{ICYMI//Flash Fiction//Giveaway} with author Danielle E. Shipley: “One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes, Retold”
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This
year for the event's 5th Anniversary, older posts will be pulled out
from the archives and given a brand-new coat of paint as "In Case You
Missed It" features!
I
decided to feature Danielle E. Shipley's flash fiction from last year because she's stopping by the blog again today for another round of FTF! PLUS it's a short story--and a fun one based on the more-obscure tale "One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes!" WIN!
Check out today's guest post with Danielle,
Danielle also posted "The Author and the Wind..." on The Book Rat this year for FTF!
Last year for FTF, she also posted "If I were told I had to choose a fairytale character’s story to live..."
and done an interview over at The Book Rat!
and done an interview over at The Book Rat!
~*~
~*~
“One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes, Retold”
A woman had a torrid affair with a
particularly attractive Cyclops. She thought she’d been discreet enough, but –
alas! – she had failed to anticipate that this extramarital union would result
in a baby whose single eye in the center of its forehead might hint at its
heredity. The woman nervously laughed off her husband’s suspicious gaze upon
their firstborn daughter, saying, “Isn’t it lucky and completely, unaccountably
random to have so unique a child? Given that I’ve totally never cheated on you,
what on earth are the odds?” And, thinking to be cute, she named her daughter
One-Eye.
Not long after, the woman gave
birth to a second child whose looks also favored its father (the woman’s
rightful husband, this time). Despite aforementioned father’s misgivings on the
matter, the woman insisted that if “One-Eye” had been such a very cute name,
then mathematically speaking, “Two-Eyes” would be doubly cute for their second-born daughter; for – alack! – she
failed to consider how foolish she would look should another daughter be born
to them with a normal pair of eyes, and the name “Two-Eyes” already taken. When
this did indeed take place, the woman, thinking quickly (if not sensibly far
ahead), took one of her husband’s eyes and gave it to the newborn, afterward
naming her Three-Eyes. This proved the final straw for her husband, who filed
for divorce and went to half-blindly seek his fortune elsewhere.
Now, the three daughters grew into
adolescence, a turbulent age where girls often begin to question their looks
and doubt their self-worth. One-Eye and Three-Eyes had it especially hard, for
obvious reasons, and conspired together to console themselves by being quite
nasty to their obnoxiously ordinary sister. “Stupid Two-Eyes!” they scorned.
“At least we’re exceptional! What’s the use of being like everybody else?” And
they forced her to do all the chores and denied her any meal grander than table
scraps.
Two-Eyes bore the mistreatment
without complaint or retaliation – not due to any remarkable submissiveness of
nature, but because, much as she would have liked to punch her sisters’ lights
out, the eyesight of her namesake ocular pair was rather weak, and it did not
strike her as wise to begin a fight she could not see well enough to win. She
chose instead to bide her time, using her hours in the field tending the family
goat to plot her way to a better future.
One day proved an acutely difficult
day for plotting, for she was so hungry from her inadequate rations that she
couldn’t hear her own thoughts over the growling of her stomach. Her weak eyes
spilled tears of frustration, which she quickly swiped away. And when she had
done so, she looked up to blurrily behold an old woman peering at her.
“Why so sad, dearie?” the old woman
inquired.
“Perhaps I hadn’t better tell you,”
said Two-Eyes. “You are a stranger, after all, and one can never be too
careful, in this day and age.”
“You’re a wise girl,” the old woman
approved. “But I think I can guess what troubles you. Your stomach’s rumbling
carries all the way to the road. I’d be happy to offer help, if you’ll receive
it. Try telling your goat,
‘Little goat,
if
you are able,
pray
deck out my table.’”
“Hmm...” said Two-Eyes, her two
eyes narrowed in thought. “It seems a bit of a risk. For suppose I spoke your
rhyme, and a beautifully spread table stood before me, from which I could eat
as much as I wanted? I would have no temptation to eat the scraps from my
sisters, then, and they would wonder at the change. They might start following
me out to the field to spy upon me, and while I believe I could sing a song
that would put One-Eye’s one eye to sleep, it would take a lullaby stronger
than any I know to lull more than two of Three-Eyes’. Her third eye would see
my trick with the goat, and I fear she would knife the dear little kid to
death.”
“Oh, my,” said the old woman. “I
didn’t think of that. Mmm, that would indeed be a pity. But you could always
bury the goat’s heart for luck.”
“At best,” said Two-Eyes, “the
heart might grow into a tree with leaves of silver and fruit of gold. Under the
circumstances, I shouldn’t wonder if the tree allowed none to pick from it but
me, and my sisters would only treat me all the worse for jealousy. Sure,” she
said, shrugging, “there’s a decent chance my tree would catch the attention of
a Knight, and I daresay our marriage would follow. But there’s got to be a less
convoluted way to get a Knight; I don’t see why my poor goat should die for
it.”
“Well, then, what do you propose to
do?” the old woman asked.
After giving the matter a bit more
thought, Two-Eyes squinted at the goat and said,
“Little goat,
if
it’s within your purview,
pray
improve your view.
“(And mine,)” she muttered beneath
her breath, so as not to spoil the rhyme.
At once, a pair of stylishly-framed
prescription lenses appeared in Two-Eyes’ lap. She donned them with a grin,
thanked the old woman for helping with her brainstorming session, and returned
home to the dismayed stares and gasps of her sisters, as well as the delight of
her impractical mother. “Oh!” the woman cried, clapping her hands. “Shall we
call you ‘Four-Eyes’, now?”
“You can, if you like,” the
bespectacled girl replied. “But I should appreciate ‘Foresight’ just as well.”
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THE SURROGATE SEA
Author: Danielle E. Shipley
Release Date: March 24, 2015
Publisher: Danielle E. Shipley
SUMMARY:
The Sea’s storm brought them together, and the Sea’s rules will keep them apart, unless the mute but melodious Muirigan can find another to take her place, freeing her to pursue the human man she loves. But when her plan collides with the schemes of the sly South Wind, a princess’s agenda to look for love in all the most fantastic places, and a prince whose head and heart have been long years at war, the result is a tragedy of errors from which the world might never recover.
THE SURROGATE SEA
Book Six of The Wilderhark Tales
An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.
You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.
Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.
~*~
****Giveaway*****
Ready to check out
THE SURROGATE SEA
by Danielle E. Shipley?
THE SURROGATE SEA
by Danielle E. Shipley?
Enter now to win a prize pack centered around the latest of the Wilderhawk Tales novels, THE SURROGATE SEA!
Winner will receive:
1 paperback copy of The Surrogate Sea!
1 set of signed bookmarks!
and 1 limited edition, behind-the-scenes booklet!
This giveaway ends April 22nd at midnight, EST To enter, make sure you are registered on the FTF giveaway registry, and then fill out the Rafflecopter form below.
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