Painter In The Sky

The Painter in the Sky


When you look into the sky, there are many things you could see. The stars at night, the clouds in random shapes and sizes, even rainbows after it rains. But have you ever wondered how they actually got there? Well maybe this old tale could help explain the mysteries of the vast wonders of the endless abyss we call the sky.

Long ago, there was a man in his early 20s or so that loved to paint. He painted nearly everyday of his life until he had the perfected his style. One rainy day, he became lonely for someone to converse with. Seeing no one around outside his little house, he went back to the room in which he spent most of his time and picked up his brush. He began painting and before he realized it, the face of a beautiful girl was staring back at him.

Unknown to the painter, a curious god-like spirit was lingering about, and happened to stumble upon the painter amidst his session. 'What a beautiful face he's created simply by the use of his hand,' the spirit thought to himself. The spirit knelt next to the painter.

"You've got a great hand if you are able to create that out of nothing," he said to the painter as he motioned toward the face of the girl. Having had no previous notion of the spirits presence, the painter was startled by the spirit's comment.
He stuttered as he spoke. "Oh... well… thank you... umm…" He was unsure of what to say. The spirit lifted himself into the air nd crossed his legs and smiled. "I would like to share something with you. Something no one else will ever have the honor of possessing." The painter was slightly confused. "What would that be?" The painter had composed himself so that his appearance was less shocked than he truly was.

The spirit showed no hesitation as he took out a small, brown bundle nd threw some shining white dust towards the painter. Within seconds, the painter was surrounded by sparkling dust and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor of his room, completely alone. "What… just happened…?" He spoke allowed to no one.

The next day he decided to finish the painting of the girl. When he finished he put down his brush and went for something to drink. As he turned his back to his painting, the sound of shredding paper caught his attention and he quickly turned around.

He was shocked to find that standing in front of him was the beautiful girl he had just finished painting. He looked at the floor and the original sheet of paper he had draw her on was blank. "What the…?" He was very confused and assumed himself to be dreaming.

He knelt down to a new sheet of paper and painted a frog. It lifted itself from the paper in a matter of seconds and hopped away. "How…?" The painted girl laughed at his confusion and the spirit found his way back to the little house.

"Hello again," The spirit smiled. "Are you enjoying your new skill?" He laughed to himself and took the painted girl by the hand. The painter stared, baffled by what he was seeing. "I will take her. You may enjoy the magic until you want it no longer. Then just summon me by calling for the wind." With that, the spirit lifted the painted girl into his arms and floated away into the sky once more.

The painted was confused and found himself on his knees staring into nothing. After what seemed to be very few moments, the painter reached for his brush and his pad of paper. He quickly started painting all sorts of random things. Frogs, flowers, butterflies, various items, that is until he thought of something he had very little of. He found a spot to paint on and began painting his villages' currency.
He paid no attention to the growing pile of money that seemed to be growing more and more by the second. When he finally stopped, he looked beside him to see the floor covered in it. He laughed to himself and sat in once spot as he threw the money up into the air.

A few days later after he had drawn more items of some value to him, the spirit had returned. This time, he had a group of other spirits and the painted girl was with him as well.

With no light from the sky outside, the room full of spirits had a doom-like atmosphere. The first spirit stepped forward. "Young painter, you have abused the magic that I had given to you. While I cannot take it back, I can do other things." As the spirit with the painted girl stepped back, an older, slightly larger spirit stepped forward.

"As ruler of the sky, and of my fellow spirits, I sentence you to spend the rest of eternity in the sky. You shall paint things that will bring joy to others, and none to yourself. You have nothing to blame but your selfish, greedy behavior. Now, be off with you." The elderly spirit lifted his arm and a small, quick beam of light shot out at the painter and he shot up into the sky.

The painter was frightened as he found himself shrouded in darkness. He looked at his hands. Each of his fingers had become paintbrushes, each with a different color to paint with. He became quickly frightened by the nothingness surrounding him so with one brush of his hand, he began to dot the night sky with little white dots. He was shocked at how bright they each shone. He was slightly entertained by this and covered as much of the sky as he could with little white dots.

In the future, these would be known as the stars. When the sun had arisen in the sky, he found it brighter than it was on the surface of the planet. The painter painted random grey and white blobs in the blue of the sky. He hid behind them when the sun was too bright, and when he became tired, he would rest on them for they were soft and fluffy.

These were the clouds. Occasionally, sitting on the clouds, the painter would look down at his little home and he became sad. He would become so sad staring at his former residence that he would cry. His tears would flush away the clouds and they dripped down to the earth below. This became the rain.

At times when he cried, he decided he needed something to cheer himself up. He took his fingers and flew across the sky. With all of the colors of his hands, he created rainbows. The people on the planet below looked into the sky with awe. It was indeed an amazing sight to see.

So, the painter would live out the rest of eternity painting the sky. He grew to enjoy his life-long occupation and dealt with it how he could. Today as we look up into the sky, we see the painter's work. We may feel sorry for him, but find ourselves amazed at the little things that make the vast amount of sky an amazing sight to see.