Here is the story of The Teapot by Hans Christian Anderson, adapted by Owen Pilgrim. A version of this story is available to watch on our Youtube channel: Telltale Tea Company The Teapot adapted from Hans Christian Andersen
by Owen Pilgrim
There was once a fine porcelain teapot, who was very proud of all of it’s features; it’s long spout, it’s fine porcelain, it’s elegant handle. It had something behind it and something in front of it. But the lid it did not speak of, the lid had been broken and glued back together, it was a defect, a fault. The teapot knew that the others would speak of it’s defect so it chose not to ever mention it. The other parts of the tea service, the sugar bowl, the milk jug, the teacups, would often talk of the teapot’s broken lid, rather than admiring it’s better qualities; and the teapot knew it. The teapot would speak to itself, ‘I know of my imperfection, my defect, and it is what brings me humility and modesty, stopping me from thinking too highly of myself. I may have faults, but I have much to compensate for that. The teacups have their handles, the sugar pot has a lid; but I have these and I have a spout so that makes me queen of the table. I stand proud in the centre of the table, the boiling bland water is poured in me to brew the tea leaves into a fine drink; my role here is indispensable!”
All this the teapot said to itself in it’s youth. Until one day it stood proudly on the table where afternoon tea was being set out. A delicate hand lifted the teapot to pour the tea, but the hand was clumsy and awkward. The teapot fell to the floor, the spout snapped off, the handle broke free, and the lid was no worse than it was before. The tea ran out onto the floor, and the faces at the table looked at the teapot with disappointment and contempt. The teapot no longer had a purpose in their eyes. The broken teapot was placed outside, it felt useless and unloved. It felt it’s life was at an end and there was no place for it in the world anymore. But it didn’t realise that a new life for it was about to begin, because a thing can serve one purpose and later have another. Lying in the corner of the garden, neglected, the teapot sat in sorrow for many days. Then one morning a hand picked it up and filled it with earth. The teapot thought it was being buried. But in that earth was placed a bulb, a flower bulb. This felt like a gift to replace the lost spout and handle.
The bulb began to grow, and for the first time the teapot felt life sprouting within; the bulb became it’s heart, a living heart. The teapot felt the powerful force of life as the bulb sent out roots into the soil and then a stem growing up to the light. The heart pulsed inside it; and this pulse erupted into a flower one day, glorious in the sunshine. The teapot had purpose, it stood proud holding the flower that stood above it. Even though no one really noticed the teapot, the saw only the flower and admired it; the flower’s bright colour, its firm stem, and its strong green leaves. The teapot didn't mind, it felt fulfilled in it’s role, to have a heart inside and to be the container for the life that grew from it. It was happy and that was all that mattered. One day a voice declared that the flower needed a bigger pot, there was a thump and a crack, and the flower and the soil were removed from the shattered teapot. The broken shards that remained were thrown onto the rubbish heap. But if you spoke to the broken shards, they would tell you there are still content, because they hold the memory of what they once were, a fine teapot, and then a container with a heart for holding the life that grew from within.