History Main / HonestAxe

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'', there is a pond, accompanied by a sign reading "Do not throw things into the pond!" If you disobey it and toss in a bomb, the fairy will ask what kind of bomb you dropped. Telling her it was gold causes her to [[HPTo1 bomb you down to one heart]], claiming it was silver and will confiscate your bombs; the honest answer upgrades your bomb bag.

* Referenced in ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}''. Ebisu says "Did you drop the gold axe or the silver axe?" when tapped on in the ''shikigami'' inventory.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'', there is a pond, accompanied by a sign reading "Do not throw things into the pond!" If you disobeyed it and tossed in a bomb, the fairy would ask what kind of bomb you dropped. Telling her it was gold caused her to [[HPTo1 bomb you down to one heart]], claiming it was silver had her confiscate your bombs, and of course the honest answer upgraded your bomb bag.
** The same sequence appears more or less identically in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]''.

* Spoofed (yet again) in ''Anime/DotHackSign''. Tsubasa throws an axe into a pond, and a spirit pops up to ask if it was the gold or the silver axe... at which point he attacks it, sending it fleeing in terror. Bear notes that he likes to do the same thing when stressed.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' does this twice: first with a normal fairy that will upgrade your boomerang and shield to a magic boomerang and red shield, then with a fat fairy that will upgrade the Master Sword or Tempered Master Sword into a gold one and a regular bow and arrow into silver ones (which you need to defeat Ganon). Both will also give you green medicine of magic in one of your bottles in the same way. However, in both cases you actually ''throw'' the things in the water (and if it's anything but the right item they'll simply give it back and ask that you be more careful with it).

** The same sequence appears more or less identically in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap''.

* Spoofed in an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': After finding out about a golden Sudowoodo in a forest, Jessie thinks of capturing a normal Sudowoodo and throwing it in a lake, so a fairy (that looks like her) would come out and offer to return the normal Sudowoodo or a golden one.

* Spoofed in the intro to ''VideoGame/WarioWare: Touched!'', where Wario drops a Game Boy Advance and a GBA SP into an open sewer, and an old man appears to ask Wario whether he dropped the older systems or a Nintendo DS. Wario, naturally, tackles the old man and [[TakeAThirdOption takes all three.]] The old man gets his revenge on Wario at the end of the game.

* ''Manga/KinNoKanojoGinNoKanojo'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin 'Gold Girlfriend, Silver Girlfriend']]) uses this for the premise; a boy meets TheOjou he has a crush on at a sacred pond, and she ends up falling into it. The Goddess of the pond appears bearing golden- and silver-haired versions of her, [[RedOniBlueOni each with a different aspect of her personality]]. After he honestly says it was neither, the spirit gives him both girls. This was actually the Goddess' way of granting the girl's own wish for somebody to trade places with her(sayeth the Goddess, the only person who can live your life is yourself), and the boy's wish of having a second chance with the girl. HilarityEnsues.

* On [[http://gastrophobia.com/index.php?date=2009-01-16 this page]] of ''Webcomic/GastroPhobia'', the shapeshifting mockingbird princess Mim offers to retrieve Phobia's sword from the lake bottom. Phobia and Klepto demonstrate their GenreSavvy.

* A variation appears in the first ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy1'' if you stop to think about it: the dragon Bahamut promises you great power if you go to the Citadel of Trials and retrieve a "token of your courage". The item you get at the end is a simple rat's tail, when you would expect some kind of major artifact. Bahamut recognizes this as the true token and upgrades your party's classes.

* [[ImageBooru Danbooru]] has [[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=honest_axe+rating%3As a tag for parodies of this.]] As expected of the site, it's somewhat NotSafeForWork and roughly half of it is ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'', Johnny and Gyro come across Sugar Mountain, a Stand linked to a massive tree and the puddles of water surrounding it, whose power is to "give back" whatever falls in the water as much more valuable items, [[spoiler: including the Corpse Parts it's guarding]]. Its mouthpiece is a [[Really700YearsOld seemingly]] young girl who, much like the fable it's based on, asks the objects' owner which one is rightfully theirs. Giving a dishonest answer will result in death via [[WhenTreesAttack disembowelment]], while honest people will be gifted both the original object and its valuable counterpart. However, not using up your "gifts" before sunset (this includes selling them or exchanging them for something else) will cause you to [[FateWorseThanDeath become a part of the Sugar Mountain tree, freeing its current guardian and waiting possibly ''years'' to take the latter's place]]. Gyro and Johnny take advantage of this by [[spoiler: first obtaining tons of money and valuable items, and then tossing rabbit ears and a rabbit leg in the spring and getting the ears and right arm of the Holy Corpse in exchange, and they almost end up becoming part of the tree by their misfortunes in trying to get rid of them fast enough]]. It's later revealed that the Stand itself exists [[spoiler:to guard the ears and right arm of the Corpse, and if both parts are obtained by someone and exchanged accordingly, the Stands will stop existing and all the people trapped in the tree, including its current guardian, will be freed]].

