A TEAPOT that once lived in a household had a great talent in singing. Yet she always found herself ashamed in front of others, to the point that nobody else had ever heard her sing, and she always kept her talent under wraps.

One day that she was serving tea to the other cups in the kitchen, however, one of them sang a well-known lullaby that she loved. As soon as the sound reached her ears, memories of her carefree childhood came to her mind. Soon enough, she found herself singing along, if only to remember how her mother sang it to her, and one after another the cookware and silverware items on the table followed her. So much did her singing talent impress them even, that from a certain point on, they went silent so as to hear her clearly.

“What a great voice you have!”, they told the teacup when she finished singing the lullaby, and she went red with shame to hear the compliment. “Why don’t you try to sing in front of others?”, they suggested, only to hear her dismiss the idea. As luck would have it, however, the gossipy coffee maker happened to pass by and overhear everything.

“The teapot is such a great singer that she prefers to snub you and only sing to her cup friends, free of charge”, she told the other silverware, who found it very strange. “How come we’ve never heard her sing then?”, the candlestick wondered.

“I heard her say it with my own ears, that she’s a professional singer and would only accept to sing for us if we paid her good money!”, the coffee maker, who had a very bad voice herself and nobody ever asked her to sing, jealously added.

To make sure the coffee maker was telling the truth, the silverware and kitchenware thought of asking the teapot to put on a music show. As they believed she would ask for money, they thought it more fitting to come up with a list of songs they wanted to hear and give it to her beforehand so as to prepare. So it happened: they wrote down the songs and gave it to her the next day.

Yet, the unsuspecting teacup was reluctant; she got very ashamed in the idea of singing in front of a crowd. “You have nothing to lose”, the cups told her. “We could even assist you vocally!”, they exclaimed and started rehearsing the songs on the list with great enthusiasm. In the end, she was left with no other choice but to accept the challenge.

“It feels very uncomfortable to sing in front of you today...”, the teacup admitted as she walked on stage. The cups gave her the microphone and moved into their positions. So embarrassed did she get, however, that she couldn’t even utter a word. The candlestick then, who had written the first list of the songs, went over and gave her the first money. “Thank you… I’m obliged”, the teacup replied, not really understanding why. Soon, however, she felt the thought that somebody had paid her to sing obliged her in reality. So she felt pressed, soon forgetting her inhibitions and starting with the first song.

“You are talented indeed!”, the other silverware told her as soon as she had finished the first verse. They, then, applauded her, and she plucked up even more courage for the next song. One after another the silverware paid her to hear their song, yet nobody realized the trick the gossipy coffee pot had played on them.

Soon enough, our good teapot completely forgot her shame and sang nonstop. So amazed was her audience with her voice that they deemed the show a ‘professional’ one. “Was it really necessary to trick me like that in order to make me sing?”, asked the teapot as soon as she realized the money they had given her had piled up in front of her.

“But the coffee maker told us you are a professional who would never accept to sing in front of us unless we paid you!”, the silverware replied. As soon as the coffee maker heard it, she felt so ashamed that ran to escape, catching everyone’s attention.

Our good teacup, on the other hand, burst into laughter as soon as she realized what had happened. She then explained to the other silverware that all this time she had kept her talent a secret out of shame, rather than… professionalism. She gave them their money back and thanked each and every one of them for helping her overcome her fears.

Rumor has it that many years later the teapot became such a great singer that everybody admired her for her courage and talent. As for the coffee maker? Well, her only talent was spreading gossip that nobody appreciated, anyway…