Living Dolls

There was a saying that once you have created something and poured every thought and feeling into it, that something... might end up gaining its own consciousness and awareness. Thus, one should be very careful in their actions to prevent unexpected incidents to them. Then again, in this case... should that someone be the only one to be worried about? How about those things that inadvertently gained consciousness and wished to be truly given a life of its own?

A single doll, fashioned to resemble a bird-like humanoid creature, stood at the edge of a high-walled shelf. Left forgotten by the artisan who created him, he remained on that shelf unsure of its purpose. He was a beautiful doll, every detail and colouring of its body had been carefully sculpted and painted. From the very strands of his hair, down to his feet... and even to the tips of his wings. Yet, the artisan placed him far from his other creations... somehow that made him feel that he was hated and unwanted. Thus, the doll kept on wearing a very sad and lonely expression.

Unbeknownst to it, the artisan in truth treasured that winged doll very much. Because of that, to prevent the doll from being dirtied and damaged... it was left on that shelf for safekeeping. On occasional days, the artisan would return and take the doll from the shelf to admire its beauty.

Yet for some reason, he would always notice the disagreeable expression on the doll's face.

The doll hated the artisan very much. Thus, it would not allow that artisan to succeed in making him look nice or having a pleasant appearance. It would not allow the artisan to hide its true feelings with a mask of illusion. Such treatment befits the injustice the doll felt inside.

Another doll, a mermaid... sat on its own display rack overlooking the shelf on the wall. She often spent most of her time watching the winged doll from afar. And often as well, she could catch the occasional complaints made by the doll towards the artisan, their creator.

Poor child, if only he knew how the artisan truly cared about him, the mermaid doll once thought. She often spent her time near the artisan after all, when the artisan was busy creating many others of his art. Yet she could not blame the winged doll for resenting the artisan.

He must be very lonely..., she thought.

One rainy and windy day, she saw the winged doll accidentally fell onto the floor. The doll's wings caught the wind as it blew past strongly, toppling it from the edge of the shelf. Worried, the mermaid doll slowly made her way out of her rack... to look for him. The artisan was going away for a few days, so this incident might not be noticed so soon. The winged doll might be in trouble by then!

After a while, she found him... sprawling underneath the bed. She crawled towards the doll hurriedly as she overheard him cry.

"Don't cry, oh winged one. It's going to be all right..." she said.

The winged doll continued to cry. "No, it's not. I'm broken now. Certainly the artisan would throw me out once he saw me like this. I'm worthless to him!"

The mermaid turned to look at one of the doll's wings. Sure enough, one of the wings have been bent very badly. She crawled nearer towards the winged doll.

"You're wrong, silly child. The artisan would not throw you out, he'll definitely have you fixed in no time. You're the most beautiful doll he ever created after all!"

"That's even worse. Then he'll keep on putting me so high up. He hated me, I'm sure of it!"

The mermaid doll shook her head. "No, he loved you deeply. The artisan did, I knew it. I've always heard how proud he said that he created you. He often worried that you'd be dirtied or damaged so easily, that was the reason he kept you on that shelf."

The winged doll frowned. "But I don't like the shelf."

"Then how about staying with me on my display case?"

The winged doll looked at the mermaid curiously. "Why?"

"Because I liked you as well. I don't like to see you looking so sad like you always do."

The winged doll finally smiled.

Few days later, the artisan found both dolls in that corner of the room. He immediately fixed the broken wing, before noticing the happy expression on the doll's face. Strange. The face have not changed since the last time he painted the doll, yet the feeling he got looking at the doll was different. He wondered if it was because the winged doll was together with the mermaid doll during the past few days. Thus, since then, he had placed the winged doll in the same display case as the mermaid doll.

The two dolls never looked more beautiful than they have before.