THE DEVIL AND THE WOODCUTTER

There was a man who was a woodcutter. He heard that in the next village there were people who worshiped a gum tree. And he thought, I'm going to take my ax and cut down that tree. So he put his ax on his shoulder and walked down the path toward the town with the intention of chopping down that tree. He knew that Allah is One. And they were wrong to worship that tree. Before he approached the town, a figure jumped before him and announced that he was the Devil and asked, "Where are you going?"
The woodcutter answered, "I'm going to chop down the gum tree in the next village because the people there worship it."
The Devil told him, "Look, it's not necessary. Let them do what they do. You go and do what you want to do. "
He said,"No, I insist. I have every intention to go."
The devil tried to stop him. The man punched him down and jumped on top of him and held him there. Presently the devil looked up at him and said, "Look, you've got me pinned down now. Let's make a deal. I will give you one piece of gold every single day. It will be under your pillow in the morning for the rest of your life if only you forget this task and go back home."
The man thought, every day of my life? The Devil said, "Yes. That's a promise."
He asked the Devil, "How do I know you'll keep this promise?"
"The first day that you don't find the gold, you can just take your ax, and come and chop down this tree."
He thought that seemed logical and agreed. That night he had a sleepless night wondering whether the gold would be under his pillow or not. When he awoke in the morning, there was a piece of gold. He had visions of being an extremely wealthy man. Because he thought every day one piece of gold would appear. The next night, the anticipation of the gold again prevented him from sleeping well. And when he woke, he searched under his pillow, and there was no gold. There was nothing. He looked all around thinking that it might have fallen down, but it wasn't anywhere to be found. He got very angry, picked up his ax and said, I'm going to chop that tree into bits. And he stalked off to the village. At the same spot he met the Devil again.
He said, "you tricked me so now I'm going to chop that tree. The Devil said, "Now look, let the villagers do what they want, and you go and you do-----"
And in a flash, this time the Devil was on top of him. He was weakened. As strong as he was, he couldn't move.
He looked up, and the devil said to him, "Now do you want to know why it was so easy for me to overthrow you this time? Where as yesterday, you threw me down, and were more powerful than I was."
He said, "yes."
And the Devil said to him, "Yesterday you were going to chop the tree down because of your faith in Allah. And today you were going to chop the tree down because you didn't get gold. If you desire gold, it will weaken you in this world."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOFBEATS THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER