On a day of the days, there lived a farmer under the shade of a fig tree. The owner was cunning and would make him work days without anything in return. The farmer was accustomed to the owner leaving from the house in the evening, depressed, and he thought much about leaving his work, but he was afraid he wouldn’t find another job, and he passed by a market and didn’t earn any money.
On a day, the owner said: This suffices me. I have worked for you for three years and deserve to receive the pay, and I will depart until I get every possession he deserves. So he gave him three pounds to work for him, but he knew three pounds were not enough, but he was happy to get them, and after a while, he heard the farmer a strange sound coming from behind the fig tree. He became surprised and talked to him. He said to him: You are poor. What are you doing here? I don’t have anything to tempt you. So he said: Then I will rob you, you wicked, as big as gold, but perhaps a little is all I have and is everything I have, and I gave him three pounds.
Then he said: I was confident you wouldn’t betray me. What are you? He said: I am a poor old man and I come here every year to meet one person who deserves our magic. So tell me what you want from me, for I have three wishes. The farmer thought a little and said: I wish… a magic coat that makes anyone who sees me respect me. Another wish is to become beautiful as the moon. Third wish is that I achieve all I long for. He said to him: Everything you wish.
He didn’t feel the farmer with such happiness before. He thought about everything he could do, and then he passed by a man knocking on a tree. He said to him: Welcome, why are you knocking the tree with a stone? He said: No, I am trying to split the tree. He said to him: I will try that. The farmer laughed at it and shot toward the tree. The stone became as high as if it knew the way, and the tree fell between his hands. He said to him: Give me the tree. He said: But I brought it for you, why should I give it to you? He said: This is wrong, I returned it before you and told you about it. I will give you the tree, but you must be trustworthy.
The farmer was an honest man, but the man who stood before him was completely wicked and makes everyone work without paying to them. The poor farmer didn’t know the wickedness of the magic axe. So he said: Indeed, I will pay you 500 golden coins for the tree. He said: Of course. But the man took the tree and fled. So the farmer went out the two and began to lie and then began to dance on his bones. He continued lying like that, and after a while he fell asleep and fell on his back. He didn’t stop dancing until his clothes were completely torn off. He said to him: What do you want, there in my pocket? He said: I will take what you give me with the greeting. So he rolled up his sleeves and took from him what he wanted, and thanked him, and left.
And the news spread in the area that a man had stolen 500 golden coins. The judge said: Bring the young man and the wise one, and they brought the young man and the wise one to the judge. The judge said: You are accused of stealing 500 golden coins. He said: I didn’t steal him at all. Rather, he gave him to me in exchange for splitting a fig tree from its highest branch in the tree. So the judge said: This young man’s case is strong, so he will imprison the young man and the wise one for five years, and return 500 to this man, but he said: I will make him lie once more. So the axe said: Back to me, oh master, don’t make him lie once more. The man said: You back to me, oh judge, but don’t let him lie from now on, and he will tell everyone your story because he has lost everyone’s trust.
Finally, the young man and the wise one brought him to the judge and said: Tell them the truth, otherwise I will dance upon you with a dancing that will end your life. He said to him: I am confessing, I didn’t steal him. I gave him to me as compensation for splitting a fig tree from the highest branch in the tree. He gave him 500 as reward for his work because he was honest and worthy of this praise, but the axe man gave him an equal 500. He took it and walked away from the court and began to look for the wicked man and tell him his story and ask him to do the same for the lord…
Story summary: The Farmer’s Axe