A Single Shard (2)

Well, I was able to read 90 minutes this week. Not as much as I wanted to read, but at least I got further in the story and found out a little more. Tree-ear was noticing something "fishy" about one of Min's rival potters; Kang (the rival) kept sneaking red and white slip into the kiln instead of the regular colored slip that everyone else in the village used. Tree-ear let this bother him for quite a while, but he finally found out after hearing the royal emissary was coming to their village to assign pottery commissions for the palace. I thought it was interesting how Tree-ear would never inform Min about the "secret" pottery that his rival was making. However, I found it very classy of him as well since he felt that he may be stealing from Kang because he has not yet exposed his pottery to the village. Once again, I felt really saddened and yet hopeful when Min and his wife gave Tree-ear a present; he received a coat and pantaloons to help keep him warm. I felt sad for two reasons: (1) I hate thinking that little kids like Tree-ear freeze simply because they cannot afford or acquire a coat and (2) that the coat was originally made for Min and his wife's son (who died when he was about the same age as Tree-ear). However, I still felt hopeful because I love that Min and his wife are providing Tree-ear with opportunities to succeed in life and guiding him down a path that will benefit him for his future. Tree-ear is very gracious and appreciative of his gifts, but he wants to give something to Crane-man because he loves him and knows that Crane-man would do the same for him. Tree-ear decides to give Crane-man the jacket and keep the pantaloons for himself. I just cannot get over how unselfish Tree-ear is and yet being so young as well. I think wanting to give his friend, Crane-man, a present that was originally a present for himself shows true kindness, love, and friendship - all aspects we can all learn from in this situation. Other than this... the royal emissary came to scope out the best potter(s) to be selected for the palace. The crowd was all enthused and bewildered about Kang's new black and white pottery that he calls "inlay" work with chrysanthemums as the decor. Obviously, everybody believes he will be selected for the royal palace; however, the emissary was quite impressed with Min's work and graciously comments on his masterpieces. Now Min is trying to outdo Kang's inlay pottery by doing it himself and perfecting it. Hopefully he can show Kang who is the boss!