The first day the young lumberman cut down ten trees. His axe was keen and he was strong and fresh. The second day, he worked just as hard. In fact, he felt that he worked even harder than the first day. But only eight trees fell.Tomorrow, he would get an earlier start. So he went to bed early and the next morning worked as hard as he could, but managed to cut down only seven trees.
The following day, he was down to five trees. The fifth day, he managed to chop down only three trees, and was exhausted by nightfall. Early the next morning, he was chopping away furiously when an old man passed by and asked, "Why don't you stop and sharpen your axe?"
"I can't. I'm too busy chopping down trees," he replied.
