Chapters 1-2 Summary

This novel is set in the twelfth century on the western coast of Korea. It features a type of pottery known as celadon or a pottery known for its jade green glaze. The novel was inspired by a vase known as the Thousand Cranes Vase, which is a vase dated to this century that has dozens of cranes inlaid inside medallions surrounded by clouds where yet more cranes fly.

In Chapter 1, Tree-ear was out scavenging in rubbish heaps for food when he came up behind a farmer whose rice container had sprung a leak. Tree-ear told the farmer about the hole. The farmer was so grateful that he allowed Tree-ear to take the spilled rice home. Crane-man, Tree-ear's guardian, is happy about the rice, but happier with Tree-ear's honorable behavior. That night, as a kind of reward, Crane-man once again tells...