[Music] welcome to otto's tales story time brought to you by prageru kids i'm jill and today our fable is about a hard-working man who had enough oh no hey where'd you find this over there five bucks uh you know you could buy a lot of fun stuff with five bucks is it mine oh no i wish it was but this money does not belong to me so i need to give it back why don't you see if you can find out who that might belong to oh okay good boy as i was saying back to our story for the day let's read the honest woodman once upon a time there was a lush green wood with a rushing sparkling river that wove through the trees in that lush green wood there lived a woodcutter a woodman as many people called him he didn't have much money but he worked very hard chopping gathering and selling wood so that his wife and children could have the things they needed every day he'd wake up early with the sunrise and happily make his way through the woods to earn his living he was grateful to be healthy to have his family and to own his old trusty axe that his father gave to him when he was a boy as long as he had his axe the woodman knew he could work and provide for his family on one beautiful day the woodcutter was working on a large tree near the bubbling water chopping chopping chopping away with fast and efficient swings of his axe he was skilled and always enjoyed working quickly to get the job done he toiled tirelessly and eventually his arms began to feel sore i should rest a bit he sat down right where he was so he could catch his breath and then continue working diligently he leaned his axe on the tree trunk he was chopping but the second he released his hand from the handle the axe slipped down the sloping bank it slid too fast for the woodman to catch it into the river it splashed the axe sunk quickly it faded into the deep water until the woodmen could no longer see it what will i do now i can't work and provide for my family without my axe the woodman kneeled where he was distraught and started to think about how he might try to fix the situation just then a water fairy who heard his despair rose from the river and appeared before him the woodman gasped he'd heard of water furies before but had never seen one in real life she spoke why are you distraught sir the woodman revealed what happened and the fairy promptly disappeared back into the river and rose again with an axe made of silver is this your lost axe the fairy offered him the shiny sharp tool the woodman was taken aback by the axe the fairy retrieved it was beautiful pristine brand new he imagined all the things he could provide for his children with the silver that this axe was made of but it was not his axe no that's not mine the woodman revealed my axe was made of steel not silver the fairy placed the silver axe on the bank and disappeared into the water again she sprang back up even quicker than before maybe this one is yours she presented a different axe this one made of solid gold oh i wish that was mine the woodman exclaimed but it's not this axe is worth much more than my old axe as valuable as this is i can't take this it doesn't belong to me the fairy laid the golden axe on the bank next to the silver one and sunk back into the water one more time up she soared again up through the river with yes that's it the woodman was so happy to finally see his trusty old steel hatchet the fairy smiled and returned the worn tool to the woodmen she also gifted him with the silver and gold axes as well these are all yours now the fairy informed him they are gifts from the river because you told the truth that afternoon the woodman finished his chopping using his trusty steel axe and then headed home with all three axes slung over his shoulder he beamed with a grateful heart and thought of all the good things his newly earned rewards would bring his family the end now that is a great story about honesty i mean who oh hey this is a cool hat did you find out who dropped that five dollars on the ground you did and they gave you this as a reward for returning their money well that is really cool really great you know otto that hat is fun but the bigger and most important reward of all is that you chose to be honest and you chose to do the right thing because doing the right thing feels good the sense of pride and lessons that we learn from choosing to be honest are the real rewards that last our entire lives and make our communities and our country better i'm very proud of you and um that hat is really cool can i try it on [Music] hey don't worry i'll give it back thank you for watching otto's tales check out some of our other stories too keep reading keep watching and keep being honest we're so glad you joined us for today's reading otto's tales is made possible through the generous support of donors like you you can help us keep the stories coming by going to prageru.com donate today