We have a wheelwright (GURPILGILE), an artisan. And once again the beating (PILPIRATU) heart makes its appearance.
The story starts with an artisan that has been abandoned by his Muse. None of his creations make his heart beat anymore, and he is so dispirited that he has thought of giving up his vocation and working in his family’s wheel factory. But he decides to create one last wheel. To replace his heart. And hopefully regain the love for his art.
When the wheel is done, the artisan buys a hamster to run inside that wheel, and he places it in his chest, where his heart used to be. And for a brief moment he feels it beating. He feels his creation inside his chest, he feels alive. For a brief moment he thinks that his Muse has returned, and that is the name he gives to that hamster.
But his happiness doesn’t last. Because that hamster makes the artisan question himself. For the first time in his life, the artisan doesn’t know who the love in his heart belongs to. He doesn’t know whether his art will come from the wheel he has created, or from the hamster he has bought.
I am a Muse. I am a hamster. I get easily scared. If you want something from me, you should keep quiet, you should get rid of all the noise. Stop thinking. No one is interested in the words you keep inside your head. I am the artist in this relationship. I am your inspiration. Everything belongs to me. And if you want to keep using the crumbs I so graciously share with you, you should give me what I want. The silence I need, to plant the seeds of my art.
I am a hamster. My job is to run inside a wheel, making your heart beat. I don’t have beautiful words to give to you, I am not in charge of the air you breathe. I run. And your heart beats. I am here to help you fall in love. With your art. I am here to make you believe that you have something meaningful in your life.
I am a Muse. I am a hamster. And you are the thing I use to grind down my teeth. I’ve heard you say that your art is something you have to get off your chest, something you have to express, because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to breathe. And that is something you and I have in common. My teeth will never stop growing, and I don’t want them to pierce through my skull. I have too many ideas, too many thoughts. And you are the place where I throw all the things I want to forget. But don’t worry, I am not completely heartless, if inspiration is the word you like, you can keep using it.
I am a Muse. My job is to travel your mind, taking in the sights. So that when the moment comes, I can point you in the right direction and shout in your ear. Look, look, look! I’ve seen this before! I know the words that go with it! Write them down! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Before you forget everything! I have seen the world. I have broadened your horizons. You hurt me when you compare me to a hamster, that only knows how to run in its wheel, without ever going anywhere. Don’t reduce the inspiration that I give you to a meaningless thing. Please. Don’t.
I am not broken. I am not. That is not how inspiration works. I am a Muse, I never run out of words. That only leaves you. You are at fault here. You are the one that’s broken, too broken to hear my words. I am a perfect wheel. I spin. And spin. And keep spinning. You are the ground beneath my feet. The place where my mark should be. It’s not my fault if you are too hard. If you are heartless and frozen solid. And refuse to listen to my beautiful words. It’s not my fault. No, it’s not.
How can this be my lot in life? Other Muses inspire poetry, they inspire music and beautiful paintings. But not me. I am your Muse, and you are a wheelwright. You make wheels. Something round, trapped in a perfect shape. There is no room for improvement. A circle cannot be improved. It’s already perfect. And my inspiration is wasted on you. There is no point in changing the type of wood you use or painting your wheels a different color. As long as perfection remains the shape of your wheels, there is no room for me in your life.
Look what I found lying around. This hamster somehow found its way into your heart. Into that place where you should only keep me warm. You won’t mind if I get rid of it, will you? You already have me, after all. I am the love of your life. I am your Muse. I am your inspiration, your reason for living. No one else should make your heart beat. So, I will throw this hamster away. And you and I will pretend that it was never here. We will go back to enjoying each other’s company, and there won’t be an ounce of resentment in neither of our hearts.
I don’t want to be responsible for your happiness. You should have burdened someone else with your heart. I am a Muse. I am beautiful words, I am soothing music and ever-changing colors. I shouldn’t be your reason for living, I shouldn’t be the thing that makes your life worth living. Burden someone else with that. Someone already accustomed to being treated like that. To being trapped. The air you breathe, the one you keep inside your lungs. Why can’t that be enough, to make you feel alive? Why do you have to pressure me? Into giving you beauty, when I don’t feel like it? That is not how you treat someone you love, even I know that much.
I don’t need a heart, nor do I need a Muse. I am an artisan, the talent is mine. Mine! And mine alone! I will show that heartless beauty that I can live without her. That I can thrive. And my art won’t even notice her absence.
It’s not working. I thought that I could replace my Muse, but this hamster doesn’t do anything for my heart. Without my Muse there, making it beat, my heart has become another useless organ. Just like my lungs. Something that keeps me alive, but doesn’t make me feel anything.
I don’t need a Muse. I don’t need a hamster. I have already created the perfect wheel. I have already tasted perfection, it’s etched on my memory. And I refuse to let anyone sour that taste. I am retiring on a high note.
I know that some people keep pets, and I see nothing wrong in keeping a Muse in my heart. She should love me unconditionally, no one and nothing else should matter to her. Only making me happy. Inspiring all the beautiful things I need in my life.