The Honest Woodcutter, also known as Mercury and the Woodman and The Golden Axe, is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 173 in the Perry Index.

[2] The Greek version of the story tells of a woodcutter who accidentally dropped his axe into a river and, because this was his only means of livelihood, sat down and wept.

Taking pity on him, the god Hermes (also known as Mercury) dived into the water and returned with a golden axe.

Hearing of the man's good fortune, an envious neighbor threw his own axe into the river and wailed for its return.

The woodcutter's cries disturb the chief of the gods as he deliberates the world's business and he sends Mercury down with instructions to test the man with the three axes and cut off his head if he chooses wrongly.

[6] Charles-André van Loo gives greater prominence to the figures in his Mercure présentant des haches au bûcheron in the Hôtel de Soubise.

In 1987 the story was included on the 40 drachma value of the eight-stamp set of Aesop's fables issued by Greece and features the naked god seated on a rock in the river and offering the three axes to the bearded woodman on the bank.

[9] Though there are other tellings of the story, with local variations, from Nigeria,[10] Thailand,[11] Tibet[12] and Japan,[13] the main plot line in all of them is the same as in the Aesopic version, which suggests their European derivation.