A poor widow was living nearby a river in a tumble-down hut. For, she had no wood to burn for warmth and no food to eat. Anxo is the name of the boy that she is totally dependent on for food and wood. She would ask the little boy to go fetch wood for warmth and food to eat. The boy is small but hardworking and honest. He runs, jumps barefoot, crosses a river in search of wood. Rarely luck favored him that he returns home with food that fills both his mother’s and his stomach. One day during one of his trips in search of food, he comes across a crooked stone. Assuming the stone is dying because of the cold, he removes his jacket and covers the stone. Soon, he rushes home and explains his mother about the stone. Anoxo’s mother gets angry and scolds him saying that he is being foolish thinking a stone will die of cold. Soon, she commands him to bring his jacket back.

Honesty is always rewardedLittle Anxo

Little Anxo rushes back to the woods to collect his jacket. To his surprise, he finds the stone has grown bigger in size and a closer look at the stone reveals a box of silver coins under it. Little Anxo, believes the money is stolen money and hence he throws the box full of silver coins into the river. All coins reach the bottom of the river except for one which stays afloat. The boy believing the coin is honest, collects it and reaches home. He explains his mother the entire story. The mother gets frustrated and kicks him out shouting at him. She commands him to fetch his own food and shelter going forward. Little Anxo, feeling sad reaches a merchant named Benehero and starts working for him. He would collect wood and cook for the rich merchant. One day the merchant sets off on a trip and asks the small boy what he wants from the foreign land. The boy gives him the silver coin and requests the merchant to buy anything that is worth the silver coin.

The merchant after finishing his business sets foot on his ship to return home. Suddenly, he remembers that he needed to buy something for the boy. He comes across an old woman who was dumping a cat into the sea. The merchant purchases the cat from the old woman for the silver coin and sails off. Because of a stormy weather, he had to lay down the anchor in some unknown foreign land. People at the land had difficulty eating food because of rats. The merchant then fetches the cat and releases on the foreign land. Rats run for their lives and the foreign land becomes rat-free. The locals beg the merchant for the services of a cat. The merchant agrees to provide the cat’s service for six hundred silver coins and makes the land rat-free. He reaches home and hands away from the money and cat to the boy beside getting him married to his daughter as Little Anxo is now richer than the merchant himself.

_ jui