Once upon a time there was a fish who lived under an old wooden pier. The fish was fat and stubby, and instead of scales he was covered with a thick, rubbery skin that had a number of short coarse hairs growing from it. He also had a girl's face that had grown on the end of his tongue. It wasn't a pretty face, but it did have a certain sweetness to it, with it's plump roundness, rosy red cheeks, and the thick dark brows over serious looking eyes. It was only a face with no mind behind it, which was fortunate, because it would be a horrible thing for anyone to have to live inside a fish's mouth. Imagine being stuck there, smelling the fish's rotten breath and having whatever ground-up chunks of food it was eating wash over your face, bits getting stuck in your nose and mouth.
When he was bored, the fish liked to swim out from under the pier and lure local fishermen into the water. He would float a short distance under the water and stick out his tongue. When someone happened to look down into the water, they would see a child's face looking up at them, and more often than not they would dive in to save the poor drowning child.
The fish would swim back under the pier, luring the would-be rescuer down to a large jumble of discarded boards, old lobster traps, and other trash that was there... where they would become trapped and quickly drown. This provided the fish with much amusement.
However, one tragic day the fish was sitting down to a light meal of tapenade on little toast wedges and a salad of fresh spinach and strawberries (and the promise of sugar cookies afterward if he finished his regular food), when he accidentally bit down on his tongue. His teeth were small but sharp, and they ripped through the flesh of the face on his tongue, slicing through the cheeks, the plump red lips, the little round nose. The water around him filled with blood, and he thrashed about in pain, knocking his little dinner table over and frightening several smaller fish that had been swimming by. The fish swam far under the pier and didn't come out for nearly a month, when his tongue was on the way to being more or less healed.
Although the cuts in his tongue had closed and weren't infected, there was dreadful scarring to the face there, and from that point on when he tried to lure people into the water with it, instead of jumping in to save the child they thought they saw, they would recoil in terror from the hideous scarred face that looked up at them.
Eventually the fish was forced to admit that he would need to find some other means of amusing himself, and he took up knitting and became quite good at it.
DeviantART and the martial arts action film, Ninja Assassin, have teamed up to allow ALL deviants the ability to install Journal Skins! Select an awesome Ninja Assassin skin or choose the skin of your choice.
Daily Literature Deviations is a group that is dedicated to bringing literature to the forefront of the deviantArt community. We attempt to accomplish this by daily featuring Literature artists from around the community that deserve the recognition, but are not getting it.
Each day we will feature 5 deviations from the Literature categories in a News Article. In order to support the artists that we feature, we ask that you the news article as well as check out the individual pieces. We understand that each day you may not be able to check out each and every one of the pieces, everyone has their own things going on. We just ask that you make an attempt to help support the growing Literature community.
The Deviousness Award is an accolade which is traditionally handed out on the 1st of every month to one trully outstanding deviant. `Cyantre is one of the most helpful deviants within our community. With a positive attitude and a resourceful mind, you can always find him providing support and encouragement to those in need. Always looking for ways in which he can get more involved in our community, John's positive presence is to be aspired to. A well respected poet, John is a must-have on your deviantWATCH to make sure that you don't miss out on your dose of community inspiration. It's with great pleasure that the Deviousness Award for November 2009 goes to... Read More