Seven Deadly Sins (The Trouble with...)

An examination of each of the seven deadly sins and their affect on our lives, told through short stories.

Seven Deadly Sins (The Trouble With...)

The Trouble with Pride

Once upon a time there was a very handsome man who had all of the best clothes, was friends with all of the best families, and went to all of the best schools. In his society he was unparalleled in all of his tangible traits, and as such he thought very much of himself- some would argue too much. One day after finishing a book about architecture, he suddenly thought himself a genius on the subject and set to work constructing a stately new home. He planned it all out alone, although hired common laborers to do the physical work he deemed beneath him. Though the laborers were themselves very knowledgeable on the subject, the man spotted what he thought was an error when the house was near completion. He noticed that some of the beams seemed to be in different places than where’d he drawn them in his plan, and scolded the laborers for their incompetence. However, the leader among them came forward and said he’d purposely altered the plans, as the man’s original idea would be very unsafe in actual execution. The man was furious that a simple commoner would dare question his brilliant ideas, and soundly fired the entire crew, finishing the work by himself. He built it up according to his original specifications, and when it was done, he boldly stepped inside, nose tilted skyward and chest puffed out. 

Only moments later the structure collapsed down on him, killing him instantly and driving his haughty nose right into the dirt.

The Trouble with Lust

Once a upon a time there was a woman who had many lovers. The men themselves didn’t mean that much to her, and if she happened to see one in public, she couldn’t even match a name with a face. All she cared much about was how she felt. She loved the feeling of her skin being caressed, or her lips being kissed. When she’d had a bad day, she’d go to one of her lovers. When her family was annoying her, she’d spend the night at one of the men’s homes. And yes, even when she was simply bored she’d pay them a visit. Feeling, feeling, feeling was all she responded to.

When the woman got a little older, she met a new man, and began to feel something she had never felt before. She enjoyed being in his company even though they weren’t doing anything, and she actually cared for him and wanted to support him. Now, more than anyone, it was him that she wanted to love. But much to her dismay, the man lived by a high moral standard and refused to even kiss her under their current circumstances. But, he told her, if she would marry him, then those actions would be acceptable. And so, after she agreed to stop seeing her lovers, the two were married.

Although, a strange thing happened on their wedding night. As her new husband approached her and embraced her in his arms, she couldn’t feel a thing. When he touched her face, it was like his hand wasn’t even there at all. She realized her body was completely numb all over, and came to the sad realization that being felt so much had finally left her unable to feel at all. Because of all her careless acts previously, she was now unable to do what she cared the most about.

The Trouble with Wrath

In a small old village there lived two men. One of the men was an honest, hard working farmer who tried his best to do his work and stay out of everyone else’s way. Although, the second man was a lazy and unsuccessful merchant. The lazy man would mock and taunt the farmer every time he saw him, for being covered in dirt, or smelling like the horses, or whatever the case might be on any particular day. The farmer did his best to ignore the merchant, but in his heart a lump of resentment grew larger everyday at the taunts of such a hypocrite.

Though, the farmer soon had larger problems to deal with when he discovered one day that his livestock were mysteriously vanishing. Everyday, inexplicably, another cow or pig or chicken would disappear. It caused the farmer no end of stress and was beginning to greatly effect his income. Finally, after many sleepless nights hoping to catch a thief in the act, he did. He discovered that obnoxious, heckler merchant roughly trying to stuff one of his chickens in a burlap sack. 

His rage exploding all at once, the farmer grabbed his axe and plunged it into the back of the merchant. After he fell dead, the farmer grabbed the body’s feet and dragged him into the pig’s pen to conceal in the mud. And because the merchant had been universally disliked, his disappearance was never investigated much in the town. The farmer even began to think that he’d done society a favor with his actions.

One night, a few weeks after the deed was done, the farmer was walking back to his house when he was stopped by a miraculous sight. A bright white angel descended down from the sky. When the farmer asked why the angel had come, a screen appeared in the air. The angel told him that he’d come to show what would have happened if the farmer hadn’t killed the merchant. The screen suddenly lit up with images of the merchant being taken to jail for his crimes. It also showed him becoming very sick while serving his sentence, and reexamining his life. When his sentence was finally served, he immediately came to the farmer and apologized for his past actions. The two then went into business together and became much more successful than they could ever have been individually.

After this the images stopped, and the angel said, “Yes, that’s what could have been, but unfortunately it’s too late for you.”

