The next day, the woodman returned to the same place in the forest where he had encountered the fairy godmother the day before. He was chopping away on a slippery elm, when suddenly, in a cloud of magenta smoke, there appeared another magical being.
The woodman asked. “Are you the Mary Godmother whose appearance was foretold by the individual whose name I sadly failed to obtain, in my state of stupefaction, yesterday?”
The magical being replied, “I am.”
The woodman said, “I am so glad to see you! I am in desperate need of help!”
Mary replied, “You said it; I didn’t! All that aside, however, I think I may have something of value for you.”
Mary continued, “You have more furniture than Ralph can eat, and you wish to sell it?”
“Yes.”, the woodman replied.
Mary asked, “Who knows about your furniture?”
The woodman said, “Almost no one.”
Mary said, “Then you must tell them.”
The woodman nodded in agreement. “And to do that . . .”,
Mary finished the sentence for him, “ . . . you must spend money.”
The woodman hung his head, and confessed, “But I have very little money. I am but a poor woodman.”
Mary responded, “The good news is that you don’t have to spend much money, you just need to spend your money well.”
The woodman asked, “What should I spend my meager savings on?”
Mary waved her magic wand, and a box appeared at the woodman’s feet. With trembling hands, he opened the box. In it he found a stack of beautiful, hand-drawn (or wand-drawn) pictures of his most lovely wooden chair! Mary instructed him, “Now write on each of these how the people of the town can reach you. Take these to all of the shopkeepers in town. Tell them that if they hang these pictures in their shops, you will give them one-tenth of the money you receive from any customers that they have sent to you.”
The woodman was overjoyed. He said to Mary, “You were right! I now have a way to tell people about my furniture, and it took no money at all!”
Mary replied, “You can leave three pieces of silver on the stump as you go.” With that, in another cloud of magenta smoke, Mary disappeared.
The woodman pulled three silver pieces from his leather pouch and placed them on the stump. He then set off toward town to give his posters to every shopkeeper he could find. As he walked away, he turned back one last time, in disbelief of his good fortune. There was no trace of Mary Godmother, nor of the silver pieces.