The Two Pots

Moral: Equals make the easiest friends.

Two pots standing side by side on a river bank were plunged into the water when the bank collapsed. One was an iron pot, the other was a delicately carved gourd. ‘Stay close to me,’ the iron pot called to the gourd. ‘I’ll protect you!’ ‘Thank you, friend,’ said the gourd, ‘But I beg you, keep your distance. One inadvertent touch from you and I could be broken in pieces.’ The iron pot solemnly agreed to keep this in mind but alarmed that the pot might do her damage, and believing that a slighter vessel can put no trust in a thing so much stronger, the gourd said, ‘I cannot shake off the fear that whether the current crashes me into you or you into me, I will be the first victim of the encounter!’