Outline.
A woodman has an
axe without handle --- asks trees for a piece of wood --- gets a small branch
--- uses the axe to cut down trees --- regret --- moral.
The Story.
There lived a poor
man in a certain village. A blacksmith took pity on him and gave him an axe
without a handle. He went to the jungle and begged trees for a piece of wood. He
got it and returned home full of great joy. He cut in into a soft handle and
fixed it into his axe. Then he went to the jungle every day and cut many
branches off the trees. He sold these in the market and bought the necessities
for his wife and children. In this way he began to live very happily. But the
trees were sorry for their gift to him.
Moral. The gain of
one is the loss of another.