A Single Shard

The first part of Tree-ear’s journey begins well enough. The villages he passes through offer him hospitality, so he usually has food and shelter. Ajima has also packed him a supply of food, and Min has given him some money for expenses. One night, the boy must sleep out in the open because no villages are nearby. He chooses a spot between two adjoining boulders and lights a fire. Just as he is falling asleep, he hears a sound in the underbrush. Frightened, he wedges himself and his cargo into the crevice between the stones. To his horror, he sees a fox approaching the campfire:

Tree-ear felt his pulse pounding in his throat. His thoughts seemed to be running a desperate race with each other. Against a fox he was defenseless. The fox would stare at him, looking deep into his eyes, bewitching him until he rose to follow it to its lair (107).

The fox eventually moves on, and Tree-ear is relieved in the morning to find that nothing dreadful has happened to him. The following day, the boy reaches the large village of Puyo, where he finds a local merchant already displaying the incised chrysanthemum vases similar to the ones that Kang created. Tree-ear realizes that he must get to the palace quickly before every potter in the area is selling the same design.

Before he leaves Puyo, Tree-ear climbs a rock to reach the highest point above the river. Crane-man instructed him to go to this spot, which is called the Rock of the Falling Flowers and has a tragic story associated with it. Many years earlier, enemies cornered the king of the region on top of this rock. The women of the palace tried to protect him, but when all hope was lost, they decided that suicide is preferable to capture, so they all hurled themselves into the river. Crane-man explained: “The women’s efforts were not in vain, for they have since been an inspiration to all who have need of courage. Their memory will live for a thousand years, I am sure of it” (110).

Tree-ear climbs the steep path to the top of the Rock of the Falling Flowers and admires the view of the river far below. While there, he is accosted by two hungry bandits. They search his jiggeh for food but don’t find any. Angered, they decide to destroy Tree-ear’s precious cargo:

The robber picked up one of the vases. He stepped to the edge of the cliff—and flung it into the air. Peering over the edge, he put his hand to his ear in a pose of listening. After an agony of silence, the crash of pottery was heard on the rocks far below (117).

After the robbers leave, Tree-ear is overcome with despair. He briefly considers hurling himself off the rock but decides that he still has a mission to fulfill. He promised Ajima that he would return. Tree-ear descends from the rock and searches the riverbank for fragments of the vases. Finding one shard still intact, he wraps the edges in a clay ball to cushion the piece. Tired and traumatized, Tree-ear forges onward to get to the palace. 

It takes many more days to reach Songdo. During this time, Tree-ear occasionally goes without shelter or food if there is no village at the end of each day’s travels. Finally, he reaches the city and trudges to the palace. At first, the guards and the emissary’s assistant don’t want to let him in, but Tree-ear insists that he must speak to Emissary Kim.

When he is admitted to the emissary’s presence, he explains that the samples were destroyed by bandits, but he displays the remaining shard. The emissary is impressed by its craftsmanship and tells his assistant:

“Do you see this? ‘Radiance of jade and clarity of water’—that is what is said about the finest celadon glaze. It is said of very few pieces.” He paused for a moment and held the shard up before him. “I say it of this one. And the inlay work… remarkable” (127-28).

Emissary Kim writes a commission on the spot for ten more pieces of Min’s work. He also arranges to send Tree-ear back to his village by boat.

The return trip by water is much quicker than Tree-ear’s outbound journey. He brings the happy news of the commission back to Ajima and Min, but they seem sad. They regretfully tell the boy that Crane-man accidentally fell off the bridge. Once in the river, the cold water was too much of a shock for his heart, and he died. Tree-ear is distressed by the news, but also surprised when Ajima invites him to stay at the potter’s house that night. Min shows Tree-ear the monkey figurine that Crane-man was clutching when he died. The old potter admires the craftsmanship of the work.

The next day, Min orders Tree-ear to chop some extra-large logs. The boy is crestfallen that nothing has changed in his routine despite the triumph of bringing back a palace commission:

Tree-ear hung his head as Min’s scolding continued. “How am I to do it all myself? How are you to help me if you do not have a wheel of your own? And how is the wheel to be made if you do not fetch logs of considerable size? Go!” (134).

Tree-ear suddenly realizes that this means that Min has accepted him as his official apprentice and will teach him the craft of pottery. He is invited to move permanently into the potter’s house, and Ajima suggests giving him a new name—Hyung-pil. This name implies that he is a sibling of Min’s dead son. With a new name and a new home, Tree-ear dreams of his future as a master potter. “How long would it be before he had skill enough to create a design worthy of such a vase? One hill, one valley… One day at a time, he would journey through the years until he came upon the perfect design” (135).

The book concludes with an author’s note describing an exquisite prunus vase of inlaid celadon that is considered one of Korea’s greatest cultural treasures. It is known as the “Thousand Cranes Vase” and was created in the 12th century, but the potter’s name is unknown. Even though the author doesn’t explicitly say so, the reader is left to conclude that Tree-ear was the master potter who created this vase.