The Valiant Potter: The Indian Folk Tale Retold for Bedtime
Quick answer: The Valiant Potter retold for bedtime: a potter rides home a tiger in the dark thinking it is his donkey, is made a general, and wins a war by accident. A Deccan tale.
A potter goes out on a stormy night to find his strayed donkey, catches a large wet shape by the ear, beats it, rides it home and ties it to his doorpost. In the morning the village finds a tiger there. What happens next is one of the funniest tales in India, and its hero never understands a word of it.
The story
A potter lived in a village at the edge of a forest, and one wild night his donkey wandered off. He went out in the rain, half asleep and very cross, and found a large shape under a tree. He seized it by the ear, beat it twice with his stick, threw a rope round its neck and rode it home, scolding it all the way. He tied it to a post by the door and went to bed.
In the morning the village found a tiger tied to the potter's doorpost, so cowed that it had not dared move all night. The story went to the Raja, who sent for the potter and made him a general on the spot. The potter said nothing, because a general's pay was better than a potter's, and his wife told him to hold his tongue.
Soon after, an enemy army camped outside the city, and the Raja sent his new general to lead the attack. The potter had never sat on a horse. His wife tied him into the saddle so that he could not fall off, and the horse, feeling a stranger on its back, bolted straight for the enemy camp. The potter grabbed at a small banyan tree to stop himself, and the tree came up by the roots, and he rode on brandishing a whole tree, roaring for help.
The enemy sentries saw a man galloping at them alone, swinging a tree, and reasoned that no one would do such a thing unless a great army followed. They ran, and the army behind them ran, and by morning the camp was empty. The Raja loaded the potter with honours. The potter, who never in his life understood what had happened, took the honours home and went back to making pots.
Where it comes from
The tale is from the Deccan, in southern India, and was written down in English by Mary Frere in Old Deccan Days in 1868, from the telling of her ayah, Anna Liberata de Souza, under the title The Valiant Chattee-maker. Chattee is an old spelling of chatti, a clay pot.
What the tale is about underneath
Every brave thing the potter does, he does by mistake, and everyone who watches supplies the courage he lacks. The village sees a tiger-tamer, the Raja sees a general, the enemy sees a madman with an army behind him. The tale is about reputation as a thing other people build, and it is kind to its hero: he never lies, he only fails to correct anyone, and his wife is the one with the sense to keep it that way.
Reading aloud
Keep the potter grumpy throughout; the joke is that he never once feels heroic.
Write your own
Borrow the accidental hero. Give your character a mistake made in the dark and let everyone around him read it as courage. Then raise the stakes without ever raising his understanding. The rule is that he must never lie, only fail to explain, and that a sensible partner should be the one who sees the whole picture.
What writers can take from this
- Make the night dark and the potter sleepy; the mistake must be believable.
- Let the tiger's fear be funny: it sat tied to a post all night rather than argue.
- Give the wife the only intelligent lines in the story.
- Let the tree come up by the roots in a single sentence.
- End on the pots. He goes back to what he is good at.
Try it yourself
Write a story in which a mistake made in the dark is taken by everyone as an act of courage, and the character is promoted for it. Raise the stakes twice more without ever letting the character understand what is happening, and make the one who does understand refuse to explain.
Questions
What is the moral of The Valiant Potter?
The tale has none and does not want one. It shows that reputation is built by other people's eyes, that luck can look exactly like courage, and that a good wife who tells you to keep quiet is worth a regiment.
Is The Valiant Potter suitable for a 4-year-old?
Yes. The only violence is two whacks on a tiger in the dark, and everything after that is comedy. Children enjoy knowing more than the hero does.
Where does The Valiant Potter come from?
It is a Deccan folk tale, recorded by Mary Frere in Old Deccan Days in 1868 as The Valiant Chattee-maker, from the telling of her ayah Anna Liberata de Souza. It is one of the earliest Indian folk tales to appear in English.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
Enter a Writory story contest
Enter the Writory Short Story Contest and have your own story read and scored out of 100. Entries close 25 November. That first entry makes you a Writorian.