Korean Folk Tale

A long time ago, a magician lived in the lake. One evening, when the woodman cut down a tree with an iron ax, he dropped the iron ax in the lake, so he cried because he didn’t have another ax or enough money to buy one. He cried nearby the lake. Just at that time, the magician appeared there, and said, “Why are you crying?”

The woodman said, “I dropped my iron ax in the lake”, and then the magician disappeared into the lake.

Afterwards he appeared standing on the lake with a silver ax and he asked, “Is this yours?”

The woodman answered, “It’s not mine”, so the magician again went into the lake and then appeared in front of the woodman with a gold ax. But this gold ax was not his, so the magician went into the lake and appeared with his ax. Only then the man said, “It’s mine”.

The magician said, “You didn’t lie so I’ll give you all three axes, your ax and the gold and silver axes. Afterwards, the man sold his axes for a lot of money; so then he became a rich person.

Another woodman heard this story. So this woodman went there and intentionally dropped his iron ax and then he pretended to cry, so the magician also appeared in front of his eyes, and he asked, “Why are you crying?”

He answered, “I lost my ax.” The magician went into the lake after the conversation and appeared with a gold ax.

He asked, “Is this yours?”

He answered, “Yes”, so the magician disappeared at once. The man had nothing, not even his ax.

RiNa