well behaved women

The Girl who Wore Blue Eyes

Once there was a girl.

She was a small girl, and a tidy one, and she kept her shoes shined and her skirts ironed and her little bag full of glass jars. She had shining dark hair and small neat hands, and she did not smile often. She was a very grave little girl, and she thought highly of her dignity.

And she collected eyes.

She collected them as other girls collected flowers and purses and kisses, all in her little glass jars, one by the other. No one was sure how, as she did not pluck them from skulls and steal them from beasts, but no one could deny that they stared curiously from the little jars, taking in the world with a gravity that sometimes seemed ill fitting to a small and bright faced girl, but sat very well on this dignified medley of gazes.

She collected round protruding frog eyes, and goat's eyes with their blocky pupils, and a serpent's dark veiled stare. She collected those of fish, never-flinching, and carefully misted them with water each morning. She found the many faceted glance of flies, and stored away the inquisitive gaze of a vulture. She was positively fond of them, and very devoted to her task.

This was, of course, because she had none at all of her own.