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'', Johnny and Gyro come across Sugar Mountain, a tree that tests the greed of those seeking its treasures, [[spoiler: including the Corpse Parts]]. Giving a dishonest answer will result in death via [[WhenTreesAttack disembowelment]]. Furthermore, not using up your ''gifts'' will cause you to [[FateWorseThanDeath become a part of a massive tree]] [[spoiler: that gave you the stuff in the first place!]] Gyro and Johnny take advantage of this by [[spoiler:tossing rabbit ears in the spring and getting the ears of the Holy Corpse in exchange.]] On top of all this, [[spoiler:the girl who's making these deals for the spring is trying to get her parents back; they fell for it, and the only way to get them out is to find two people to take their place.]] One has to wonder why the tree even developed a Stand like that.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': A story in the Hebrew ''Torah'' says that when Solomon became King of Israel, God appeared and offered to grant him a blessing: immense wealth or destruction of his enemies. Solomon instead asked to be blessed with wisdom, as he didn't feel he was good enough to be King. God granted him wisdom, and wealth, and destruction of his enemies.

* In the fairytale-themed ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'', this is referenced in the episode when the girls go to Marchenland. As we see the five girls meeting various fairy tale characters, Reika speaks to a fairy representing the lake spirit, and truthfully says she didn't drop ''any'' axe. The fairy is touched by her honesty and as a reward... [[AffectionateGestureToTheHead pats her head while calling her a good girl]].

* The original four ''[[Anime/DotHackSign .hack]]'' games had this as a primary means of altering weapons. To clarify: there are pools of water scatted across most above-ground maps. You can drop any weapon you happen to be carrying into these pools, at which point a water spirit (one of several different subtypes) pops out and asks if you dropped a golden axe, or a silver axe. Answering that you dropped one of the precious-metal axes will get you an item that you can sell for a fair amount of money, but is useless in combat. Answering "neither" causes the water spirit to give you a different (usable) weapon than the one you dropped in-- usually a better one (depending on the type of water sprite who came out of the pool). At higher levels, its almost always preferable to answer "neither" since even weapons below your level sell for more than either the gold or silver axes. If the item can't be altered by the spring (as in it's too strong already) the sprite will direct you to a stronger sprite and give both the golden and silver axes along with what you tossed in.

** Then, in chapter 292, twisted for some macabre humor. After the musician, with whom she had fallen in love, dies of old age, she [[spoiler:throws a rusty axe into the lake, then appears out of the lake with the rusty axe and an "exceptionally sharp axe", asks ''herself'' which one she dropped into the lake, to which she answers honestly, and as a reward for her honesty she gives herself the sharp axe... And promptly uses it to cut the ribbons keeping her bound to the lake and preventing her from seeing the sea the musicians sung her about.]]

* A variant of this happens in ''Let's Manage the Tower'' when Kosuke is offered two assistants, with the hair color of both as a stand-in for the axes.

* Spotted in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: Wild World'': If you give Pascal the Scallop, he will tell you that he dropped it on the beach. He will then ask you if you dropped a golden axe or a silver axe on the beach.
** Subverted: You have to ask for the Golden Axe to get it from him. Otherwise, you get his picture.
** Serena, the goddess of the fountain in ''City Folk'', seems to set this up... [[ZigZaggingTrope only to be ridiculously finicky]] about whether or not she rewards you for your efforts. GuideDangIt doesn't even begin to cover it, as being honest, flattering her, or even [[TheScrappy admitting that you hate her]] is not guaranteed to yield any results.
** Often talking to a villager will have them remark "I found this [insert item here]. Is it yours?" However sometimes it's this trope (they're testing you) or they honestly ''did'' find it laying around and don't know whether or not you actually did lose it. There's no way of knowing if lying or telling the truth is how you get the item; it's merely a gamble.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'', giving a dishonest answer will result in death via [[WhenTreesAttack disembowelment]]. Furthermore, not using up your ''gifts'' will cause you to [[FateWorseThanDeath become a part of a massive tree]] [[spoiler: that gave you the stuff in the first place!]] Gyro and Johnny take advantage of this by [[spoiler:tossing rabbit ears in the spring and getting the ears of the Holy Corpse in exchange.]] On top of all this, [[spoiler:the girl who's making these deals for the spring is trying to get her parents back; they fell for it, and the only way to get them out is to find two people to take their place.]] One has to wonder why the tree even developed a Stand like that.

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** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'', there is a pond, accompanied by a sign reading "Do not throw things into the pond!" If you disobeyed it and tossed in a bomb, the fairy would ask what kind of bomb you dropped. Telling her it was gold caused her to [[HPToOne bomb you down to one heart]], claiming it was silver had her confiscate your bombs, and of course the honest answer upgraded your bomb bag.

* Referenced in ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'', where the heroes draw their power from various stories and fairy tales. SixthRanger Kamen Rider Saikou uses a version of this story that uses swords instead of axes, and he transforms into a sword himself instead of a warrior.

* The ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' doijinshi "Dorikano" [[https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/dorikano#7 does this]] with Kyubey asking Homura if she dropped [[spoiler:Ultimate Madoka]] with golden eyes, MagicalGirl Madoka, or the normal human version "with no redeeming traits." Homura immediately picks the normal one; Kyubey is irritated that she got it right, but we don't see whether Homura is rewarded or punished for this. The next page reverses roles, making Madoka choose between [[spoiler:Devil]] Homura, Magical Girl Homura, or the ordinary "glasses Homura." [[TakeAThirdOption Madoka says they're ALL hers]], and [[UpToEleven demands two additional variants as well]].

* [[ImageBooru Danbooru]] has [[https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=honest_axe+rating%3As a tag for parodies of this.]] As expected of the site, it's somewhat NotSafeForWork and roughly half ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''.