A rich noble commissioned a famous artist to paint him a picture of a crane.
The artist agreed, though he set a rather steep price, even for one as rich as this noble.
The artist asked his patron to return in a month.
After a month, the noble returned to the house of the artist.
The artist told the patron that he needs a higher price;
and the painting would take another month.
And so this went on for 6 months.
The price ever rising and delivery put off for another month.
Finally on the seventh month:
The artist asked the noble to sit down,
and said, “Just a moment, please.”
The artist unrolled a piece of paper.
It was blank.
The artist dipped his brush into freshly ground ink,
and before the nobleman’s very eyes,
completed his painting of the crane.
It was undeniably beautiful.
It captured living crane essence,
with only a few delicate brushstrokes!
The noble, rather than being pleased, roared angrily,
“How can you expect me to wait for seven months?
And pay so much?
For something that took you only a few minutes to do?”
The artist calmly walked over to a nearby cupboard and opened it
to reveal hundreds and hundreds of studies of cranes.
