I am not sure if you have heard of Pingo, the great artist who had the boon of Dale, the goddess of beauty and love, that Pingo would create nothing ugly with his hands. Pingo had already created hundreds of beautiful women’s idols in his lifetime, and each one of them was a beauty.
Seeing each of his creations, his audience describes each of them as more beautiful than the one he created, praising him even more. Everyone said, “I don’t know what kind of magic is in this man’s hand.” The stone idols looked more alive than living people. They thought his idols were so alive that not even a living beauty could match them. Maybe the goddess Dale herself would put life into the stone idols.
The kings and the rich appreciated him from all over the world as they would come and praise the idols of women, carved by the great artist Pingo, in which Goddess Dale would probably have put her life herself.
Sometimes people would say, “Yes, Pingo's art was completely successful, and his work was perfect.” There could be no greater accomplishment than his work.“
Pingo listened and smiled, “How long can the beauty of a living thing match the beauty of stone?” Life has momentum, right? But motion can happen without movement too, so is that true motion? The rhythm of art, the rotation and diffraction of the flowing line, this fixed bridge that constantly connects the earth to space, from which we can touch the sky many times in a moment and return, that is motion! Otherwise, Pingo had seen a lot in the gardens of the goddess Dale, and because of their luxury and lustful style, he hated her.
It was the shadow touch of the goddess that inspired his hand. It was this magic of the goddess that concentrated his mind-power. Sometimes he would meditate on the many forms of Dale while making the idol, the mother of beauty, the queen of humor, the mistress of luxury, the goddess of formation.
One evening, Pingo was looking at a new idol made by him in a trance. The idol was almost complete, but before displaying it in public, he wanted to stare at it into the tinged twilight. The rays of the moon gave the stone idols’ skin a heavenly shine. He wanted to see if there was anything he could do to improve that idol.
But there was nothing that needed improvement. Pingo, looking at her, wanted to address the idol and blurt something out when suddenly a new light filled the room, which differed from the moonlight. Appearing in front of his astonished eyes, Goddess Dale said, “Pingo, I am pleased with your hard work. Today, there is no sculptor that would come close to you. I am the epitome of beauty. Tell me what you want. What is your unfulfilled desire?
“I have no desires.”
“That’s right,” Dale smiled a little, “my extra compassion is just right.” You were just going to say something to the idol, but now with my boon, the idol will call you herself. “
Thrilled, Pingo said in surprise, “Oh my lady!”
And after that, the statue smiled mysteriously and said, “But what will happen inside you is for you to see, Pingo!”
The goddess further said, “I am giving you a new life, not to the idol, but to you, and I am the goddess of joy!” Touching the idol lightly, the goddess suddenly disappeared the same way she had appeared. But the light that had appeared with the goddess was still visible.
Pingo looked at the idol. A supernatural melodious voice said, “My creator, my master!” Pingo noticed the idol stepping down from the pedestal and bowing to him. Pingo was shivering with excitement. “What if his imagination had come true and the most beautiful woman in the world was standing in front of him alive, and she was his... entirely?”
The idol moved forward and placed her hands on Pingo's arms and started pulling him softly towards her.
This is not an idol, but the most beautiful woman on the planet, whom the goddess has given to him. There was no beauty beyond what the goddess created with her own imagination through Pingo's hands. There’s no joy beyond what it gave him. The path of limitless joy was open in front of him.
Suddenly, Pingo felt as if someone had slapped him on his face. Pingo took two steps backward. Trying to make the tone even and smooth, he said, “You sit here.”
The beauty sat on the same chair from which she had gotten up. The smile on her face started spreading like moonlight in the room.
Pingo's room was not open the next day. People assumed the artist would be busy with his new creation. In the evening, when the sun again darkened the atmosphere inside the room, like the previous night, Goddess Dale appeared and saw that Pingo was standing there and sitting on the pedestal as if he had turned into an idol himself. Seeing this unexpected sight, the goddess said, “What am I seeing, Pingo? Did I give you a boon of happiness to see you sad?“
Pingo woke up and said, “What have you done, goddess Dale?”
The goddess smiled and asked, “What?”
You have subjected my immortal art to the laws of old age and death! I did not ask for pleasure and enjoyment. I understand that the joy of art is everlasting.
The goddess laughed and said, “Oh Pingo! But not all artists are naïve. You don’t know what you’re asking for, or whether you’ve got what you’re missing. I am giving life to your idol again. At night, you can call her, and you will get an answer from her. Tomorrow I will come back and ask you if you want her, then, if you say yes, I will put life into her once again. My blessings are for you because you are my special artist and because you are the creator of beauty.
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Dale disappeared after saying that, and the light in the room also dimmed. Pingo jumped up and touched the idol, seeing that it was an idol, beautiful and opulent but now cold and lifeless.
Pingo smiled and thought, “Even if he was the creator of beauty, he did not want to be the slave of that. If the idol became alive and his desire, maybe it was a victory for the artist, but it’s definitely a defeat for art.“ Pingo once again touched the idol and saw it. He thought, “Tomorrow the goddess will appear again and will put life into this idol. People will say tomorrow that Pingo was the greatest artist, but this praise will become the fetters of his feet for his creation in the future.
Finally, he decided, “I will think about it tomorrow.”
Pingo once again touched the idol and clasped both the arms of the idol in his fists. The grip of his fists gradually loosened. He thought, “Today she is an idol, a unique and beautiful sculpted idol created by me. Tomorrow it will become a woman, a unique and beautiful woman gifted by Dale to me. “
Suddenly, he grabbed the arms and raised the idol high, then slammed it on the ground with great force.
It scattered the idol into pieces.
Pingo smiled, “Now there won’t be tomorrow for my ill desires. My art will not be subject to the laws of old age.“ He had overcome his fear. But was he unprofessional? Will he have to bear the wrath of the goddess? Has he disobeyed the goddess of beauty? Will his talent disappear?
But he was worried about disobedience. The goddess herself had given him the right of choice. Pingo sat down on the ground and slowly started collecting the pieces of the idol with his fingers. Will the goddess still be a help behind his success, and will his fingers still continue to create art? Or that she would be indifferent? Has he become lonely in the world of art?
Pingo stood up like a person unable to think. An excruciatingly courageous feeling arose in his mind. Did I get hooked? Am I left alone in art and practice as a seeker? No, he shouted, "I am not alone, but I have become free. I am now free from attraction and lust." He thought, he was now free from the bondage of the goddess Dale, and also free from self-hatred.
Pingo later married a beautiful girl. He kept the fragments of the fractal idol for a long time in memory of his liberation. No one came to know the real history of the disappearance of the idol.
The goddess Dale also considered it necessary for him to live his life in his own way. And the real creation of Pingo's artwork happened only after this incident. Today, all his fame is based on this incident that is now a matter of the past.
This story is based on prompt word 'Artist'