Back to: Andhra Pradesh Board Class 10th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Characters
- The Tiger: The first encounter of potter’s bravery.
- An old lady: Complains about the water leaking in her hut.
- A potter: The main protagonist of the story
- The King: He was impressed by potter’s bravery
- Potter’s wife: She helps the potter in overcoming his fear of riding the horse.
Introduction
Marguerite Siek collected many short stories from different Indian languages. ‘The Brave Potter’ is one of them. One heavy rainy night, the tiger rested near a hut. There it was shocked by the words of an old woman. In the meantime, a potter comes there in search of his lost donkey. In the darkness, he mistook the tiger instead of the donkey. Morning villagers wonder to see the tiger tied to a tree. The news reaches the king. He calls the potter and asks him to lead the army in the war to protect the kingdom. Because of fear of riding a horse he strongly holds a tree. The opponent’s army sees the potter coming with the uprooted tree. All escapes in fear. The enemy king begs pardon.
Summary
The Tiger takes shelter
It was a dark evening and the sky was full of clouds. It was about to start raining. It was starting to rain and an old tiger ran into the rain for shelter. The tiger crawled under the thatched roof of an old hut and lay down near the door. It was an old lady’s hut with a leak. When the tiger began to fall asleep, he heard a woman’s voice complaining that the leak in her hut was terrible. She also complained loudly that she would prefer to meet a tiger rather than have a leak in her house. When the tiger heard his words, he felt that ‘Leak’ was a very dangerous and powerful animal. He doubted if they weren’t all afraid of him. While these thoughts were running through his mind, he fell asleep.
The potter ties the tiger to a tree
On the afternoon of that day, a potter had drunk too much and was no longer feeling tired. When it started raining, he suddenly remembered that he had left his donkey tied under a tree. He reached the spot but was not found. He started looking for it. When he was searching, he often stumbled upon roots and fallen branches. He got angry and wanted to beat the donkey badly when he caught it. He reached the old woman’s hut and mistook the tiger for his donkey. He could not see the difference between a donkey and a tiger because he had drunk alcohol. He kicked and beat the sleeping tiger. The tiger thought that it must be a ‘leak’ that must have come out of the hut. The tiger trembled with fear and wanted to follow the ‘leakage’. The potter jumped on the back of the frightened tiger, took him home, and tied him with an iron chain.
The potter was appointed as general in the army
The next morning, news spread throughout the village that the potter had captured a tiger and tied it to a tree in his yard. Everyone admired his courage. But the potter could not understand how all this happened! They did not believe him saying that he had only brought his donkey home. The villagers also praised his decency. A few years later a war broke out. The enemy army was more powerful. The king was worried about how he could save the country. He wanted a brave man to lead the army. One of his ministers told the king about the brave potter. He called the potter, made him the general of the army, and ordered him to lead the army into battle the next day. But the potter was very worried because he had never had a sword, nor had he ever ridden a horse. Therefore, he wanted to practice horse riding. He got up early the next morning and with great difficulty climbed on the back of the horse. Then he asked his wife to tie his feet with stirrups. His wife tied his feet tightly with the stirrups and tied the two stirrups together. He also tied her to the saddle. Suddenly, the horse jumped free and galloped through the stables. The potter grabbed the horse’s neck tightly and prayed to all the gods to save his life.
The potter proves his bravery
The horse galloped through the streets, and the city gates, and proceeded towards the enemy camp. Although he tried to pull the reins and control the horse, the horse did not stop. As they passed by a young tree, the potter grabbed a branch. When a sentry from the enemy’s camp saw him holding a tree in one hand and a bridle in the other, he thought it must be the cavalry general who grabbed a tiger with his bare hands. Immediately he shouted aloud warning his men about the famous Tiger-General, who was running towards them to attack. The frightened soldiers fled. Even their king left a letter behind his soldiers in the tent. The potter was surprised to see the camp empty. He brought the letter and gave it to his wife. He requested him to take the letter to his king and tell him that the enemy had fled. His wife gave the letter to the king and he read it. He praised the potter and rewarded the potter so well that he did not need to work again.
Conclusion
The ordinary potter became a brave potter by luck. However, risks come in all shapes and sizes and we often face decisions about whether we should take the risk or not. It’s difficult to predict what will happen and so it can be hard to work out what the likely benefits of taking a certain type of risk might be. Risk-taking is an important part of any endeavor. You can’t succeed without taking risks. Moreover, taking risks is an important aspect of life. Risk-taking pushes us to achieve things we never thought we could do and it makes the world a more challenging and exciting place. It allows us to learn and grow in ways that we may not have otherwise.
