The Talented Sponge

 

One day in art class the boys and girls were told they were free to paint anything they like about the subject “the sea”.

Some tried their talents on sea monsters, and of course the octopus was not forgotten. Neither were the waves, ships and all sorts of fish, small ones, big ones and even flying ones.

But only one child had the idea of making a picture of a deep-sea sponge. His name was Nikolas.

When Nikolas asked the teacher if he could use the blackboard sponge as a model for his picture, the other children giggled and laughed.

When art class was over and all the children had left, the teacher pinned the paintings on her classroom wall. She noticed that Nikolas’ picture was the cleanest and freshest looking of them all. Yes, there was definitely something original about it.

That night Nikolas looked closely at a sponge his mother had lent him. He observed all sorts of forms, caverns and holes in it. He imagined many creatures in the moth-eaten looking shapes, such as a bubble man with a funny chin, odd-looking flowers, a dog with a bird’s head, craters, stars, coral, trees, a scary-looking fish and a sea horse with a hump.

Then, all of a sudden, he saw a face! It smiled at him and he smiled back. Nikolas made a funny face, and it made a funny face in return.

It was just like looking into a mirror. Now he came even closer to the sponge and noticed the face was trying to say something.

“Hello, my friend.”

It spoke! He could hear it clearly. Nikolas looked again and held the sponge to his ear.

“Hello, young fellow”, said the sponge-face again.

“Hello there”, said Nikolas in reply.

“I see you are not afraid of me”, said the sponge.

“Oh no. I like sponges, and I especially like your home in the sea.”

“I learned that you were making a picture today of one of my relatives”, remarked the amazing sponge.

Young Nikolas did not reply, but said, “Tell me, why is it that you have all these funny things in you, like the sea-horse with a hump?”

The sponge seemed to smile. “Oh, yes. But not everyone can see these things. I have lots of funny creatures and strange things in me, but so do clouds, reptiles, stones, fish, plants, animals insects and all living things. If you look closely enough. But did you know that there are people-sponges who live in a sponge-people land?”

Nikolas was very curious now. “Could you please tell me about these sponge-people?”

“Very well, then", said the wise face in the sponge. “In the sponge-people world there are two kinds of people-sponges.

The first group of sponges-people are the ones who soak in everything they see, hear, taste and smell - but they do not store all this away. If one of these sponge-people tries to make a painting, a shape or a sound, the result is usually blurred or murky. It is rarely clear or beautiful.

But there also exist another kind of sponge-people. When one or two of theses sponge-people give out of themselves, there is a great difference. I say one or two, because only a few are like them. Their impressions, the things they see, hear, taste and smell are not muddled and mixed up.

“It takes a lot of strength and struggled to keep these impressions clear”, continued the friendly sponge, “and when sponge-people give something back, like a painting, poem, a sculpture or music, it is clear and beautiful. This is why there are nice sounds, clear colours and shapes and words. The results are beautiful because it reflects how these sponges people feel and think.”

“Why is it that not all the sponge-people give back things that are beautiful?”, asked Nikolas. “Because they are too busy with other things, and care too much about keeping, rather than sharing”, replied the sponge to the young boy.

“In art class you were the only one who thought of a sponge. You even chose us from all the creatures in the sea; not all the sponge-people would have done that.” “But I’m not a sponge-people, I’m a real people!”, exclaimed Nikolas.

“Are you really? Why is it then that you thought of us this morning?", remarked the happy face.

“Because I remembered the story my grandfather told me once about the ocean and sponges that lived there. He told me how the poor divers find them under dangerous and difficult conditions, and bring them to towns and cities to sell so that we can clean our windows and blackboards, ands many other things”, said Nikolas with sparkling eyes.

“Well then, young man, you remembered it.”

But Nikolas has fallen asleep. He dreamt of deep seas and far-away starts. There he saw sponges-people working, dancing and playing, soaking in and giving back.

Nikolas was amongst them and returned wonderful and beautiful things to mankind. Few were they who noticed it, except the friendly and wise sponges in outer space, on Earth and in the seas.

Copyright 1998 Henri van Bentum