Perfection – the Fruit of Intense Work
I today got the following story in Spanish, which I translated with the help automatic translation and “polishing”:
There was once in ancient China an extraordinary painter whose fame crossed all borders. On the eve of the Year of the Rooster, a rich merchant thought that he would like to have in his rooms a painting that represents a rooster, painted by this famous artist.
So he moved to the village where the painter lived and offered him a very generous sum for the task. The old painter consented immediately, but put as the only condition that the man should return one year later to look for his painting. The merchant became a little disappointed. He had dreamt to have the picture as soon as possible and to enjoy it during the year governed by this animal. But as the painter’s fame was so big, he decided to accept and he returned to his house without complaining.
The months passed by slowly and the merchant awaited the coming of the desired moment to look for his painting. When finally the day arrived, he got up early in the morning and immediately went to the painter’s village. He knocked at the door and the artist received him. At first he didn’t remember who the visitor was.
“I came to look for the painting of the rooster” the merchant told him.
“Ah, of course!” the old painter answered.
And then he spread a canvas on the table, and before the merchant’s eyes with a fine paintbrush he drew a rooster with a single line. It was the simple image of a rooster and, somehow magic, it also contained the essence of all the roosters that exist or that ever existed. The merchant was open-mouthed about the result, but he could not avoid to ask him:
“Master, please, answer me a single question. Your talent is unquestionable, but was it necessary to make me wait for a whole year?”
Then the artist invited him to come to the back-room, where there was his shop. And there the anxious merchant could see the walls and the floor covered, there were enormous piles up to the roof with hundreds and hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings of roosters – the intense work of an entire year of search.
Perfection is only seemingly light like a feather.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:36 am
Thank you, a wonderful bit wisdom. Blessings Melodie