legend of tangrams - museum der illusionen wien · legend of tangrams legend holds that thousands...

Legend of Tangrams

Legend holds that thousands of years ago, a sage in the ancient orient was

asked to transport a pane of glass. The pane was to be used in the royal palace as

the first glass window for the king and queen. In those days, panes of glass were a

prized commodity, especially one as perfectly made as this one for it was perfectly

square. So, as you can imagine, the transporting of the glass was an awesome

responsibility. To protect the glass, the sage first wrapped it with the finest silk in the

land to protect it from being scratched. He then wrapped the package with leather

that was strong to protect the glass yet soft enough as to not break the glass. Finally,

the sage wrapped the entire package in a thick layer of canvas. This, he thought,

would protect the pane of glass from all danger.

After days of travel, the sage came to the hardest part of his journey, a rocky

mountain. He ascended the mount, carefully selecting each step so as not to

accidentally trip and possibly break the glass. When at the top, after successfully

evading many potential pitfalls, he could see his destination in the valley below-- the

royal palace. He realized his journey was nearly over. Unfortunately, while peering off

into the distance, he didn't see the tiniest of pebbles, no bigger than his little toe, on

the ground before him. Before he knew it, he was tumbling down the hill along with

the glass! When he eventually got himself under control, he immediately opened the

package containing the glass. First he unwrapped the canvas, then the leather, and

finally the silk. To his amazement, the pane had not shattered into a million pieces.

Instead, it had broken into seven pieces. There was one square, one parallelogram

and five triangles.

The sage tried to fit the pieces back together in the shape of the original

square. At first he made a rectangle. Next he came up with a parallelogram. Finally,

after many attempts, he was able to fit the pieces into a square. He realized the

infinite amount of combinations and interesting shapes that could be made by

arranging the pieces. With this revelation, the sage wrapped the pieces back up as

in the original package and continued his trek. Upon arriving at the royal palace, the

sage presented the package to the king, but not as a simple pane of glass. Instead,

the sage proceeded to tell of the story of his trek using the pieces of broken glass to

illustrate his adventures. The king was amazed at the shapes, and he and the people

of his kingdom quickly embraced them. And so the art of tangrams was born!

Mountains

Bridge

Dragon

Fish

Airplane

Watering Can

Rooster

Rabbit

House

Houseboat

Heart

Helicopter

Camel

Waiter

Candle

Stroller

Runner

Funny Japanese Guy

Karate Dude

Musical Note

Paperboat

Tobacco pipe

Arrow One

Arrow Two

Horse

Trophy

Pyramids

Rocket

Test Tube

Umbrella

Gun

Ship

Turtle

Babyturtle

Snake

Key

Cup

Swan One

Swan Two

Sword

Sailing Boat

T-Shirt

Star

Stairs

Chair

Pinetree

Christmas Tree

Table

Vase

Whale

Wind Wheel