VII
THE WOODCUTTER AND HIS DONKEY
ONCE upon a time there was a poor woodcutter, and his work was to go out every day into the forest and cut wood. In the evening he used to load up his donkey with the wood he had cut and return to the town, where he sold it. The money he got each day was only sufficient for the food of himself and his wife for that day.
They lived like that many months and many days, and they were very, very poor; till one day the woodcutter went out to the forest as usual to cut wood. As he was at work he looked up and saw a number of birds sitting on the top of a tree, with their beaks wide open. And there was a cloud of insects about the tree, and they fell into the birds' mouths.
Then the woodcutter said to himself, "Behold these birds, they sit on the top of a tree with their mouths open, and God feeds them by bringing insects to fall into their mouths. They do not have to work or even to move from their perch; they just open their mouths and are fed. Why should I have to work hard all day and then only get just enough to eat? Why should not God feed me like that?"
So he loaded up his donkey with the wood he had already cut and returned to the town. When he reached his house he went in and got into bed.
His wife went out and sold the wood, and then bought some food and returned home. When she found her husband in bed she said, "My husband, are you ill?"
He replied, "No, my wife, I am waiting for God to feed me as I saw Him feed the birds to-day."