A long time ago, a poor woodcutter lived in a hut on the edge of a forest with his son, who was clever. The woodcutter sent him to school, but he became so poor that he could not educate him for long. The woodcutter was helpless.
So, the son returned and decided to help his father. “The work is hard and very tiring, son,” said the woodcutter, “and I have only one axe.” His son asked him to borrow an axe from a neighbour.
The next morning, the father and the son went into the forest to collect wood. At noon, they decided to rest a while. The son wandered away to collect some berries and nuts.
As he wandered around, he heard a voice cry out, “Help! Let me out!” He looked around, but could see no one. He put his ear to the huge oak tree under which he was standing. He was intelligent as well.
Then he noticed a bottle half buried among the roots. He scraped away the soil and moss, and took out the dusty old bottle. There was something misty swirling inside it and the voice came from there.
He pulled out the cork and the mist emerged, growing into a large spirit that towered over the boy. The spirit was in a rage, and said, “I’ve been stuffed into that bottle as a punishment for hundreds of years! I thought when I was released, I’d reward the one who set me free. But no one heard me for years. I was so angry that I decided to punish the first person I saw! And that is you!” he said, pointing to the boy.
The boy was indeed clever. So, instead of being frightened, he said thoughtfully, “I can’t believe that you were in the bottle! You are too big to fit into it!”
The spirit was already in a temper. Irritated, he yelled, “Didn’t you see me? I was inside it!”
But the boy said, “You’ll have to show me.”
Muttering with rage, the spirit slid into the bottle to prove that he had indeed been inside it. The boy promptly shut the bottle with the cork and the spirit was imprisoned again. “Oh, please let me out!” wailed the spirit, “I’m so sorry. I won’t harm you. Please let me out. I’ll reward you as I had thought earlier.”
The boy took pity on the spirit and let him out. The spirit came out and held out a small box, saying, “I promised to reward you. So, please take this. It is a plaster,” replied the spirit, “If you are injured, apply one end of it to the injury and you will be healed instantly. If you apply the other end to any metal, it will turn into silver!”
The boy thanked the spirit, who thanked him in turn for having set him free. The boy ran to his father.
He touched the plaster to the blade of the old axe that had been borrowed from the neighbour. It turned into shining silver. When his father saw it, he said, “What’s the use of that, boy? The silver is too soft to chop wood!”
The boy laughed at his simplicity and took the axe to the jeweller in the village who gave him five thousand coins for the solid silver. The boy came home and found his father grumbling, “What am I going to tell my neighbour when he asks for his axe?”
“Father, tell him it broke. It would have cost him ten coins for a new one. Give him twenty!” replied the boy. “There’s a lot of money here! We’ll never want for money again,” the boy assured his father.
And the father and the son were able to live comfortably and the son could even continue to study.
