A Korean Folktale of an Honest Woodcutter and the Spirit of the Pond
Original Korean title: 금도끼 은도끼 · Ages 4-8 · about
2 minutes to read aloud
The shortest and the most direct — an honest woodcutter, a lost axe, and a mountain spirit offering him a better one. It works on very young children because the choice is visible and the consequence is immediate. A greedy neighbour tries the same trick, which is where the real ending lives.
Long ago in Korea, a poor woodcutter lived at the foot of a green mountain. He was honest and kind, and cared for his old mother.
Every morning he climbed the mountain with his old iron axe, singing all the way. He cut firewood beside a deep, quiet pond.
One day, as he swung at a tall pine — WHOOSH! — the axe flew from his hands and splashed deep into the pond.
The woodcutter knelt by the water and cried. "That was my only axe. How will I cut wood now?"
Suddenly the water began to glow! Up rose the Mountain Spirit, holding a golden axe. "Is this your axe?" he asked.
"No, sir," said the woodcutter. "That golden axe is far too fancy. It is not mine."
The Spirit dipped down and lifted a silver axe. "Is this one yours?" "No, that is not mine either," said the woodcutter.
At last the Spirit raised the woodcutter's own old iron axe. "Yes! That one is mine!" he cried, with a big smile.
"You told the truth," said the Spirit with a smile. "Honest hands may keep all three." So he gave the woodcutter every axe.
The woodcutter carried the axes home and shared them with his neighbors. Soon everyone in the village loved him.
A greedy neighbor heard the story. "I want gold too!" he said, and hurried up the mountain with his axe.
He tossed his own axe into the pond — SPLASH! — then he sat down and pretended to cry great big tears.
Up rose the Spirit with the golden axe. "Is this yours?" "Yes, yes! The gold axe is mine!" the greedy man lied.
The Spirit sank away with the golden axe. But the honest woodcutter chopped wood happily ever after. Truth is worth more than gold.
About This Story
The Golden Axe (say GEUM-do-kki EUN-do-kki, which means "gold axe, silver axe") is one of Korea's best-loved folktales, told to children for hundreds of years to teach the value of honesty.
The woodcutter is a namukkun, a person who gathered firewood in the mountains and carried it home on a wooden A-frame called a jige. For a poor woodcutter, his axe was his whole living — that is why losing it mattered so much.
The kind spirit of the pond is a sansillyeong, a mountain spirit who watches over the mountain, its animals, and its water. In Korean tales he is wise and fair, rewarding good hearts.
Many other countries tell a cousin of this tale — in one old telling, a river god tests a woodman in the very same way.
In our telling, the greedy neighbor is not punished harshly. He simply goes home with nothing, and we trust children to see that the honest woodcutter got the better end.
It is the tale's oldest promise: tell the truth, and you keep something worth more than gold.
Korean Words in This Story
Namukkun — a woodcutter, someone who gathers firewood in the mountains.
Jige — a wooden A-frame carried on the back to haul firewood.
Dokki — an axe. Geumdokki means "gold axe"; eundokki means "silver axe."
Sansillyeong — a kind mountain spirit who watches over the mountain and its pond.
Hanbok — traditional Korean clothes, worn every day and on special days.
Chogajip — a small house with a roof made of thatched straw.
Say them out loud together!
Say them out loud together.
What it is about
Honesty when lying would be easier.
Questions worth asking
The woodcutter tells the truth and loses nothing. Is that how it usually works?
