The Two Pots
Aesop's Fables · 1 min read
A great flood swept a clay pot and a brass pot down a swollen river together, and the brass pot, cheerful and confident, suggested they travel side by side for company through the turbulent waters ahead.
The clay pot hesitated, explaining nervously that it would be far safer for them to travel some distance apart. "Why?" asked the brass pot. "We're going the same way regardless — surely it's friendlier to stay close." The clay pot replied that if the current knocked them together even once, being far more fragile, it would be the one who shattered, while the sturdy brass pot would emerge without even a scratch.
The brass pot, not fully understanding the danger, insisted they stay close anyway. Sure enough, a sudden current soon knocked them against one another, and the clay pot broke into pieces at the very first collision, while the brass pot floated onward completely unharmed, never quite understanding what had happened to his companion.
Moral of the story
Closeness between very unequal partners can be dangerous, however friendly it seems, for the weaker one.