Once upon a time, there was an old rich man in a town.
He owned two pieces of pottery with beautiful colors and shapes that he
cherished like his sons.
He held and polished them every day
After he finished,
he placed them carefully on a stationery chest not
to be touched by anyone.
One day, while the old man went out,
an old maid cleaned the house
“Hurrah-hurrah! He-he!“
The old maid was wiping the room, humming a song to herself.
The floor was very slippery because she cleaned so well.
That was why she fell on her back with a thump.
Good heavens!
At that moment, her hand hit and shattered one of the pots!
They were broken!
“Oh no! What should I do?”
Her chest was pounding, her arms and legs were trembling.
The old maid dropped down to the floor, feeling discouraged and hopeless.
“I’m so dead!” She sobbed her heart out.
The mistress of the house came into the room astonished by her weeping.
“Granny, what’s the problem? Oh, no, what did you do to pot!”
The face of the mistress turned pale.
“I’m a dead woman, mistress,” she replied, weeping.
“Granny, don’t cry. Crying won't make things better."
The generous mistress thought deeply for a while.
Then, she whispered to the old maid.
Around evening, the old master came back home.
“My dear, where is the other pot?”
The mistress hesitated then answered.
“I broke it by mistake. Please forgive me.”
“What? What did you say?”
His face turned red with anger just like burning fire.
Just at that moment, the old maid came and knelt down.
“No, Master. It was not her. I just did….”
“What did you say? I would never forgive you!”
When the old man roared at her,
the old maid suddenly stood up.
And then she flung the other pot
that was in perfect shape to the ground.
Crash!
“How dare you, old lady!”
The old man lost his temper.
“You wish to die, don't you?”
The old man glared fiercely at her.
The old maid spoke with sobs.
“I’m going to pay for it with my death, anyway.
That’s why I broke the other one.
If I do, this kind of tragedy won’t happen again.”
The old man sobered as he realized what she had said.
At that moment, the mistress broke her silence and spoke.
“My dear, she did make a mistake to break the pottery.
But there’s nothing more precious than a human being.”
The old man was quiet for a while. He finally opened his mouth,
“I was mistaken. I apologize, Granny!”
From that day on, the old man didn’t value pottery anymore
even if he found a nice and beautiful one.
Because he realized that
nothing is more precious than a human being.