Three Hundred Æsop's Fables/The Image of Mercury and the Carpenter
THE IMAGE OF MERCURY AND THE CARPENTER.
A very poor man, a Carpenter by trade, had a wooden image of Mercury, before which he made offerings day by day, and entreated the idol to make him rich: but in spite of his entreaties he became poorer and poorer. At last, being very wroth, he took his image down from its pedestal, and dashed it against the wall: when its head being knocked off, out came a stream of gold, which the Carpenter quickly picked up, and said, "Well, I think thou art altogether contradictory and unreasonable; for when I paid you honour, I reaped no benefits: but now that I maltreat you I am loaded with an abundance of riches."