The Girl Who Shared Her Face

"I hate my face," the little girl cried to herself in the dark little bathroom connected to her room. "I want to get a new one."

She wiped her cheeks and went to get her coat and tip-toed out the door so she didn't wake her parents. Outside, the sun had set, and the moon was full. It lit the little pathway that led away from her house. She put her hands in her pocket and walked into the forest.

There, she met a raccoon.

"Hello, raccoon. I really love your nose. May I have it?" The raccoon nodded and gave her the nose. She watched the raccoon sulk as he could no longer smell. "Here you go," she said. "You may have my nose." She pushed her fingertips into her skin and peeled off her nose. The warm blood dripped down over her lips. She handed the raccoon her nose, who took it into its hands and placed it on his own face. Then she did the same with his nose.

When The raccoon placed the nose on his face, he waddled back into the forest shadows. When he sniffed, he could not smell the foods in the forest that he normally ate. He wished he had not agreed to switch with the little girl, but she looked so happy.

The little girl kept walking forward and ran into a deer.

"Hello, deer, I really love your ears. May I have them?" The deer nodded and gave the ears to her. It, too, looked sad that it could no longer hear. "It's okay, deer, you may have my ears." She then scratched at her ears and pulled them away from the sides of her face. The stinging made her wince, but she kept thinking about her new ears. Blood dripped down her neck and onto the shoulders of her white coat. The deer pranced away after putting on its new ears and she did the same.

When the deer got to a safe distance from the little girl, he tried to twitch his ears. The small ears he now had would not move, and he could no longer hear the dangers of the forest. He wished he had not agreed to trade, but he remembered the happy look on the little girl's face.

The little girl took a moment to try out her new features. She closed her eyes and sniffed deeply. She could smell a million more smells than before. She twitched her new ears and could hear a million more noises than before.

When she opened her eyes, an owl sat perched on a post on the side of the path.

"Hello, owl, I really love your eyes. May I have them?" The owl nodded and gave her its eyes. She noticed the owl hunch down, as it could not see. "Here, owl, you may have mine." She dug her fingers deep behind her eyelids and tore her eyes out with a great slurp and handed them to the owl. The owl put her eyes in place and flew off. She then took the owl's eyes and pushed them deep into her empty eye sockets. When she opened her eyes, she saw a million more things than before.

When the owl flew off and tried to land, he crashed into a tree branch and fell to the ground. Blinking, he realized he could no longer see in the dark with the little girl's eyes. He did his best to flutter up to safety and sat sadly on a branch. He regretted he had traded his eyes with the little girl.

The little girl continued on, walking farther down the path. She was pleased with all of her new facial features. When she thought she had seen no creatures in a while, a little red fox came onto the path in front of her.

"Oh, hello little red fox, I really love your mouth. May I have it?" The little red fox sat down and removed its mouth to hand to her. She saw the fox shrink down as it could not eat. "Here, red fox, you may have my mouth."

She pressed her fingers into her skin, digging deep behind her jaw. Bones cracked in her skull as her jaw dislocated from her head. When she had finished removing her mouth, she handed it to the little red fox. After he attached it, he jumped up and ran back into the darkness. She then pushed the fox's mouth and jaw into the space at the bottom of her face. With a few clicks, she opened her mouth and could taste a million more tastes in the forest air.

As the little red fox hunted a small mouse and tried to catch it, he noticed that his new mouth had teeth that made it very difficult. After he watched the mouse run away unharmed and he remained hungry, he became very sad that he had traded his mouth with the little girl.

The little girl felt all of her new features with her hands and hurried back to her house. When she returned, she quietly opened the door and went up the stairs into her little bathroom. She stood in the darkness for a moment in front of the mirror before she turned on the light. When she pulled the string and the darkness was gone, she was looking at her brand new face.

Her raccoon nose
Her deer ears
Her owl eyes
And her red fox mouth

She was pleased and danced around the room, happy with the changes she had made. Soon, she changed into her nightgown and fell fast asleep.

While the little girl was sleeping and dreaming of her new face, the animals of the forest that she had met all came together in the very path the girl had walked. In silence, they all agreed that they must get back what they had given the little girl. Feeling as though they had been cheated, they all took off the features she had given them and left them there to rot in the path. Guiding each other, they then all made their way to her house and quietly went up the stairs and into the bathroom by the mirror to wait.

The sun was shining when the little girl woke, and she got up to admire her new face.

When she walked into the bathroom, it startled her to find all the animals that she had traded with the night before. They were all sitting and facing her. She noticed that where her features had been were gaping holes in their faces.

"Why, what are you doing? Are you not happy with what I have given you?" Slowly, they all shook their heads. She felt tears leaving her owl eyes. "But I do not want to give them back! I love my new face."

As the animals crept closer to her, she backed into the bathroom door. First, the raccoon came much closer and moved its paw to its nose on her face. The little claws dug in and removed the nose and placed it back on his face. Before she could ask where her nose was, he scampered off out of the room.

Next, the deer came forward, and pulled its ears from her face and placed it where the little girl's ears had been. The little girl blinked as tears fell down her cheeks and into the crevice where the nose had been. The deer gracefully walked out of the room, happy to be complete again.

The owl fluttered towards her and pecked its eyes out of the girl's face and pulled them back out with its beak and flew off to find a branch to land on for safety and put his eyes back into its sockets.

She felt the fur of the red fox along her legs. It jumped onto the sink to reach its jaw on her face. He moved his paws behind and dislocated the little bones from her skull and placed them back on his face. After he placed it back on his face, he jumped out of the room in search of something to taste.

The little girl stood by herself in her little bathroom with an empty face. Her features were forever lost to the path in the forest. She thought, if I could cry, I would. I hated my face and loved my new face and now I have no face at all.

There was nothing for her to do but stand there alone in the room. For she could not see where her features were in the forest, nor hear when her mother was calling her for dinner. Even if she could hear her, she could no longer eat without a jaw. She stood there, with the blood dripping from the open holes in her face until there was no more blood to drip. Her body fell to the floor as the last drip dropped, and she thought one last time about the new face she enjoyed so much.