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| - After a good while the Daeva came out with an iron axe. "Is this iron axe the one you dropped?"
Upon seeing the rusty iron axe, the thief nodded his head. "Yes, it is. That is the axe I dropped."
The old Daeva smiled at his answer.
- Once upon a time, there was a kind-hearted thief. He stole good from the rich and gave them to the poor, and everybody loved him except the rich.
One day, the thief was minding his own business, roaming through the forest when he happened upon an iron axe stuck deep in the stump of a tree.
- Very well, I'll look around once more." The old Daeva dove into the water again and came back with a silver axe.
"Is this the one you dropped?"
"No, that is not the axe I dropped."
The Daeva frowned and went back into the spring.
- Upon returning to the village, he sold the gold and silver axes for a lot of money.
He founded a new bandit camp with the money, training young wannabe bandits all over how to steal from the rich and give to the poor.
- "Was it you who threw the axe? Here I was, meditating in peace and some lout chucks an axe at my head!"
The Daeva was so furious that the thief barely managed to sputter a reply.
"Oh! I am sorry, Daeva! I saw the axe stuck in the stump...I just tried to pull it out...to give to some poor woodsman, you see..."
- The Daeva seemed convinced that the thief didn't intend to harm anyone. "I see. I will forgive you. Now be gone."
The old Daeva began to sink back into the water. The thief, an idea suddenly occurring to him, said, "Excuse me, Daeva! Would you give me back the axe before you leave?"
- "What a fine axe! I'll bet there's some poor woodcutter who'd love to have this!" he exclaimed.
But the axe was embedded so deeply that he could not free it. "I will have to use all my strength. One, two, three!"
He gave a mighty heave and the axe came free. But he pulled too hard, and it slipped from his grasp and flew into the Daru Spring.
- Ishalgen Folklore
Book 9: The Thief and the Spring
- The Daeva dove back into the spring and came back out with a shining gold axe.
"Is this gold axe the one you dropped?" asked the Daeva. "There's quite a few axes down here, because idiots like you are always hurling axes into springs for Aion knows what reason, so I want to be sure I've given you the right one."
The gold axe looked expensive. He could make some poor person very happy if he gave them that axe. But, even though he was a hardened criminal, he was always honest. "No. It's not mine."
- "Oh, botheration, now I've lost the axe," said the thief, who, despite being a hardened criminal, was polite enough never to swear.
He looked into the deep spring--it was much to deep for him to jump in and get the axe.
He sat down on the stump and pondered how to get the axe out of the spring.
- Suddenly, an old Daeva appeared before him, rubbing his bruised forehead. "Who are you? Did you through that axe into my spring?" he cried.
The thief was startled. It took a moment for him to find his tongue.
- "I knew which axe you dropped all along. I never forget an axe that's thrown at me. I just wanted to test your honesty."
The old Daeva gave the thief all three axes. "Take them as a reward for being the last honest man in Asmodae."
The Daeva disappeared into the spring, leaving the thief standing there confused.
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