The Cracked Pot Chapter Notes | English Class 2 ICSE PDF Download

​Introduction

This chapter tells a simple story about an old woman from China who uses two big pots to carry water from a river to her home. It begins by asking how we treat someone different, with options like not talking, being angry, making fun, or speaking politely. The story shows that even a broken pot can be special and useful, teaching us to be kind and value differences.

Key Points

This story is about choosing how to treat someone different: not talking, being angry, making fun, or smiling and talking nicely.

• An old woman from China had two pots to carry water.
• She used a stick across her neck to carry them.
• One pot was perfect and held full water.
• The other had a crack and reached home half full.
• This happened every day for two years.
• The perfect pot felt happy, but the cracked pot felt sad.
• The cracked pot told the woman it felt bad about leaking.
• The woman said the leaking watered flowers she planted.
• The flowers made her home and path beautiful.
• The cracked pot felt happy and learned everyone is special.

Explanation

The story is about an old woman who lives in China. She goes to a river every day to get water using two big pots. She puts them on a long stick across her neck. One pot is good and holds all the water. 

The other has a small break, so water comes out slowly, and it reaches home with only half water. This happens every day for two years. The good pot feels happy about doing its job well. The broken pot feels sad and bad because it thinks it is not doing enough and has a weakness. 

It feels it is not helping the woman properly. After two years, the broken pot talks to the woman near the river. It says it feels bad because of the break, water comes out, and it is not useful. The woman smiles and points out the flowers growing on the side of the path where the broken pot is. There are no flowers on the other side. 

She explains that she knew about the break all along. She put flower seeds there on purpose. Every day, the water coming out from the pot helps the flowers grow. For two years, she has been taking those flowers to make her home look nice. She says if the pot did not have the break, the path and home would not have this beauty. The broken pot feels happy and learns that everyone has their own special things that make them unique from others.

Message

The story teaches us to be kind to those who are different. We should smile and talk nicely. Everyone has unique qualities, even if they seem like weaknesses, and these can bring good things.

New Words with Meanings

• Cracked: Broken with a thin line on the outside but not fully apart.
• Elderly: Old in age.
• Portion: A part from something bigger.
• Continued: Kept happening in the same manner.
• Daily: Happening each day.
• Proud: Feeling good and happy about something you did.
• Ashamed: Feeling bad or guilty about something you did.
• Imperfection: A weakness or fault in someone or something.
• Bear: To go through something hard or not nice.
• Leaks: Comes out or flows slowly.
• Flaw: A weakness or fault.
• Decorate: To make something look better or nicer.
• Realized: Came to understand something.
• Quality: A special feature of a person or thing.