When the woodcutter said that it was not, Hermes dived again and fetch3ed up a silver one. The man said that was not his either. So he went down a third time and came up with the woodcutter’s own axe. “That’s the right one,” he said; and Hermes was so delighted with his honesty that he made him a present of the other two axes as well.
When the woodman rejoined his mates and told them his experience, one of the thought he would bring off a similar coup. He went to the rive3r, deliberately threw his axe into it, and then sat down and wept. Hermes appeared again; and on hearing the cause of his tears, he dived in, produced a gold axe as before, and asked if it was the one that had been lost. “Yes, it is indeed,” the man joyfully exclaimed. The god was so shocked at his unblushing impudence, that, far from giving him the gold axe, he did not even restore his own to him.
This fable shows that heaven is as determined to thwart a rogue as it is ready to help an honest man.