N.B.: You still have three days to send me an entry for the Blogalike Contest.
A 100-word short story by Neil Gaiman.
older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die.
The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories.
Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves’ invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time.
He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher.
Ho.
Ho.
Ho.
That is really fucking creepy.
A goblin kept a school, and built a mirror to reverse redemption. His serpentine students grew sophisticated. In the mirror, all that was good appeared evil; all roses were sick, and all lilies festered.
When the mirror shattered, glass splinters blinded human eyes and pierced human hearts; those so wounded could find nothing that was not wretched. Fragments of the mirror became windows, spectacles, a pair of glass slippers for the mermaid (who felt every step was like walking on knives).
This is what I wish: with each story twisted past recognition, the shard of looking-glass in my eye will grow smoother and cleaner. When everything I know has been warped beyond reflection, the mirror will lose its power, and my vision will be true.
No?
No.
No.
I adore Neil Gaiman. Perhaps one of the best writers I have ever had the good fortune to come across. Have you read his “Sandman” series? Lovely in a macabre sort of way, and terribly moving.
The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else’s lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin’ for?
I really, really like how it gives the whole ’tis the season to be jolly’ crap a horrifying twist.
Brilliant!
Both of those stories made me feel extremely sad.
Fascinating… but am I an inhuman bastard for not finding it creepy or uncomfortable?