Is He Living or is He Dead

I like very much the story «Is He Living or is He Dead», written by Mark Twain, following reasons.

It is rather sad and at the same time funny story, telling us about starving young painters, who invented one interesting method of becoming rich.

Above-mentioned young painters lived in one French village and liked their affair very much, they worked hard and created many pictures and other artworks, but there were not any inhabitants in that village, wishing to buy them. I felt deep sorrow about those painters, when I was reading words about their poverty and practically complete food`s absence. One day one of them, being in depressing mood, pronounced the following phrase: «We are up to the end and everything is against us, because we will not be able to buy any food in the village until we have our debts unpaid». And then one of them, being very indignant by such miserable position, offered the rest comrades one genial idea of getting money. And I must notice, that I was shocked and surprised with that cunning idea. The sense of the idea was to offer different persons to buy pictures of the painter, who was going to «die» soon. And painter François Millet was chosen for the role of such «dying» painter among the rest young painters. The plan of that idea`s exercising was rather simple. The «dying» painter must have created as many pictures, sketches and other artworks, as he could and put his signatures on his creations. Meanwhile the others must have left the village, where they lived, and to make trips in different places, informing people about «coming» death of François Millet. And as a result this genial idea worked two hundreds percent. Different people, having got information about coming Francois Millet`s death were buying his works in rather great deal, having paid significant sums of money for artworks of «famous» painter. In such way François Millet became very famous and of course very rich person and his comrades got sufficient amount of money also.