A Single Shard

Tree-ear is very upset by Min’s comment about father-son potters. He thinks to himself, “It’s not my fault you lost your son, not my fault that I am an orphan! Why must it be father to son? If the pot is made well, does it matter whose son made it?” (93). Crane-man explains that many years ago, there was a law that the sons of potters had to become potters because so many were leaving the profession. While this is not still the law, it has become a local tradition to pass pottery skills from father to son. Tree-ear becomes so depressed by his bleak prospects that he loses all joy in his work. Then, it occurs to him that he can still mold clay figurines by hand even if he doesn’t learn how to throw pots on a wheel.

Min continues to work on his samples for the palace all through the summer and succeeds in creating two perfect inlaid vases. He gives Tree-ear a special wooden backpack, or jiggeh, to carry them, but worries that they won’t be cushioned well enough. The boy offers that Crane-man is an expert straw weaver who could make the necessary container.