The Legend of the Whale Man
12 November 2013
tp/ Alfonso Arambula
November 12, 2013
Of all the various art forms, sculpture is one of my favorites. I suppose it is because it is three dimensional and I am tactile in that I connect with life most vividly through the sense of touch. However, when I was walking along the malecon in Ensenada and saw this sculpture, I was, at first, drawn to it because it was odd. What was I looking at, I wondered? But then, having read the inscription below, I was taken as much by the story as I was its form. The message is most important. We must care for our planet and all of its inhabitants. And, this, we must teach our children. It is my hope that this sculpture and its story evokes as much emotion in you as it has in me.
The Legend of the Whale Man
Where the desert ends, in the center of the Baha California peninsula at the immense Vizcaino Bay, the conjuration of the winds that arrive to Eugenia Point, is where the green beings and the aquatic beings congregated, messengers of all the nations on the planet.
Their faces were saddened, perplexed by the aggressive attitude of the human beings with their relationship with nature. During long nights and complete days, many moons and suns, they listened to deliberations of the predatory acts of men. They decided unanimously to elect an ambassador to go and meet with the representatives of humanity and give them a scroll of a written petition; a message of intense love and profound respect, for our planet and all living beings who inhabit it. The goal of this message would be the beginning of a new era where all the natural resources are to be protected in benefit of all living beings and for the planet itself.
By the influence and magic of these powerful wishes, there arose an enormous creature, a being of humanoid stature; half whale and half tree, who immediately took up the desert path in search of the human representatives to comply with such a beautiful and transcendent mission.
The fins and branches of this giant ambassador knew not of the hot desert sands; the strong winds, the darkness. Under the weather inclemency's, he perished; amongst the waves of sand, in the heart of the desert.
Sometime later, a group of young explorers found his remains. Marveled and confused by such a strange finding, they noticed that the grand skeleton held in the fossilized structures of his curious hands, still protected though not petrified, a strange roll of bark. Upon contact of a curious hand of one of the explorers, it opened like a release from an ancient spell. Inside, still intact was a scroll. Unrolled and upon reading its words there was the invitational poem from the green and marine beings, to unite us all and conserve in all its beauty the planet earth, our home.
The young people, moved by this profound message of love, made a promise, they would take the poem and its message around the planet. In this way complying with the grand mission of the Whale Man.
Autores Del Cuento: Alfonso Arambula (ESCULTOR)
JesusGarcia
Tallerista: Poeta Laro Acevedo
Traductora: Bernie Schmuker
Esculator: Alfonso Arambul, Robles
Colaborador: J. Arturo Ortega M.
alfonsoarambula.com