A Single Shard (3)

I read about 2 hours and 40 minutes yesterday and finished this book. The ending was by far the best part of this story. As I mentioned before, Min was trying to perfect the inlay pottery design that his rival Kang had made (who received a commission from the royal emissary). Min had worked hard, slept little, and barely ate during this whole process of perfecting this new pottery. The morning Tree-ear arrived to observe the perfectly detailed inlay pottery, he found all the pots shattered about the yard; he realized the kiln had not produced the fine celadon color that was desired. The royal emissary met with Min and stated that he would love to offer him a commission if he were to produce an inlay design pot to present to him in Songdo (which is several towns away). Min's pride got in the way and did not want to admit his flaw, so he did not mention that he had already attempted the inlay design. I thought this was really cool that he would rather not receive a commission than to admit that he had failed at creating a specific design. Tree-ear chimed in that he would be honored to take the pottery to Songdo, but also felt ashamed for this since he would be leaving his friend Crane-man alone for the first time. Again, I admire how much Tree-ear cares for his friend and others. Crane-man insists he goes on this journey and wishes him to stop at the Rock of Falling Flowers in Puyo. Tree-ear does stop at this destination to admire this site, but is robbed by thieves who throw Min's perfect inlay pots off the cliff. Tree-ear finds one pot completely shattered in ashes, but finds that the other one is shattered in bigger pieces; therefore he selects the biggest shard to present to the royal emissary. He wanted to at least attempt to show the royal emissary the fine works of his master's creation since he did not want to disappoint Min. The royal emissary still found that the single shard was intricately detailed and almost perfection on the design; he approved a commission to be given to Min and arranged for transportation by water for Tree-ear back to his village. Tree-ear was so happy and enthused to tell the news to his master and Crane-man and decided to tell Min first. He found Min at the draining site where he heard the news, but he was not overly excited as Tree-ear had thought. This is where Min drew Tree-ear close and told him about the bridge accident that killed his friend Crane-man. This part crushed me since Tree-ear found himself somewhat responsible for not being there to help his friend. Tree-ear stayed the night with Min and his wife and woke before dawn that morning to remember his friend and walk along the river. When he arrived back at Min's house he was ordered to fetch huge logs this time. This made Tree-ear upset, but Min told him that it takes the biggest logs to make a wheel (meaning Min was going to teach him how to throw pots). Min's wife then asked him if he would live with Min and her and to be called a name similar to their deceased son (which showed resemblance of a sibling). She then told him to be "home" for supper. The ending really got to me since this is what Tree-ear longed for his whole life - wishing to be part of a loving family, have a real name, and throw pots with Min (which could only be handed down from father to son). It was almost too bittersweet how it ended. I was really saddened for the death of his friend Crane-man, but also feel that Crane-man was right when he told Tree-ear once that "whenever the wind blows one door close, there will always be another door that it blows open." I think this is exactly what happened for Tree-ear.