On one occasion, someone made a discovery.
That was a piece of painting, which had only a five-fingerhand.
People were so delighted at this news.
The finder was pleased with himself,
and scholars started to infer like this:
"Maybe the painting was a noblewoman,
since the fingers are really beautiful
and also with delicate details.
If we conduct more research on this piece,
we'd get another new fact."
However, the finder made another discovery that had a baby monkey's face painted on it.
In the end, they had to perceive that the first piece's hand was not of a woman,
but of a monkey...
Some years later, we heard the painting of a noble lady with a monkey's hand
had been bought at a high price in some market.
ある時に、五指の手が描かれた断片が見つかった。
発掘家は快哉を叫び、研究者はすぐに復元予想図を脳裡に浮かべる。
曰く、ここには人が描かれていたのだろうと。
ほっそりとした指は兵士のそれではなく、雅びやかな貴婦人のもののようだ。
ならば背景は宝石を砕いてつくった澄んだブルーだろう、この地方ではよく採れるから。
あるいは化学分析をすれば、どの鉱山で採れた石かもわかるはず。
すると、発掘家がまた声を上げた。新たな発見があったようだ。
発掘家が見つけた次の絵には、子猿の顔が描かれていた。
欠けた右手に最初の断片を翳せば、吸いつくようにぴたりと嵌まる。
━━やがて猿の手を持つ貴婦人の絵が、どこかのマーケットで高く売れたそうだ。