---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Ottinger, George M.
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 13
number: 4
published: 1910-02
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Ottinger, George M., "Quien Sabe?—“Who Knows?”," *Improvement Era* 13, no. 4 (February 1910): 310–311.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1304unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera1304unse
start_page: 310
end_page: 311
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1910-02)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1304unse
  publication_year: 1910
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1910, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Quien Sabe?—“Who Knows?”


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QUIEX SABE?    "WHO KNOWS?"'
From a Painting by George M. Ottinger.

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QUIEN SABE?— "WHO KNOWS?"
In the western part of Honduras, Central America,
shrouded in an immense forest, and in dark and impen-
etrable mystery, slumbers the ruins of an ancient city, to
modern antiquarians and travelers known as Copan.
Next to the crumbling temple in importance, or per-
haps before it, as an indication of the artistic skill of its
builders, are the carved statues or obelisks, remarkable
for their size and well-executed sculpture. The sides and
backs are covered with hieroglyphics, arranged in square
tablets which probably contain the names, titles, and per-
haps history of the beings whose images in stone they
serve to decorate.        Standing in front of some of the
statues are found sculptural blocks of stone.
The obelisk represented in the painting stands in
the court of the temple.      In appearance and in character,
it is   tasteful and pleasing.   It   represents a queen who,
ages ago, by virtue and good deeds, endeared her mem-
ory in the hearts of her subjects.      As the years rolled on,
their love became worship.       Christianized as the nations
of Honduras of the present day are presumed to be, they
still   cling   and secretly pay reverence to their sacred
statues.
A young girl, her water jar and bundle of fagots at her
feet, has placed her floral offering on the altar, on which

she reclines, gazing up at the mute stone face, and
Who Knows?            She may be a lineal descendant of this
deified queen.  Time and its vicissitudes have robbed her
of royalty, and left her a poor "hewer of wood and car-
rier of water"    —
who knows? who knows?
George M. Ottinger.