The Plant and the Broken Pot

The Parable of the Broken Pot is an Ai-Naidari parable and has many versions. This version of the Parable of the Broken Pot first appeared in chapter seventeen of Black Blossom.

"Reck this: Once there was a country merchant, an aridkedi potter who was the wonder of her community, for her wisdom and her deft touch with her art. So great was her talent that she promised to mend any of her pots, did they break, or else issue a new one in its stead."

"One day, the daughter of a Farmer brought her such a pot, which had split down one side and cracked open. The potter took it from her hand and brushed dirt from the inside surface."

"“I should have known better,” the Farmer’s daughter said. “I put a seed in it, knowing that the roots would grow beyond the breadth of the pot.”"

"“A seed does not always live up to the promise of its predecessors,” the potter said. “One cannot count on it thriving. But when it does, one must not begrudge the pot it breaks when it grows too large to be held by it.”"

"And with this, she gave a new pot to the Farmer’s daughter, who did her best from then on to transfer her plants before they broke their vessels. Most of the time she succeeded; the times she did not, she did not begrudge the crack."

"This is the tale of the broken pot. Reck it well."