A man who makes pots in a factory is a storyteller. Spends his days making pots, telling his friends outlandish tales. He has a smart donkey. At the end of the day, he doesn't go home, but rides the donkey the local inn and drinks himself blind while still telling stories. The donkey unties himself and goes home, and the man stumbles home.
At some point, there is a man eating tiger prowling around the village. it is during the monsoon. The tiger jumps up on a porch when the rain starts falling. The porch belongs to a woman whose husband was once an indifferent carpenter, and the house is not very waterproof. When it rains, water seeps into the roof and starts dripping all over the house. She hates it. She begins to complain and wail about the 'insidious dripping'. The tiger, hearing this, becomes afraid that the insidious dripping is going to come and get him.
Meanwhile, the pot maker comes out of the inn, can't find the donkey and begins to curse and call out, "I'm going to get you, and when I do you are going to be sorry!"
The Tiger, fearful that the insidious dripping is coming to get him, runs out into the rain. The drunk man, seeing a four legged creature running in the rain, proceeds to jump on said creature, and subdue him mostly because the tiger is so terrified, and rides him home. he ties him to the front porch.
He realizes what he has done only after the fact. The Rajah rewards the pot maker by making him an honorary general.
later, a warlike Rajah from a neighboring kingdom is going to invade. The generals are frightened of this warlike Rajah, and they suggest sending the pot maker out to scout the front.
The kind sends the pot maker a warhorse. The pot maker tries to play it off like it is no big deal, but once everyone leaves, he discovers he cannot get on this thing without falling off. He bids his wife tie his feet beneath the horse, and his hands around the horse's neck.
She does as he wants, but when she hits the horse to get it moving, it charges straight for the front. The pot maker, in terror, manages to get his hands free, but he has nothing with which to hold on and he is terrified and screaming at the top of his lungs. The screams make the horse run faster.
They go through a banyan swamp, and the pot maker reaches out to grab a tree, hoping to slow the horse. Unfortunately, he rips the tree out of the ground. Luckily, he can hold it over his head to help his balance.
The enemy army knows a scout is supposed to be coming, but they haven't seen one yet. When the scout does appear, he is screaming at the top of us lungs, brandishing a tree, on a rearing horse. This terrifies the other army, and they desert en masse.
The pot maker is rewarded with more gold than he could ever hope to spend, but in the end, he goes back to the factory everyday and makes pots with his friends because that's what he really enjoys. Now, of course, they totally believe all of his crazy stories.
This would be a fun story to share with adults, but I spend most of my time working in schools. So, if I were going to add this tale to my repertoire, I'd have to craft it for schools. Check out the posts in the series Crafting 101 to see the steps I follow.
1. Crafting 101: Questions I ask
2. Crafting 101: Building the Structure
3. Crafting 101: Flesh On The Bones
4. Crafting 101: Donkeys and tigers and War Horses., Oh My!
5. Crafting 101: There Are No Little Characters...
6. Crafting 101: Putting It Together
7. Crafting 101: Introductions!
Happy Telling!
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