Story:

Honesty is the Best Policy: 

Once there lived a woodcutter in a village. He was very renowned for his honesty and integrity. One day, he was cutting the branches of a tree on the bank of a river. By an unlucky chance, the axe slipped from his hand and fell into the river.

Being thus deprived of the mean of his livelihood, he sat down on the bank and bewailed his bad luck. Scalding tears rolled down his sunken cheeks.

It was his good luck that Mercury, the messenger of gods, appeared there and asked the cause of his anguish. The woodcutter narrated the whole incident and besought him to help him out of the plight. The utterly miserable condition of the woodcutter moved the god deeply and he decide to help him.

Mercury plunged into the river and, after a while, brought out an axe of gold. He offered the axe to the woodcutter who refused to accept it saying that it was not his axe.  Mercury swooped down into the water for the second time and surfaced near the bank with a silver axe in his hand. He again inquired whether it was his axe. The woodcutter did not take it also because it did not belong to him.

Mercury dived into water for the third time and brought out an iron axe. The woodcutter claimed it and expressed his joy at its recovery. He thanked Mercury for his generous help. Mercury, profoundly impressed by his honesty, gave him the golden and silver axes as a reward as a reward for his honesty in addition to his own.

Moral:

            Honesty is the best policy.

            Virtue never goes unrewarded.

In this story we teach us that Honesty is best policy. so we learn we should always be honest in every matter. Thanks for reading.