Once long, long ago, a woodcutter went to the mountains to gather firewood. As always, he took his ax with him. Looking for some fine trees, the woodcutter went deeper and deeper into the mountains. While wandering around the mountains, he happened to find a cave. He was wondering what was inside the cave, so he bravely went in. He groped his way slowly until his eyes adjusted to the dark. Strangely enough, the cave became wider and brighter as he moved forward. The woodcutter was even more curious and he continued walking. After a while, a new world unfolded before his eyes.

The sun was shining brightly and a warm breeze was blowing gently. Birds were chirping merrily on the trees and a brook was trickling along the lovely forest path. The beauty of the scenery was beyond description. It was almost like paradise. The woodcutter felt like he was dreaming.

He continued walking until he found two old men playing janggi, or Korean-style chess, in the cool shade of a pine tree. Both men had grey hair and long, white beards. The woodcutter came close to them, but the old people didn’t seem to care. They didn’t seem to care about anything in the world. They were only concentrating on their game. The woodcutter started to watch the game. Before long, he found the game very fascinating and entertaining. He put his ax aside and sat down. He was completely engrossed in the game. In a little while, one of the old men smiled at the woodcutter and took some dates from his pocket. The old man gave the fruit to the woodcutter. The woodcutter thanked him for his kindness and continued watching the game.

Suddenly, he wondered how much time had passed. He remembered that he had been cutting trees. Now he realized that he should go back to work instead of wasting time watching the old men’s game. He stood up and said goodbye to the two old men, who, again grinned at him. He picked up his ax and started heading back the way he came. But a strange thing happened when he came out through the cave. Upon getting out of the mysterious cave, the handle of his ax crumbled all of a sudden. As a result, the metal head of the ax dropped to the ground. The woodcutter thought it was very strange, but he hurried home.

But more surprising things were awaiting the woodcutter. He returned to his village, but the village didn’t appear to be the same one that he had left that morning. He couldn’t recognize a single person. All the people he saw were total strangers to him. Feeling uneasy, he hurried his steps to his house. When he arrived at his house, he found strangers there. Sure enough it was the house where he had lived, but the furniture and other household stuff there looked quite different. He asked the people in the house who they were. The people looked even more perplexed and asked him who he was and why he intruded into their house. Stunned and puzzled, the woodcutter yelled out the names of his wife and children and began to search all over the house. Then, one of the people stopped him and asked, “Sir, how do you know my grandfather’s name? Who are you, anyway?”

Finally, the woodcutter realized that he had visited another world where gods or some heavenly creatures had been playing the game of janggi. Although he thought he had spent a few hours watching their game, many, many years actually passed in this human world. And it turned out that his family members had all died long ago, and the strangers living in his house were in fact his descendants. The woodcutter stood there for a long time, not knowing what to say or do.

So that explains the old saying, “You don’t even realize your ax handle is rotting away while you’re amusing yourself.” It refers to a situation in which a person is unaware of the passing of time as he or she is absorbed in something.