A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the master‘s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master‘s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master‘s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don‘t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master‘s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

翻譯：

印度有一個挑水工，他有兩個大罐子，分別掛在肩上的扁擔兩頭。其中一個罐子做工精細，從不漏水，另一個上面則有一道裂縫。每當挑水工回到雇主家時，罐子里的水就只剩一半了。

這樣過了整整兩年，這個挑水工每天挑到雇主家的水僅有一罐半。當然，那個完好的罐子為自己的成就甚感自豪。而那個可憐的有裂縫的罐子卻因自身的瑕疵而羞愧不已，為自己只能裝一半水而痛苦不堪。 痛苦了兩年后，一天，那個有裂縫的罐子在小溪邊對挑水工說：

我很慚愧，想向你道歉。”

“為什么？”挑水工問，“你羞愧什么呢？”

“為這兩年來只能讓你挑回一半的水。因為我身上的這個裂縫，每次你回雇主家的路上，水都在漏，到家時就只剩下半罐了。正是我的裂縫，你不得不多挑幾次水，這樣就浪費了你的部分勞動價值。”罐子說道。

挑水工對這個有裂痕的舊罐子感到很抱歉，他同情地說道：“當我們返回雇主家時，我希望你能留心路旁那些美麗的花朵。”