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The Saga about the dancing women by the lake A long, long time ago, in a small town, there was a group of wealthy and insane men who got together and discussed art. They all had interests in the controlling of the minds of the people in the small town. And they figured that they could make more profit. "People like art," someone says. "And it often makes people happy!" "Yes! And people get ideas!" adds another. "It brings people together, sharing their thoughts with each other! They don't listen to us as much as we would like!" "People are listening to the artists!" "We have to do something!" they all agreed. The problem was that the artists made such beautiful work. It really touched the souls of people. Not just the kings and queens, but all of the people. The farmer, the maid, the carpenter and the baker all liked the art which was made by the artists. "We need to pervert art," they said. "But how?" "The best thing would be if people started to dislike the artists. And not listen to them anymore." "We could possibly pay the artists to make ugly paintings?" "How?" They discussed for many days. Then they decided to make a huge contest where all the artists are invited. "And a fantastic prize should be awarded the ugliest painting?" "No no! People would be very upset and they would think that the contest was no good. The prize should go to the most 'original' painting!" They all look very pleased with this idea. At this time, in this town, there was a man who had tried to become a painter. His name was Falsus. He was an apprentice working for all the great masters for many, many years but he didn't make it as an artist. He was lazy and unable to learn. His paintings were dull. So he stopped painting. And instead he started to work with the local newspaper writing about the art that others made. The wealthy and insane men contacted Falsus and asked him if he could be the judge of this contest? They explained that they wanted the prize to go to the most original painting. Falsus was honoured that they had asked him but asked them what they meant with original? "Well, there are so many great paintings around but we thought that they are too similar. They all look alike!" "They look alike?" Falsus asked. "Yes! They are all so beautiful!" Falsus agreed. He had seen all the great paintings, wishing that he could have made them. "Then, the most original painting would be a painting which is not that beautiful?" he asked. "Is this what you mean?" "Exactly!" The day of the contest came closer, and the judge (Falsus) was very nervous. He did not want the people to get angry with him because of his decision. He told the wealthy and insane men about his worries. The wealthy men decided to spread rumours about Falsus. They printed stories about him that were lies, making him a true hero and close to a saint. When the media campaign was over, everybody in this town regarded the judge as a great and very smart man. This was not true according to the great artists who once had him as an apprentice. These artists considered him to be lazy and disloyal. But they didn't want to hurt the judge in public so they didn't speak. It would be bad manners, they thought. On the opening day of the contest, hundreds of fantastic paintings were on display in the big town hall. People came from all over the country to see the contest. They picked their own favourites and hoped that their favourite artist would win the enormous prize. Many of the paintings were in fact very original and people were amazed at the skills of the artists. Some artists had made beautiful, abstract and powerful paintings. The judge was trembling as he was walking between the great paintings. He had seen the stories (the lies) that had been published about him. He knew that he was no hero. He knew that most of it was wrong, but he was getting much appreciation from the people. He was a small man with small thoughts. He kept the truth to himself. The wealthy and insane men were right behind him. They wanted to make sure that he picked the ugliest painting. There was one painting which many thought should win the contest. It was painted by one of the masters in their town. He was very popular and he had made a large painting of five women dancing by a lake which was located just outside town. People stood and watched this painting for hours. The emotions of the dancing women could be felt across the room. When Falsus saw this large painting he made a deep sigh. The painting filled him with joy and he smiled for the first time in weeks. It was truly a masterpiece! He forgot the pressure he was under for a moment. One of the wealthy and insane men was right behind him and he saw the reaction on the judge. "That's not very original!" he said. He was worried the judge might choose this painting. "It's fantastic!" the judge said. He couldn't keep his eyes from it. "Wow! What a painting!" "You better not pick that one, or we will have to tell the truth about those rumours that circulate about you!" said the insane man. Falsus immediately stopped looking at this sensational painting. He decided that it was not that original. His face was red as he left. After a while he came to a small painting by someone he had never heard of. This painting was not as beautiful as the others. It was obvious that the painter just started painting because paint had dripped from his brush on the frame. And the colours were dull. It was a portrait of a child but the arms of