The stranger

The stranger was determined to show that his culture was worth more than all the labor of the men and women in the bar. He pointed to a print hanging on the wall:

“Do you know what that is? It’s one of the most famous paintings in the world: The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo da Vinci.”

“It can’t be as famous as all that,” said the hotel landlady. “It was very cheap.”

“That’s only a reproduction: the original is in a church a long, long way from here. But there’s a story about this picture you might like to hear.”

Everyone nodded.

“When he was creating this picture, Leonardo da Vinci encountered a serious problem: he had to depict Good -in the person of Jesus- and Evil –in the figure of Judas, the friend who resolves to betray him during the meal. He stopped work on the painting until he could find hid ideal models.

“One day, when he was listening to a choir, he saw in one of the boys the perfect image of Christ. He invited him to his studio and made sketches and studies of his face.

“Three years went by. The Last Supper was almost complete, but Leonardo had still not found the perfect model for Judas. The cardinal responsible for the church started to put pressure on him to finish the mural.


After many days spent vainly searching, the artist came across a prematurely aged youth, in rags and lying drunk in the gutter. With some difficulty, he persuaded hid assistants to bring the fellow directly to the church, since there was no time left to make sketches.

“The beggar was taken there, not quite understanding what was going on. He was propped up slightly, opened his eyes and saw the picture before him. With a mixture of horror and sadness he said:

“I’ve seen that picture before!”

“When?” asked an astonished Leonardo.

“ ‘Three years ago, before I lost everything I had, at a time when I used to sing in a choir and my life was full of dreams. The artist asked me to pose as the model for the face of Jesus.’ ”

There was a long pause.

“So you see, Good and Evil have the same face; it all depends on when they cross the path of each individual human being,”

He got up, made his excuses, saying he was tired, and went up to his room. Everyone paid what they owed and slowly left the bar.