Había una vez un rey que era tuerto, le faltaba una pierna y tenía una fea joroba en la espalda. Un día llamó a su palacio a un célebre pintor para que le hiciese un retrato, el pintor para congraciarse con el monarca pintó al rey con dos ojos, le añadió la pierna que le faltaba y no pintó la joroba. El rey indignado por tanta falsedad y adulonería lo mandó decapitar.
Luego llamó a otro pintor, éste fue al otro extremo, pintó al rey de una manera tan exacta con todos sus defectos físicos tan evidentes que el cuadro era un ridículo y el rey indignado también con éste lo hizo así mismo decapitar.
Por fin llamó a un tercer pintor, éste último no quería correr la misma suerte de sus colegas, además de pinceles utilizó el ingenio. Pintó al monarca montado a caballo con lo que disimuló la pierna faltante, el cuerpo lo puso semi de frente para no tener que pintar la joroba, y le puso un rifle en la mano como si estuviera apuntando para disimular el ojo tuerto. La artimaña surgió su efecto. El rey pagó una fortuna al pintor ingenioso.
Amigo, muchos hay, que actúan exactamente como el rey de esta historia. Si alguien les habla clara y severamente de sus defectos y errores le toman odio y antipatía. Si otro le habla hipócritamente alabando sus virtudes que no tiene o justificando sus malos hechos y tolerando sus vicios también les cobran odio.
Si queremos correr la misma suerte que el pintor ingenioso, en nuestra relación con las personas, y llevarnos bien con ellas, debemos tomar la misma actitud del pintor. Debemos tratar a las personas de tal manera que no nos tomen odio o, por ser demasiado tolerantes con ellos, o bien, demasiado ásperos y severos. Sé ingenioso y triunfarás. Pero comienza a serlo ya, porque ¡Hoy es tu mejor día, y mañana será mucho mejor!
THE INGENIOUS PAINTER
Once upon a time there was a king that was cock-eyed, was missing a leg and had an ugly hump in his back.
One day he called a celebrity painter to have a painting done of him. To be in good terms with the king, the painter painted the king with two good eyes; he added the missing leg and did not add the hump in his back.
The king was so indignant about the falsehood in the painting that he had the painter decapitated.
Later, the king called another painter, this one went to the opposite extreme and painted him exactly the way he saw the king with all his physical defects so evident that it was a ridiculous picture, the king was so indignant that he had that painter decapitated as well.
Finally, the third painter did not want to run the same luck of the others so he not only used the paint brushes but used his ingenuity to paint the picture. He painted the monarch sitting on a horse which did not show his missing leg, he had him sitting side ways to avoid showing the hump in his back and he put a riffle in his hand which avoided the look of his cock-eye. This deceitful art was very effective and the monarch paid a fortune for the picture to the ingenious painter.
Friends, they are many that act like the king in this story.
If someone speaks to you clearly and severely about your defects and mistakes, there is a tendency to hate and dislike them. If someone else talks to you with hypocrisy praising virtues you do not have or justifying your bad deeds and tolerating your bad vices you will hate them as well.
If we want to have the same luck as the ingenious painter, we must get along with others and have relationships with the same attitude as the painter. We must treat others so they won’t hate us, not being too tolerant, or too rough and harsh. Be ingenious and you will be successful. But start today. This is your best day! Tomorrow will be much better.
