‘The Brave Potter’ is a very popular Telugu folktale collected by Marguerite Siek. It is a humorous story. A potter is the hero of this story.

It was a dark evening and the sky was full of clouds. The rain was about to start. It was starting to rain and an old tiger ran through the rain for shelter. The tiger crawled under the thatched roof of an old hut and lay down by the door. It was an old woman’s hut which had a leak. When the tiger began to fall asleep, he heard a woman’s voice complaining the leak in her hut was very terrible. She also complained aloud that she would rather meet a tiger than have the leak in her house. When the tiger heard her words, he thought that the ‘leak’ was a very dangerous and strong animal. He was doubtful whether they were all not afraid of him. While these thoughts were lingering in his mind, he fell asleep.

On the afternoon of that day, a potter had drunk more wine and no longer felt tired. When the rain began, he suddenly remembered that he had left his donkey tied under a tree. He rushed to the spot but couldn’t find it. He started searching for it. While he was searching, he often stumbled over roots and fallen branches. He felt angrier and wanted to give the donkey a good beating when he caught it. He reached the old woman’s hut and mistook the tiger for his donkey. He couldn’t notice the difference between a donkey and a tiger as he had drunk. He kicked and beat the sleeping tiger. The tiger thought that it must be the ‘leak’ who came out of the hut. The tiger shivered with fright and wanted to do as the ‘leak’ said. The potter jumped onto the frightened tiger’s back, rode it home and tied it up with the iron chain.

The next morning, the news spread throughout the village that the potter had caught a tiger and tied it to a tree in his yard. All of them praised his courage. But the potter couldn’t understand how it all had happened! They didn’t believe him saying that he had only brought his donkey home. The villagers even praised him for his modesty. A few years later a war broke out. The enemy army was much stronger. The king was worrying how he could save the country. He wanted a brave man to lead the army. One of his ministers told the king about the brave potter. He called for the potter, made him the General of the army and ordered him to lead the army into battle the next day. But the potter was worrying very much as he never carried a sword, nor had he ever ridden a horse. Hence, he wanted to practise riding the horse. He woke up early the next morning and climbed onto the horse’s back with great difficulty. Then he asked his wife to tie his feet to the stirrups. His wife bound his feet tightly to the stirrups and tied the two stirrups together. She also tied him to the saddle. Suddenly, the horse jumped free and galloped out of the stable. The potter held to the horse’s neck tightly and prayed to all the gods to save his life.

The horse galloped through the streets, the city gates and began to head for the enemy’s camp. Though he tried to pull on the reins and control the horse, the horse didn’t stop. The potter grabbed a branch when they passed a young tree. When a sentry from the enemy camp saw him with a tree in one hand and the reins in the other, he thought that the horse-rider must be the General who captured a tiger with his bare hands. Immediately he made loud shouts warning his men about the famous Tiger-General who was rushing towards them to attack. The frightened soldiers fled. Even their king followed his soldiers leaving a letter in the tent. The potter was surprised to find the camp empty. He brought the letter and gave it to his wife. He requested her to take the letter to their king and tell him the enemy had run away. His wife gave the letter to the king and he read it. He praised the potter and rewarded the potter so well that he didn’t need to work again.