The Potter

One day a potter was driving along with an empty cart when he met a cheerful passer-by. The man asked to work for him and said he knew an unusual way to make…

One day a potter was driving along with an empty cart when he met a cheerful passer-by. The man asked to work for him and said he knew an unusual way to make sturdy pottery. The potter agreed, and they shook hands on it. His new assistant asked him to prepare forty cartloads of good clay and let him work undisturbed in the shed at night.

After dark, tapping, rustling and cheerful laughter came from the workshop. The potter went to the door, but remembered their agreement and did not interrupt. Through a little window he saw tiny woodland craftspeople: some were kneading clay, others were turning pottery wheels, and others were smoothing the rims. By morning, the whole shed was filled with neatly shaped cups, jugs and pots.

On the second night, the craftspeople decorated the partly dried pieces with berries, leaves and circles like the sun, then carefully placed them in the kiln. They crushed the broken pieces from unsuccessful pots and mixed them into fresh clay. This helped the new vessels crack less during drying and firing. Through the little window, the potter watched his helpers keep the heat steady. By dawn, the pottery was strong and rang clearly when tapped.

On market day, all the pottery fitted onto one large cart. The townspeople admired the patterns, but the potter did not hurry to sell. He filled each vessel with water and showed the buyer that its walls did not leak. People chose the pottery they needed, and those buying especially large jugs asked for time to pay after the harvest.

Back home, the potter fairly shared the earnings with his assistant and thanked the night-time craftspeople. The assistant left him a notebook of rules: knead the clay well, take your time with the firing, and check every pot. From then on, the potter worked more slowly, but his pottery lasted a long time. And there was always a bowl of milk by the shed for those who had once helped him learn to love true craftsmanship.