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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