Sterling was a spoon unlike any other; supposedly made from the finest silver and inlaid with gold and intricate designs from stem to head; he distinguished himself as a spoon fit only for the hands of the king. Every day he was at the king’s table being used on all manner of fresh soups and pudding as well as the most intricate of chocolate cakes and pies. His was a place of honor and prestige that was looked upon with awe and envy by all the other utensils within the kitchen.
Yet this was not always the case, Sterling was originally nothing more than an ordinary blacksmith’s dinner spoon named Chuchara who was used on plain foods such as boiled cabbage in water or meat scraps baked into a poorly made pie. Despite this, Chuchara was happy; the blacksmith had a loving family who treated all the utensils within the home with loving care and affection. Each night, after a meal was finished, he was lovingly washed and dried by the blacksmith’s daughter. Placed with his other friends, Tenedor the fork and Chuchilo the knife, Chuchara lived a calm and peaceful life with his loving friends and family.
One day, while he lay in a bowl of half-finished cabbage soup in the blacksmith’s workshop, he noticed the blacksmith toil away on creating a new dinner set for the king. He looked on with awe as each spoon, knife, and fork was made with the finest materials, inlaid with the most intricate of designs, and set with jewels, pearls, and all manner of finery. Looking at his plain body with no designs, no jewels, inlays, or any type of finery, Chuchara grew despondent and envious at the utensils being made by the blacksmith. He realized that he would not have a special destiny, that all that would become of him would be a life of being nothing more than the spoon of a blacksmith’s family.
Deciding to challenge his fate, Chuchara secretly opened the cabinet door one day while all the inhabitants of the home were sleeping. Going into the blacksmith’s workshop he saw the furnace where the next and final spoon for the dinner set of the king would be created.
Bracing himself, Chuchara jumped into the boiling pot of silver in the furnace and was no more. The next day the blacksmith brought the completed dinner set to the king and was rewarded handsomely for his fine craftsmanship, especially with the last spoon which shone more brilliantly than any other in the set. So it was that Chuchara became Sterling, the Royal Spoon, and achieved what he thought was the best possible future for himself.
However, he soon found out that the other utensils within the set of the king were all so jealous of him that they refused to speak to him even when they were in the same drawer. The loving treatment he used to get from the blacksmith’s daughter was replaced with the cold and callous hands of the palace dishwasher who scrubbed and scrubbed until he was gleaming despite his protests. In the end, he found himself alone with all his finery yet with none of the love and affection that he had taken for granted as well as no one to talk to. So ends the tale of Sterling, the Royal Spoon, who became nothing more than a royal fool.