A man traveled to a distant land on some business. He found himself in a village, and saw that the people were breaking apart their lumber by hand.

“Friends,” he exclaimed, “why do you work your wood by hand? Have you not axes?”

“What is an axe?” asked the villagers.

The man removed his axe from his belt, split and chopped a log, and laid the wood aside. When they saw this, the people ran throughout the village, spreading the news.

“Oi, come and look, see what Brother Axe has done!”

The villagers crowded around the man, begged, pleaded, loaded him with gifts, and finally relieved him of his axe.

With it in hand, they would take turns chopping their lumber.

On the first day, the chief borrowed it. As soon as he swung it, he slashed his foot. Hollering, he stumbled throughout the village.

“Oi, come, come help, Brother Axe has become angry, he’s bit my foot!”

The villagers gathered, logs in hand, and began to beat the axe. They beat it, saw that it was to no avail, and heaped their logs on it, setting it ablaze.

The fire rose until the whole pile was engulfed. When the flame died, they came and cleared the ashes, and saw that the axe had gone red.

“My god, lads, Brother Axe is furious, see how red he’s become! Wherever he goes, he will wreak havoc upon us! What do we do?”

They thought and thought, and decided to throw the axe in jail.

They took it and tossed it into the chief’s barn. It was full of hay — as soon as the axe was thrown, it set everything ablaze, and a massive fire erupted.

The villagers, horror-struck, chased down the owner. “For the love of God, come, talk some sense into Brother Axe!”