Once upon a time, there lived a woodcutter in a small village. He used to make a living by cutting down wood from the nearby forest and selling it as bundles.
One day, this woodcutter walked through the jungle, looking for a suitable tree to cut down. Finally, he chose a huge tree on a river bank. Then he started to cut the tree down. But, accidentally, the axe slipped out of his grip. Unfortunately, the axe fell into the river, making a splash. The river was so muddy and violent. Because it had rained the day before. So the axe was gone.
“Oh no! the only axe I have. Now what do I do?”
The woodcutter cried, looking at the river. Then a bright golden light came through the branches of a tree.
“Why are you crying?”
Someone who emerged from the light spoke. The woodcutter became so sacred.
“Don’t be scared. I am a tree spirit. And I am the deity of this forest. I came to you seeing your sadness,” the figure who came out of the light introduced himself.
“Oh, dear tree spirit, I am a woodcutter. My axe fell into this river. So now there is no way for me to cut firewood. How can I live now?” The woodcutter told Deity why he was so sad. The face of the woodcutter became darker listening to this man.
“Is that so? Then you are the one who harms this forest and the trees and vines in it. I was looking forward to meeting you. I have a strong displeasure towards you.” The tree spirit looked away. But, regardless of how much anger there was, the tree spirit could not hate the helpless man.
The woodcutter slowly took an approach and spoke. “Dear tree spirit, me, my wife, and our daughter live selling firewood. I had only this axe for me to live. Now all my family is in a tragedy. Please have mercy on me.”
“You destroyed the beauty of this forest. You are scared of wild animals. You worked against Mother Nature.” The tree spirit explained, looking around with an unhappy face.
“I accept it was my fault. Please, deity, help me!” the woodcutter begged. The tree spirit thought for a moment.
“Alright then. I’ll give you a new idea. Pick a few of those petals and stamens of fallen phoenix flowers on the ground.” the deity told.
The woodcutter quickly picked up a few petals and stamens. As per the advice of the deity, he tore up and took a piece of a banana leaf.
“Now, place those dry petals on the banana leaf.” The deity instructed.
The woodcutter followed the instructions with confusion in his mind. The deity took a small amount of glue from a damaged tree and pasted the petals and stamens in a pattern. Then the deity pasted the glue around the banana leaf and dropped a few fine grains of sand.
“I can’t believe it. This is so beautiful, dear spirit. This is like a greeting card,” the surprised woodcutter shouted.
“Yes! I am glad that you understood my guidance. May good things happen to you. And remember, you are allowed to take only what is already dead and fallen.” The deity blessed the man and disappeared.
The woodcutter picked up many dried petals, stamens, and leaves that had fallen to the ground. He went home and told what happened to his wife and daughter. They were both surprised and happy after listening to the story.
“Yes, what we have done is wrong. We shouldn’t do that anymore. Let’s try this new idea now,” the wife said.
From that day on, the woodcutter went to the jungle with a huge woven basket and returned with a lot of tree resins, dried leaves, and dried flowers. Then he created greeting cards with the help of his wife and daughter. And he brought firewood, too. But those firewoods were not from cutting down trees. As the deity instructed, he walked the jungle and found dead trees, and fallen tree branches collected them. He realized that it takes almost the same amount of effort to walk. Because he didn’t have to cut down big trees. He just had to walk more and find fallen trees and branches.
The woodcutter took the greeting cards to the nearby town. A lot of people came to him to buy firewood. Because it was the beginning of winter. All of them saw the greeting cards and were amazed to see how beautiful they were. So, the people bought the greeting cards from this man. Then they posted those to their loved ones, wishing them a merry Christmas.
Soon, the woodcutter was famous for greeting cards. People wanted greeting cards for their birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and everything. The poor woodcutter has had a good income since then.
Every time the woodcutter went back into the jungle, he thanked the deity for showing him a way to make a living without harming the forest.