The Painter
By P.J
There was once a young lady who ran away from their village in middle Europe, She's a well known painter in the country and everybody admired her for her talent. Most of the merchants and museum owners bought her paintings for a high price and that made her the wealthiest lady in their place.
But still she preferred to leave everything behind, Along her way in a forest she met an old man wearing tattered clothes, sitting beside the rocks, In his palm he was feeding the stray birds with some old bread, The old man asked her "You seemed like a visitor here".
"Who are you"? The lady said.
"I'm just an old man, looking for food, so what are you doing here?" the man replied
"I'm on a journey" The lady replied.
"Where are you going? If you would allow me to know fair lady?" the old man said.
"I don't know I just need to find the answers, some inspiration, this village has no improvements no life, no art".
"Is that what's bothering you? You need to relive your soul for an inspiration?" A smile was drawn on his face.
"Of course, I'm an artist and what I could only see here is poverty, repetition of mistakes, Failure of the government and men's sufferings."
"You're still young, so young to see everything". The old man said
"I've been painting almost all my life, received recognitions, became an inspiration to the younger generation and I still don't know anything?" the lady surprisingly asked.
"While painting did you ever stain your clothes or yourself with paint? "He asked.
"Yes, about a hundred times" the lady frustratingly answered because she didn't know why the man was asking her irrelevant questions.
"This world could be compared with that stain, No matter how hard you try to put everything in place, you will commit mistakes. If you will just keep on staring at yourself, and feel sorry on how you've messed up you can never go further". The man said.
"I know that, but how about this place? It's so dull there's nothing new here I'm sick of looking at this place over and over again. I want something that could wake my senses that would encourage me to paint" The lady angrily said, she thought that she's just wasting her time with an old man.
"Then tell me, what are you looking for? What do you want? Man spends almost all his life wishing and hoping to find the perfect place, the perfect job, the perfect life, but how can we find it when we're living in a world filled with imperfections?" As he continue feeding the birds.
"If you want to feel nature, walk around. Observe, Look at everything around you, ask the trees how old they are and they will answer with the scriptures on their bark. Ask the flowers how they love their new colors, and their scent will dazzle you. Ask the rocks and pebbles where they came from, and their textures and shapes will answer you. Even these tattered clothes of mine will tell you how long I've been wearing them, once you touch them." As he stare at the lady.
"Are you telling me that I'm naïve in my profession? Are you telling me that those years of my hard work and my accomplishments were in vain? How dare you to preach me? You're just a beggar who depend his life on the alms of the people around you". She has no control of herself anymore that she finally blurted.
"Working hard on something doesn't mean that we will receive something in return, sometimes no matter how much effort we give, if it's not for us, and if we don't deserve it, we can never have it. Rejections and disappointments are all part of life, if you never experience crying over something that you want but you never have, you can never say that you lived. One of the reasons of hardships is for us to learn how to strive, to persevere, to lose, to accept and to hope again. That's the only time we could say that we live life to the fullest". The man stated as he sigh.
"I'm an old man, and as far as this world is concern I always wish that I could be here forever to remind the youth very simple things that most of the times they tend to forget. When I'm gone only the stars and the Creator will see this beauty, how enchanted and beautiful life is. So please do not be in vain everybody dwells in sorrow, wept, suffer and probably die, but that's all part of life. Even these birds will face the biggest struggle in their life in winter."
The lady gaped as a sign of awe "Who are you? How come that an old man wearing tattered clothes will have this kind of wisdom? Are you insane? The girl asked.
"I'm just an old man who got tired of walking so he sat down and rest, and now he has to go" as the old man grinned.
"I KNEW IT!!" the lady laughed, 'that's just because of hunger old man, good luck with your travel in finding your food" as the lady continued to laugh.
The old man just continued walking as he bid goodbye.
As the girl walk he met a group of man in their horses who stopped in front of her to ask her.
"Excuse me, fair lady, I hope were not disturbing you but we just want to ask you a question is that alright?" the man asked.
"As long as it's not about murder, theft, or any of those kinds."
"Certainly not, we just want to ask if you saw an old man in the forest wearing tattered clothes as you passed by." The man asked
"Yes, but we separated our ways, Why? Who is he?
"What? You don't know him? He's just the well-known painter in the whole Europe and he travels from town to town to look for his apprentice and the one who will inherit all of his paintings and vast wealth.