the child looked enormous on the little child's body. The judge was about to leave this painting for the next when two of the wealthy and insane men stopped him. They pointed to this small painting nodding their heads. They wanted him to choose this portrait of the child with huge arms. They had themselves agreed on this painting earlier. The judge looked paralyzed at the painting. He realized they had him trapped. He nodded his head. The decision was written by the insane and wealthy men and signed by Falsus. It was published in next day's newspaper and outside the town hall. The town reacted with laughter! This was surely a joke! People went to see the judge in his office but he refused to open the door. He had to get help from the police in order to leave his office. The winner of the contest was called to the town square to receive the award. He excused himself to everyone he met. He told them that it was his second painting and that his brother had brought it to the town hall as a joke. The winning painting was awarded with a large sum of money, enough so that the winner didn't have to work another day in his life. And the painter's name was entered in the town's Book of Heros! It was a great prize. The judge was standing there next to the winning artist. He was scared as he could hear the displeased crowd. The people couldn't believe this was happening and they were waiting for some kind of explanation, but none was given. After the ceremony they were pushed away by the police. The judge and the winning artist was assisted in order to get away from the square without being harassed. The wealthy and insane men were in hiding. They congratulated themselves for the successful contest. As time went by, people calmed down about the peculiar contest. They thought it was a joke, more or less. The winner donated half of the prize money to the local nursery where his children were staying. A year went by and the contest was again coming up. This time the prize was twice as big! Nothing else was changed. The most original painting would be awarded and any artist could enter the contest. The judge was the same. As the people came to see the paintings they noticed that there was a change in the many paintings hanging in the town hall. Many of them were beautiful. But many were not! People were upset with some of the popular artists who had made ugly paintings for this contest. Last year's painting of the five women dancing by the lake was again hanging in the hall and now the painter himself was there. His name was Abraham. He was approached by many and they talked to him about the contest. He was listening to them and he understood that many of his colleagues had entered ugly painting to have a chance to win the enormous prize. He shook his head. This year the judge was more confident. He had been awarded by the group of wealthy and insane men over the past year. He was an important man and very rich. When he passed the painting with the five dancing women he hardly looked at it as if he didn't dare. Instead he soon found a really awful painting and picked it as a winner. It was truly ugly. Its name was "the slaughtered rabbit!" But the rabbit looked more like a brown, fat rat. He felt he had made a good choice this time. The people were upset, but not as much as last year. Many of them tried to guess which of the ugly paintings would win. Who would get rich this year? After the contest there were several articles about art in the papers. The writers were all very educated. They all used unfamiliar words and they wrote about the new development in art. And the top man among them was Falsus. He used more unfamiliar words than the others. It was hard to understand what he was writing. As the years went by, the contest got more and more attention. The prizes were fantastic and the winners were absolutely ugly, every year. But of course, they were never called ugly by the educated. Many new artists came on the scene with the most awful paintings you can think of. Some were using shit and blood instead of paint to show originality. And artists who still painted beautiful work stopped taking part in the contest because it was useless. Media shifted their attention from the beautiful to the ugly. The people of the small town still loved the great artists but they all felt that art had become weird. They didn't understand what to see in this new art. They more or less decided that art was not for them. The insane and wealthy men were soon to make a decent profit out of this development. And they continued to control media and contests so that art would continue to get perverted. They were looking forward to a time when nobody would listen to the artist. Because who can understand an artist who is using a language that nobody else speaks? But there was one artist who refused to paint ugly: Abraham. He who made the five dancing women by the lake. Every year he took part in the contest and with the same painting every time. In the town hall there was like a separate room right where his painting was. This space was usually crowded as people wanted to see the dancing women by the lake. People came from far away just to see it. This painting became one of the most famous paintings ever made. Five hundred years after it was painted it is still considered one of the greatest paintings ever and people come to see it from all over the world! And as they watch it, many wish they could take part in the dance. The End
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