Mariposa Desnuda by Arturo Esparza (Original Painting)

This painting is based on an old traditional mexican legend of the city of Oaxaca:

Legend has it that the bat was once the most beautiful bird of Creation. The bat was at first as we know it today and called biguidibela (biguidi = butterfly and bela = flesh, the name came to mean something like butterfly naked). A cold day ascended into heaven and asked the creator feathers, as seen in other flying animals. But the creator had no feathers, so I advised him to fall back to earth and ask for a pen to each bird. And so did the bat, yes, using only the most colorful birds with more colors and feathers.

When he finished his tour, the bat had made ​​a large number of feathers wrapped around her body. Aware of her beauty, showing it proudly flew and flew all the birds, who stopped to admire its flight. Now waved their wings feathered, fluttering happy and with an air of arrogance. Once, as an echo of his flight, created the rainbow. It was all beauty.

But his pride was as much pride in what became an increasingly offensive to birds being. With his swagger continuous, made ​​her a few young children were at his side, regardless of the qualities they have. Until the hummingbird reproached not become owner of a tenth of its beauty. When the Creator saw that the bat was not content to enjoy their new feathers, but used them to humiliate others, he asked to go up to heaven, where he preened and flapped happy. It fluttered and flapped his feathers came off as one by one, discovered naked again as before. Throughout the day the sky rained feathers, and since then our bats remained naked, retiring to live in caves and forgetting your sense of sight to avoid having to remember all the colors he once had and lost.