"I'll pay $5000 for that outstanding sculpture!!" A man shouted to get that rare sculpture created by a young popular sculptor in Greece. A long time ago, around 400 BC, there was a village in the suburbs of Athens, a place near the Parthenon. The village didn't have a real name, but everybody called it the "artistic village" because their art was brilliant, and known as the hometown of many famous artists. At that time, there was a young sculptor called Alexander. His father was a great sculptor too, who made a phenomenal success in Greek art. But unfortunately, he died from cerebral apoplexy before Alexander was born. Alexander respected his father's work, so he became a sculptor too, and lived with his mother and his partner dog, Magma. Like his father, he had created thousands of fantastic sculptures, and his works were all very neat and detailed. One of his famous sculptures was called "passion," and it was a sculpture of a man screaming to the sky. Alexander even received an award and he became very popular in Greece.
When Alexander was 30 years old, he thought his life was only for sculptures. He also started thinking of marrying, and an idea of having a child who could also be a famous sculptor.
"You know what, Mom. I'm tired sculpting everyday in this boring village. Nothing exciting would happen, and everything is not attractive. I want to experience something new. So I'll leave this village tomorrow, and travel around the world," Alexander said passionately.
"Ok. You can do whatever you want, Alexander. But remember, you have to come back to this village in five years. I don't want to miss you," his mom said, and hugged Alexander very tight, like they would never see each other again.
The next day, Alexander and Magma's very long trip began. Their plan was to travel as far as they could go in five years, and then return back home as he had promised his mom.
First year, they passed Europe with ease seeing many other cultures. Second year, Magma was kidnapped by black-shirt strangers in the Middle East. But they didn't give up, and kept going. In their third year, they had a hard time looking for water near India. Fourth year, they reached the very edge of Asia, but Alexander wanted to keep going with his trip, so he made a boat out of bamboo, and went across the sea.
Five years have passed after leaving the artistic village. Magma's foxy brown hair has changed into gray, and Alexander's body became sunburned. They realized many years have passed when they saw a huge island in their sight. It was Japan, an island at the very east of Asia. Alexander decided to end their long trip here, and experience Japanese art deeply. At that time, Japan was in Yayoi period. Yayoi period was when people started rice cropping, and because of that, people began to steal other people's food and fight among themselves.
Alexander had days of adversity in Japan because he didn't know that people spoke different languages other than Greek. He was also impressed with the huge gap between life in Greece and Japan.
"Magma, look! Japanese houses are made out of woods and straws. They don't use stones and clay bricks like Greek people use to make houses." Alexander addressed Magma.
One day, Alexander and Magma were famished and looking for food when Magma suddenly scampered across the road and bumped into a woman. The woman had long black hair, pure black eyes, and was like a fashion model.
"What a cute dog!" she said in Japanese. She was interested to see a dog with a man because most of the time, people killed dogs to eat.
"Do you want to come and have lunch with my family?" she asked, and took Alexander and Magma to her house.
First, Alexander was intimidated by language difference, but after spending lunch time together, he started to get interested in her. Her name was Misa, and she was living with her father in a small village. Misa tried to communicate with him using paper and gesture. Alexander was very pleased with what she did for him.
"My father died before I was born," Alexander told Misa.
"My mother died when I was 3 years old. See, I live with my father. I think we can be good friends," Misa said happily.
Next day, Misa took Alexander around her village, teaching him about Japanese life.
"Alexander, take a look at what Japanese people eat. Our main dish is rice, and we also eat fish and nuts." Misa explained to him. "How about Greek people?"
"Greek people love eating fish too. But we grow wheat for bread, keep goats for cheese, and grow olives and grapes." Alexander replied.
"Wow, what a beautiful work!" Alexander was amazed by Japanese pot he found at Misa's house. Misa and her father worked for "Yayoi ware" which was sculptured ware during that time. Alexander was very impressed with how they put their history or feeling into those sculptures.
"So, you are interested in Japanese art?" Misa asked.
"Yes. I am a Greek sculptor, so I want to know how to make those wares," Alexander answered,
"can you please teach me how?"
So Misa and her father taught him how to make these Yayoi wares, and Alexander became a really good Yayoi ware maker.
After several years, Alexander and Misa got married. They moved back to the artistic village because Alexander's mother and Misa's father married too. Four of them all worked on telling Greek people about Japanese culture. When Alexander was 38, he had a son. Alexander and Misa named their son Alexander, so may be, Alexander the Great was a son of a famous sculptor, and half Japanese. Who knows the truth? Were you there?
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