The landscape

Long ago lived a man who had made of painting his profession. He painted the most beautiful pieces of art of the whole village. Many men and women were in search of his wisdom, but every time they presented to him, he rejected them. He did not want any wards, as he knew, he was not a very good teacher.
Anyone who was able to afford one of his paintings could take it, he loved each one of his works, but he also thought that the art was something that had to be shared. It was unfair to keep all his beautiful paintings for himself and so he gave them away. But because he needed the money he had no other choice than to sell them.

One night he had a dream. He dreamt about an incredible landscape he had never seen. The colours had been perfectly chosen, everything was perfect. He was astonished.
He woke up and opened his eyes, he looked everywhere trying to see the landscape that had amazed him. It was useless, he was awake.
He took his paints and tried to emulate what he had seen in his dream. His hand did not move, he was not sure from where to start painting. In fact he tried hard to remember the place, but he could not. Disappointed, he went back to his bed, laid in the mattress and waited. He would soon fall sleep and would dream once again.
The colours again, gained his enthusiasm. In his dream everything was quiet. He searched for his paints and his canvas to paint the wonderful place where he was, but with no effect. He was still dreaming, how was he going to paint?
He opened his eyes an rushed to the table where he had left his paints, took his brush and stopped. The image of his dream had faded as soon as he had opened his eyes.

Many nights passed and in every one of them he dreamt about the landscape. He realized that trying to paint what he saw in his dreams was completely useless. And so he went to the library, between all those shelves had to be a book that mentioned the place he had been in his sleep. Or so he though, but he was wrong. The place did not exist, not away from his dreams at least.
He spent many hours trying to find a solution to his problem. He tried not to open his eyes after waking up, but he could not, it was a normal reaction for him. And he also tried covering his eyes at night but that way he could not sleep.
He was desperate, he wanted everyone to be able to know such marvellous indescribable landscape. And so he decided that the only way possible for him to paint what he saw in his dreams was not to be distracted with the colours of the real life. One night before going to bed, he took some of his paints and threw them in his eyes. He got blind, and went to sleep.
At the next morning he woke up, opened his eyes but saw nothing. And so the image of his dream did not fade. He walked towards his desk where he had left his paints and his canvas, and started to paint what he had dreamt. He spent many hours until he knew he had finished. He woke up his wife and showed her his work. In a rush he explained what he had done the other night. His wife cried without taking a look to his work and hugged him. She asked him how he could have done that, but he did not answered. Once again he showed the painting to his wife and she got speechless. She saw the colours, the peace of the landscape and how perfectly everything had been painted. She was amazed for a place she had never seen. She took the painting and carried it outside. The beauty of the painting amazed everyone in the village, no one could believe the greatness of the landscape or the painter.
The years passed and the painting was joined by many other. They were spread across the land so everyone could see them.

One night, after many decades, the painter died. His wife and all the men and women of the village cried his death. But they knew that the painter could not have died more perfectly. He was obviously dreaming with another marvellous place, and when he died and went to heaven he did not noticed. In his dreams he had seen the heaven and so he had painted it. So when he stopped dreaming about there and started being there he did not know.