“He’s in love with the statue in a marble block”

Everyone knew that. Everyone knew how great of a sculptor Pygmalion was. So great that he created a sculpture with such a charming and bewitching face that he became infatuated with it. Her name was Galatea, and to Pygmalion, she was his world. His friends and family knew he was not well. Delusional, they called him. Everyone in his town had told him that this woman was just a figure of ivory, and that she would never have a heart nor a soul. However, Pygmalion knew that Galatea would be his lover, his paramour for life. He was angry at himself for not creating Galatea sooner, as he missed out on so many years of memories he could have had with her. After being shunned constantly in his town, Pygmalion had decided to search for the goddess of love, Aphrodite, in his quest towards supplying Galatea with vitality and vigor. Before departing for his quest, Pygmalion took one more glimpse at Galatea and heard a voice pierce his chest and enter his soul.

“I will wait for you As I rest my soul.”

“Save me on the cove of Cyprus.”

Her voice had almost assured Pygmalion of his beliefs. He decided to listen to the voice and travel to Cyprus.  Pygmalion made it to the island Cyprus, unbeknown to him that it was home to Aphrodite. Pygmalion saw a woman sitting on the edge of a cliff of Cyprus, overlooking the sea. He had not recognized the woman until she had turned around. To his surprise, the woman had awfully looked similar to Galatea, his sculpture. Pygmalion had cried out towards the woman, however she had stood up and  jumped off the cliff. 

He ran towards the woman hoping to catch her but it was too late. He looked down the cliff to see nothing but water and foam. No sign of a body was anywhere. He had given up. Pygmalion had just seen the woman of his dreams jump off a cliff and disappear. He returned home a delusional man, unable to prove anyone wrong and would continue to be scorned upon by his town. He settled in his home and sat on a chair directed towards the statue. He only saw an ivory and marble piece of art in the statue. Pygmalion was once again angry at himself, not for creating the statue so late, but instead for deceiving himself into thinking that the statue would become something special. Pygmalion grabbed a hammer and chisel, ready to destroy his work. He walked up a small stool and aimed his tools at the hand of the statue. He saw a marking resembling a heart. Pygmalion did not know where the mark came from but decided to strike the mark as an act of severing his love.   

Pygmalion struck his hammer onto the chisel three times. Each strike was so powerful that his entire town could hear his anger, resentment, and fury. His vision was obscured from all the fury he had released, but when he looked at the hand of the statue, he only saw a small crack formed from the heart. Puzzled, he had struck the hand three more times only to find out that the crack had barely increased in size. There was something under the ivory that he himself had carved out. He started peeling at the cracks made to uncover a human. That human was in a catatonic state, asleep and motionless. He rested the human on his bed, waiting for its awakening. After seven long days of being spoon fed, the human woke up simply saying, “Thank you.” Pygmalion had saved Galatea. Smiling, Pygmalion had whispered to himself…

“The girl who’s slept a hundred years has something after all.”