Long ago in the little town of Ba Sing Se, a master artist was attempting to draw the great and majestic apes that roamed the mountains he grew up in. The sly and secretive nature of these animals is what makes them so hard to find let alone paint in detail.
The artist knew that he would need to find a way to see these perfect creatures. They were the one thing he had never painted in his life as an artist. In his house hung the hundreds of painting of birds, dogs, people, trees, and any other thing you might find in nature. He was a powerful man in his village, he had everything that he could need for three life times but it still didn't make him happy. His paintings of the ape were lacking in some way that he could not figure out. He had given up on paint and hoped to find a better way to sketch the ape.
As he pondered his predicament he started to look through his vast collection of drawing material. Many times he had looked through these boxes of miscellaneous paints and pencils just hoping to find anything to help him with his quest. Just as he began to give up on his search he saw an old black box that was hidden under an old paint set. The box had dust all over it and was not marked in an way to tell what was inside.
The artist paused to think and then opened the box; inside was a small tablet of a stone like feel. Under that was a piece of grainy stone with a white tint. He tried to remember what it was called but couldn't, this was the only thing he had not used to draw the ape with. The next thing he did was pick up the stone tablet and start to draw. After a long few days of drawing and erasing he had made the best drawing yet. The over lay of all his drawings made a new picture that was just like the apes. The artist was so happy that he had to show it to everyone. The very next day he gave it to the best fine art dealer in the land to give to the people. After 50 long years of painting he had done it. At the moment he gave the drawing away he though of a name, The Ape in the chock board. Because of the boards chalky texture.
