Read Aesop's Fables in Japanese. Introducing "Golden Ax Silver Axe".
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These days, the temperature difference is so intense that it's hard to decide which clothes to wear. It's also the season when it's easy to catch a cold, so please take care of yourself. By the way, I have hay fever and my nose is itchy every day. Is everyone okay with pollen this time of year? I've had hay fever for about 15 years, and every year it's painful, so I'm very envious of people who don't have hay fever...!
Well, this time as well, I will introduce a story so that everyone can enjoy learning Japanese.
The story to introduce is "Golden Ax Silver Axe".
"Gold Ax Silver Ax"
Khan Khan Khan
In the forest, a woodcutter was chopping wood with an ax.
However,
Spawn!
Then the ax left my hand and fell into a nearby spring.
"Oops... I only have one ax... what should I do?"
The woodcutter sat down, holding his head.
God was watching the lumberjack.
God dived into the spring and looked for an ax.
Then he came out of the spring with a golden ax and said to the woodcutter:
"Did you drop this golden axe?"
said the woodcutter in amazement.
"No, mine is not such a fine axe."
So God dived into the spring again.
Then he came out with a silver ax this time.
"Then, was it this silver ax that you dropped?"
"No, I dropped a normal iron axe."
God dived into the spring again.
And he came out with a woodcutter's ax.
"Is this the ax you dropped?"
"Yes. That's my axe."
God said with a smile.
"If you are honest, I will give you three axes."
He gave the woodcutter a gold axe, a silver axe, and the woodsman's axe.
The woodcutter happily brought back three axes.
The woodcutter went to his friends and told them that God had given them an ax.
Then a fellow man
"Okay, I'll take the gold and silver ax too."
I thought.
So he went to the spring, threw the ax into the spring himself, and sat there crying.
Then God again came out and asked the man why he was crying.
"I dropped my ax into the spring."
God dived into the spring and brought a golden ax.
"Did you drop this golden axe?"
"Yes. That's my axe."
The man happily answered.
Then God got angry and said,
"You brazen bastard. I won't do anything to you, you liar."
and ascended to heaven.
The man lost not only his gold axe, but his own axe.
How was it.
This story is also a very famous fable of Aesop. Have you ever read in Japanese?
You said that an honest person can be happy, but a person who tries to make a profit by lying cannot be happy.
By the way, do you know roughly what the price of gold and silver is?
I looked it up on the internet and found that gold costs about 8,500 yen per gram and silver costs about 107 yen per gram. That's the difference in price between gold and silver. Of course, I've never seen a real gold axe, but you can imagine how amazing it is when you hear the price.
From here, I would like to introduce two Japanese proverbs related to honesty.
The first is “honesty is a treasure for life”. Honest people are trusted by everyone, and by doing so they can be successful and happy. Honesty is an asset that should be cherished throughout life.
Example) A: "My husband is a really serious person, and he can't tell even the slightest lie or joke."
B: “ Honesty is the treasure of a lifetime .
The second is "honest people see fools". This one has a slightly different meaning than the first one. It means that a cunning person manages to be successful and succeeds, but an honest person loses because he lives seriously. It's sad, but it's also true that things like this happen in real life.
Example) A: "My test score with Mr. Tanaka was actually 70, but the teacher made a mistake and wrote it as 75."
B: “Hmm, your score increased.”
A: "Yeah, so I told the teacher honestly, but Tanaka didn't say anything, so my score is still high. It really feels like an honest person sees an idiot ."
B: "It's true that I feel like I've lost something, but it's a good thing that I was honest."
This time, I introduced the story "Golden Ax Silver Axe". Did you learn any new words or expressions?
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