Deep in the highlands, an elderly woodcutter and his wife shared a peaceful life. They had grown old together, their faces etched with the lines of many happy years. Yet, two reasons made them sad. They had never been blessed with children and they deeply feared the day old age and death would inevitably tear them apart.
One morning, the old man ventured deeper into the forest than usual to gather wood. Due to dense fog he quickly lost his way. For hours, as he struggled to find the route, his limbs turned heavy with exhaustion. Just as his strength began to fail, he stumbled upon a crystal-clear spring. Desperate, he scooped up the water and drank to quench his thirst.
Instantly, vitality surged through his veins. Bending over the water, he gasped at his reflection. The wrinkles were gone, his gray hair had turned dark and he possessed the strength of a twenty-year-old man. He had found the legendary fountain of youth.
He raced back to his cottage. When he knocked, his wife opened the door but recoiled in fear, failing to recognize the handsome stranger. “It is me, your husband!” he cried out, explaining the miraculous spring. Overjoyed and desperate to match his newfound youth, she asked for directions. “Wait here,” she urged, hurrying out into the forest alone.
Hours passed and the sun began to set, but she did not return. Growing anxious, the young woodcutter retraced his steps back to the spring. The forest was silent except for a faint, rhythmic sound. Reaching the spring, he found no sign of his wife-only a small bundle wrapped in her clothes resting on the moss. Inside, a tiny baby girl wept softly.
His heart sank as the grim truth became clear. In her desperate greed to be young again, she had drunk far too much of the magic water.
Moral of the fable: Refrain from greed