A poor woodcutter finds a battered old chair abandoned in the middle of the forest. Rather than use it for firewood, he decides to give it a good home in his tiny cottage. The woodcutter’s family love and care for the chair until their continued poverty forces him to sell it. From this point the chair falls into the possession of a succession of people who mistreat it quite appallingly. Fortunately for the chair the story eventually comes full circle and the woodcutter finds himself unexpectedly well rewarded for his earlier acts of kindness.