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Yiler's Story: Chapter 8
By Yiler Huang
Damon stared at the tree the annoying boy wanted him to cut down. He walked around the tree and decided to look for a tool first, perhaps an ax would be enough. Just as he was about to leave the tree, a chubby man approached him with an ax on his shoulder. He was wearing some sort of uniform, with different tools equipped on his belt. On his shoulder, there is a small patch with a symbol resembling a tree on it.
“Excuse me, the king wants this tree removed, and I’m here to cut it down. Would you mind staying away from it for a moment? It will take around half an hour.” The chubby man asked politely.
Damon was surprised, and he was glad that he didn't need to cut the tree down himself. “No problem,” Damon replied.
“Thanks.” The woodcutter said as he put his ax on the floor and started stretching his back and arms, preparing for the work he was about to do.
Damon decided to take a walk around the city to wait for the woodcutter. Half an hour, and I’ll be able to get Maverick back to Roderick. He thought with joy.
After thirty minutes, Damon returned to the park where the tree was. He expected to see it cut down but was soon disappointed in what he saw. Beads of sweat were visible on the woodcutter’s cheek, as he gasped heavily, trying to pull out his ax that was stuck in the trunk of the tree. After failing to separate the ax from the tree several times, the woodcutter sat down and decided to take a break.
“Do you need any help?” Damon asked.
“What? No, thanks. I think I’m almost there.” The woodcutter wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and stood up again. He held onto the ax and pulled it out with his weight, he almost fell backward when he successfully pulled the ax out. He held the ax up and swung it at the tree forcefully. The ax cut deeply into the tree, and the woodcutter struggled to pull it out again.
Damon had cut down a few trees himself back in his hometown. Though he was no master, he could tell that the woodcutter was not really good at what he was doing. “Have you done this before?” Damon asked.
“No, this is my first job as a woodcutter.” The woodcutter was still struggling to retrieve the ax. “Don’t worry about me, how… hard could this… be…” He added as he proceeded to pull the ax out.
“I can help you, I’ve done this several times before.” Damon was starting to get a little impatient.
“Thanks, but I can do this myself. It’s just cutting down a tree, I can totally do this.“ He swung the ax again. This time he missed the swing and the ax slipped out and spun across the park. Fortunately, no one was standing in its way. He picked his ax up and prepared for another swing.
“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Damon questioned in concern.
“No, I was just… uh… warming up.” He spun and drove the ax at the tree. This time it bounced off and almost hit Damon.
How is he so bad at this Damon thought in frustration.
“I can do it for you if…”
“No thanks, this isn’t that hard.” The woodcutter interrupted Damon.
Damon continued watching the woodcutter struggle for a short while. Because he hit the tree on a different spot each time, the trees had no sign of falling. The woodcutter sighed as he put his ax down and proceeded to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Damon asked.
“I’m hungry, I’ll be back soon.” the woodcutter said as he disappeared into the streets.
Damon thought for a moment and decided to pick up the ax from the ground. In less than an hour, he managed to cut the tree down. At the same time, the boy Damon met earlier entered the park, riding on Maverick like a horse again.
“You really cut the tree down!?” The boy asked in surprise as he saw Damon standing next to the fallen tree.
“Yes.”
“Very well, you have proven that you deserve Maverick. He is your dog now. I’m bored of having a dog anyways, I ran out of jerkies and he stopped listening to me,” The boy said as he got off from Maverick.
Finally, Damon thought as he accepted Maverick from the boy.
The bias in this chapter: The Dunning Kruger Effect