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The short story entitled ‘The Axe� by R K. Narayan reveals his concern for Nature. The story revolves round Velan who lived in the ancestral village with his parents. An astrologer passing through the village predicted that Velan would live in a bungalow surrounded by a garden. It was difficult to believe, for Velan and his parents had to strain hard even to subsist.

The ways of Providence are strange. One day, Velan left his parental home in a huff, since his father slapped him for returning home late. He reached Malgudi, where after considerable knocking about, he was employed by an old man to raise a garden round a mansion. Under Velan’s loving care and attention, trees and plants, and flowers of every hue and fragrance sprang up. He lived in a hut in one corner of the compound.

In the whole garden, a margosa tree was particularly dear to him. It was the haunt of the birds. The grandchildren and great grandchildren of the owner of the house played under its shade. Soon things started changing. The signs of age were on Velan. The sons of the owner occupied the house for a time and then rented it out. No tenant occupied it for long. The house, like Velan, started showed signs of ageing. Besides, it was said to be a haunted house. Velan’s hut started giving way. He therefore shifted to the verandah of the bungalow. The prediction had come true. He was the sole occupant of the big house.

Years rolled on. No one carne anywhere near the Ghost House, as it carne to be called. One day Velan heard the sound of a car horn. The occupants of the car asked him to open the doors and windows of the house. The ramshackle house, they said, was beyond repair. There was no alternative, but to pull it down. Every inch of space had to be used. The garden so tenderly raised by Velan had no use for them. A week later one of the sons of the owner told him that the house had been sold to building promoters. They would soon start demolishing the house and cutting down all the trees, except a few. Velan was given notice to leave.

He lived in his old hut. Workers started demolishing the house and hacking the trees. One day he was disturbed by the sound of an axe. He saw four men cutting down the sturdy margosa tree. He could not bear that sight. With tears, he appealed to them ‘This is my child. I planted it. I saw it grow. Don’t cut it down.� They said that they had been paid by their company to do their job. Velan pleaded with them to wait till he left the site. The workers stopped their work for a time. Velan came out of his hut with his belongings and entreated them not to cut the margosa tree, till he had gone far, far away from the garden. Even after Velan had gone a very long distance, the workers could hear his choked voice. ‘Don’t cut yet. I am still within hearing. Please wait till I am gone farther�.

The story “The Axe� illustrates Narayan’s characteristic features---humour, irony, and pathos. Narayan lets the story speak for itself. It is free from authorial comment, either direct or oblique. It is an implicit social commentary on man’s war against and encroachment on Nature for profit. The margosa tree signifies the world of Nature, while the axe symbolises the forces of destruction. The contrast between an innocent, uneducated and unsophisticated man’s love of Nature and the ‘civilised� man’s onslaught on Nature is suggestively presented in the story. The story assumes significance in the context of the current, indiscriminate deforestation. Narayan has employed short fiction as a medium of social criticism without subordinating art to propaganda.