• Once upon a time, there was a puppet master. Starving for a new story, he created two self-animated puppets--a woman and a man--and released them into the world.

    The woman found her place on land while the man decided to live in the sea. One day, as the woman was planning a toy design--for this was her living--she thought to herself This needs to be alive as she was lonely and desperate for company.

    So, the woman dove down to the reefs of the nearby sea and searched for abalone shells for they were perfect for her intended use: their red-pinkish color would make for the perfect heart, capable of loving anybody.

    In the meantime, the man was also making living things, in this case, a large, black shark to guard his underwater lair. Able to see everything the shark saw, the man witnessed the woman's actions and decided that she would be his wife.

    The man then sought to find the world's most perfect flower to woo her. He began to cross breed every beautiful one he could think of, yet still it wasn't enough.

    * * *


    The woman had finished her 'puppet' (for what else would you call something created to love only one being, entirely against its will?)--a small shark. It was almost finished, all that remained was to place the abalone heart inside its chest...so it could live...and love her.

    But wait, she thought, wouldn't it make sense to test it in the water?

    Acting on this thought, the woman walked to the beach after placing the small shark in a bag and squeezing the heart tightly in her hand. She came to a suitable place and sat, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

    The man sent his shark up through the water to where he knew she would be. He knew he'd startled her, so he made his machine open its mouth, wherein laid the world's most beautiful flower in appearance only--the flower gave off a horrible stench, but the man was unable to smell it because he lived underwater.

    "Mademoiselle," he said, "I would be so happy if you were to be my bride. Please accept this bloom as a token of my affection."

    The woman, throughly shocked at first, adamantly refused. The flower's smell repulsed her entirely. Disappointed, the man made his mechanical beast withdraw, and he was never to be seen again.

    Of course, how was the man to know the woman was completely blind?

    And the woman, what became of her, you ask? Well...let's just say that some stories are a complete and total tragedy.

    * * *


    The puppet master laughed as he saw how his puppets' story had ended. Oh yes, this would surely bring amusement, no matter how morbid or sad, to his viewers. And so, the puppet master began to create plain old, non-living puppets that looked exactly like the woman, the man, and the two sharks.