Short Story – Honesty is the Best Policy

Today I am going to tell the honesty is the best policy story. This story on honesty reminds us all, especially young children, Being truthful and content with what you have is more valuable than seeking dishonest gains through greed. This is the story of an honest woodcutter who remained honest and was rewarded for his integrity. Let’s Read the full choose your friends wisely story to know what really happened.

In a village, there lived a very simple and true person named Mangalram. He was very poor. He used to cut dry wood in the forest throughout the day and later tied them in bundles and took them to sell in the market. He used to return home after buying food items like flour, salt, etc. After working hard all day, he was satisfied with whatever he earned.

One day Mangalram went to the forest to cut wood. He climbed the tree by cutting the dry branch of a tree on the bank of a river flowing through the forest. While cutting the branch, his axe fell into the river. Mangalram came down from the tree to take out the axe. He took several dips in the river, but he could not find his axe. Mangalram became very sad. Holding his head with both hands, he sat on the bank of the river. Tears started flowing from his eyes. He didn’t even have money to buy another axe. Now how he would take care of his family without the axe was haunting him.

Seeing Mangalram weeping like this, the deity of the forest felt pity for him. He appeared in front of Mangalram in the form of a child and said, “Why are you crying?” Mangalram bowed to him and said, “My axe fell into the river. Now how will I chop wood and feed my children? The child-like god said to Mangalram, “Don’t cry! I take your axe out of the water.” The deity took a dip in the water and came out with a golden axe. He said, “Take  your axe!” Mangalram said, “It is a golden axe. I’m a poor man where will I get the gold to make axes for me? This is not my axe.” The deity took a second dip in the water and took out the silver axe and gave it to Mangalram. Mangalram said, “Your Majesty! You suffered a lot for me, but this silver axe is not mine. My axe is made of iron.” The deity took a dip for the third time and came out with Mangalram’s iron axe. Mangalram became happy. He took his axe after giving many thanks to that child-like deity. The deity was very pleased with the honesty of Mangalram. He said, “I am very pleased with your truth. You also take these gold and silver axes.

Mangalram became rich after getting axes of gold and silver. Now he did not need to go to chop wood. One day Mangalram’s neighbour Ramlal asked him, ‘Why don’t you go to chop wood now? How do you take care of your family?’ Mangalram told him the truth about falling his axe into the river. Hearing about Mangalram, greed arose in Ramlal’s mind and he reached the same forest the next day with his axe in the greed of getting gold and silver axes. He started cutting wood on the same tree. After some time he deliberately dropped his axe in the river and he got down from the tree and started crying. The deity of the forest appeared before Ramlal in the form of a child. Asking Ramlal the reason for crying, he took a dip in the river and took out the golden axe. On seeing the golden axe, Ramlal cried out, ‘This is my axe.’ The forest god said, “You are lying. This is not your axe.” The deity threw the axe into the water and he disappeared. Ramlal also lost his axe due to greed. He returned home from the forest crying and regretting.

Moral of the the honest woodcutter story:

The honest woodcutter story teaches us that Honesty is the best policy. Always be honest and content with what you have. Dishonesty and greed can lead to loss and regret, while honesty and gratitude are the keys to true wealth and happiness.”