This isn't where I thought I would start.
Searching for a children's story, a fable.
About a family that lived in a ceramic teapot.
I don't make teapots, I make tile and sculpture.
I make ice tea in a lovely gnarled teapot
made by my friend Dannon. The teapot is small. It fits into my small fridge
in the greenhouse where
I work and live.
Maybe I am curious to find this old submerged story, not so much for the teapot
but for the tale:
a fable about living in a different kind of house
about taking to the road.
Yes, the family lives in a large ceramic teapot
It breaks. They must find a new home.
If memory serves, and memory is hazy;
they take the cow, the cart, the garden bean seeds and
the wooden door.
Along the way, and here I might be confusing it with another story,
the father gambles as he tries to bargain for things for his family. He is naive,an easy mark, dangerous when one is on the road.
Each time, his trades diminish, rather than increase the family's meager resources.
After trading away the ox or the horse, he must carry his family upon the
door itself.
When all seems lost, the family discovers
a new home , a differently shaped ceramic teapot
in need of a door.. and of course their door fits.
i am looking for the storybook that had this story.
i haven't found it, and I am, I have just realized, also searching for my own teapot to call home..more on that later.
in searching tonight I have come across some other nice stories though
here is a verse :
"A box is a house for a teabag.
A teapot's a house for some tea.
If you pour me a cup and I drink it all up,
Then the teahouse will turn into me!"
A teapot's a house for some tea.
If you pour me a cup and I drink it all up,
Then the teahouse will turn into me!"
by Mary Ann Hoberman illustrated by Betty Fraser/ published 1978 by The Viking Press
i found this at a very cool blog
More on the teapot theme:
"The Bubbling Teapot: A Wonder Story" 1886,1893. by Elizabeth Champney, illust by Walter Satterlee. you can read it onlline at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?b=UF00082315&v=00001
or at an a number of online archives. Young Flossy Tangleskein, is changed into a magic teapot and travels the world from the orient to Europe! When the teapot bubbbles it turns into the girl, when the girl weeps it's back to the teapot.
