fables folktales · Ages 9-12

The Cracked Pot That Watered Flowers by Accident

A pot ashamed of leaking learns that its flaw has been growing a path of flowers no perfect pot could make.

The whole story

1. At sunrise, Mara carried the terracotta pot from the courtyard tap to the far end of the garden. It was heavy, chipped at the rim, and cracked nearly to the bottom.

2. She filled it to the brim and tipped it over the beans. Water splashed onto the roots, but a thin stream slipped through the crack and ran down her skirt.

3. Mara wiped her skirt and frowned at the pot. Every trip left a wet trail behind it, and every trip delivered less water than she had planned.

4. By noon, Mara set the cracked pot on a shelf. The smooth pots stood beside it, shining and useful. The cracked one wished it could disappear behind the broom.

5. Mara tried to mend it with clay. The clay held for one careful filling, then opened again when she lifted the pot.

6. The next morning, Mara used the pot once more. She carried it along the garden path with both hands, as if carefulness alone could keep the water inside.

7. That evening, Mara followed the trail back from the beans. Along its edges, the soil was darker than the rest, and small green points had pushed through.

8. A week later, the green points had become flowers. They traced the pot's route in a bright, crooked line from the tap to the bean bed.

9. Mara touched the crack and then the flowers. The pot had not watered the garden evenly. It had watered a path.

10. Mara stopped trying to seal the crack. She filled the pot, lifted it, and walked the crooked route where the flowers were waiting.

11. The pot was still cracked, and water still escaped. But its flaw had been growing a path of flowers no perfect pot could make.

Make a story like this →