Siman 98

(18.) There was once a king who built himself a palace, and he called two men and commanded them to paint [and decorate] his palace. And he divided the palace between them into two portions — namely, that half the palace was assigned to the one to paint it, and the other half was assigned to the second to paint it. And he set a time by which they were obligated to complete it. And these two men went their way. And one of them went and exerted and labored very greatly, and he taught himself the craft of painting and decoration exceedingly well, until he painted his assigned portion with a beautiful and wondrous painting. And he painted there animals and birds and similar things in wondrous and beautiful paintings. And the second did not take to heart the king's decree and did not occupy himself with this at all. And when it came close to the fixed time when they were supposed to complete their work — behold, the first had already finished his work and his craft in his portion with a beautiful and wondrous painting. And this second began to see what he had done — that he had spent the time in vanity and emptiness and had not heeded the king's decree. And he began to think thoughts of what to do — for certainly in these few days remaining close to the fixed deadline, it was impossible to correct matters, to learn for himself the craft of painting and to paint his portion in that short remaining time, for the appointed time was very close. And he resolved and went and coated his entire portion with a black coating substance [called a pakist — a kind of paint], and the pakist was like a mirror, so that one could see one's reflection in it just as in an actual mirror. And he went and hung a curtain before his portion to separate between his portion and his colleague's portion. And when the appointed time the king had fixed for them arrived, the king went to see the product of their work — what they had done in those days. And he saw the first portion with its beautiful painted forms. And then the curtain was removed from before the second portion — and behold, the second portion was a mirror, and all the paintings and forms of the first portion were reflected and mirrored there. And all the living beings there [the painted animals and birds] were mirrored there, and were moving in the mirror, and everything was mirrored there with its like. And the king was very pleased by this. And it was more beautiful in his eyes than the actual paintings. And the second one also had his share of reward — for what does the king care, whether the beautiful forms are real or reflected? The purpose of the palace is fulfilled either way. And one who does not know how to paint, and even still conducts himself cleverly — he too merits his share of reward. And the king was very pleased by this.