Vanity Is The Sun's Everlasting Curse, short story by Niall McKenna

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Short Story by: Niall McKenna

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Status: Finished | Genre: Literary Fiction | House: Booksie Classic

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This was written after I saw a documentary about a little girl in America who was born with almost no face at all. It's aimed at the people who put appearance first.

Submitted: October 04, 2006

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Submitted: October 04, 2006

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There was a land, the name of which has now been long forgotten by the historians, where there lived a man of great appearance. He, who shall be known eternally as Ayf, was a man whose only quality was his looks. His eyes were made of glittering oceans, his hair the darkest chocolate that even the gods did not dare to gorge upon, his skin olive and his muslces huge. He had little brains, could not finish a simple sentence without cursing the sky itself, and viewed women as objects and men as enemies.
One day, the King was visiting Ayf's home town of Danikos. He was a good man, even for a monarch, who rule with intelligence and benevolence. He rode upon a snowy horse from the deepest regions of the land, and wore a crown encrusted with pearls. The King was passing by Ayf when the horse stumbled. The King fell from his horse and landed in the mud, and the crown rolled into Ayf's shadow. Ayf picked it up, cleaned the crown carefully, and the King smiled at this, but Ayf then proceeded to put the crown on, to horrified gasps from the small crowd that had gathered. He stood up and declared, "As my looks eclipse those of the King, i am by far the better of us! A leader with good looks will be able to seduce the enemies of our lands!". At this point, a storm gathered over the town, and huge daggers of lightning scarred the sky. A loud voice boomed out, "SO! You think you are good looking, mortal? Well, i will give you all the good looks you wish, with one catch only!". Ayf was excited at this, not bothering to think of possible catches, and accepted the offer of the Gods. As the storm passed by, Ayf had vanished, and in the sky was a star of immense beauty. Its flaming presence warmed the people, but those who stared at the star were struck blind by its beauty. Ayf had been given the ultimate looks - but those who were foolish to admire these looks paid for this with their own eyes.

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Literary Fiction fiction moral niall mckenna smith vanity sun

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Xenia

Comment | 102 words

Thu, October 5th, 2006 4:06am

Remember this info in the net - about the faceless girl, it also impressed me. The matter is not only in the horrible appearance but deeper - that the face reflects our being. No face - no persona - no true existence. Paradox - but persona derives from Greek for a "mask". In one Japanese novel a guy with face destroyed by the gas explosion created a mask to substitute it...
Be turned into a blinding star - isn't it a secret dream of all narcisstic personas?
Seems the final contradicts the whole design of the story but I liked it, nonetheless.

Donald H Sullivan

Comment | 111 words

Fri, October 6th, 2006 11:30pm

Lots of stories tell of people who are ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside. Quasimodo, Cyrano de Bergerac, Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, just to name a few. Your story gives us a different twist: A man who was handsome on the outside but ugly on the inside.

The story tells us of the folly of vanity. Some of the most desirable women I have known were more beautiful on the inside than they were on the outside. Perhaps vanity should be the eighth deadly sin.

This was a nice piece of flash fiction. It was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Donald