“For me?” the man asked as the angel disappeared, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

But as he turned around, he suddenly caught the fierce gaze of the enraged wife of the dead merchant. She lifted a gun, and shot the farmer right in his face.

The Trouble with Greed

There once was a man who lived only for the finer things in life. He measured his existence, and the lives of all those around him by how much money they possessed. To him, money was the only thing in this world that was absolute, the only real visible yard stick by which to measure. Each dollar gained another notch in his belt of glory, and he was not above committing unscrupulous deeds, or subjecting himself or others to great humiliation if it would earn him more. It was through these means that he amassed a large sum of currency, both paper and coin, all which he kept locked up within his home. He wouldn’t even let his family, or friends (the latter of which he had none) visit his well guarded house.

However, one day he was lured outside the walls of his house by the site of a solitary coin rolling down the driveway. With a crooked leer in his eye, he chased after it, eager to add it with the others he owned. However, his driveway was a downward slope, and it took him a very long time to catch the pesky coin. When he finally clutched it, and marched back up to his house, he was met with a nasty surprise. Robbers had broken in during his absence and had quickly absconded with everything of value that he owned. In his frustration, he slammed the coin that had been his undoing down on the ground.

But as it began to roll down once again, he couldn’t help but chase it.

The Trouble with Gluttony

Once upon a time there was a gigantic man. He was gigantic because he ate whatever he could get his hands on: meat, fruit, bread, cakes, sea food, soup, rice. He lived for the flavors that would coat his tongue and slide warmly down his throat. Anything at all would do, because it all carried him far away to a land of the sweet, and of the savory, where he didn’t have a care. Unfortunately, with this sort of attitude he literally ate his family out of house and home, and he and his parents were forced to become beggars on the roadside. Most looked on at them in disgust, but whenever someone happened to take pity and drop a crust of bread, the man would overpower his poor parents with his gigantic body and gobble it up for himself.

Eventually, the man’s feeble parents starved to death, and he was all alone. Because of his enormous roly-poly body there was no way for him to get a job (not that he was very motivated to have one in the first place.) And so he started to sneak into people’s homes in the night, and snatch up as much food as he possibly could for himself. Even if the homeowner awoke in the night, the man could easily over power them due to his size. After a while it got to be a real problem, with the man having gobbled up nearly every crumb in town.

And so all the townsfolk got together and had a discussion. Individually they were no match for him, but if they all came at him at once then it would be a simple task to bind him- and that’s exactly what they did. They bound his feet together and his hands behind his back, and made a huge bonfire in the town square. They roasted the man over it like an oversized chicken, and the people of the town were well fed for a very long time.

The Trouble with Envy

Once there was a woman who was never satisfied with what she had. She was constantly comparing all she owned, and all of her accomplishments with another woman. No matter how nice a dress she bought, it was never nicer than that woman’s. No matter how cute a boyfriend she got, he was never cuter than hers. While in actuality the possessions of the two women were very equal, the first could never see that. What the other woman had always seemed better, so much better that it made her feel inadequate. But she wasn’t ok with inadequate- she wanted to win. It would bring her no greater satisfaction than to finally outdo her rival.

Still, try as she may, the first woman could never beat out the second. One day, she became so fed up that she punched her rival square in the face. Though, when she did, she heard a loud Crack and her hand began to bleed. What she had never realized before was that the second woman had been her own reflection in a mirror.

The Trouble with Sloth

There once was a man who never felt like doing much of anything. Yes, there were those who often counted on him to get things done, but more often than not he would let them down. He didn’t have much sense of “responsibility”, and completing tasks from a list that would never end anyway seemed pointless. He loved nothing more than the feel of his bed, and the peace of sleep.

Finally, there came a task that he had no way of getting out of, and he grudgingly agreed to complete. However, as was so often his strategy, he kept putting it off and putting it off. When the occasional thought to complete the troublesome task came up, his bed was always too warm, or his pillow too soft, or his daydreams too entertaining. And so he slept and slept and slept, lounging and resting more than he ever had in one sitting. 

After a long, long time, he finally decided to get out of bed and start on the task. However, as he woke up, he discovered that he couldn't see- everything was pitch black. He thought it was because the light was off, but as he groped around and turned it on, it didn’t make the slightest difference. He realized the reason he couldn’t see, was because his eyes wouldn’t open. He reached up and touched his face, patting his fingers over where his eyes should be. All he felt was grit and sand.

He had spent so much time sleeping that his eyes had crusted completely over, never to open again.

Author's Note

Number 29 of the No One Special Fairy Tales Collection [A set of 50 original fairy tales], this "fairy tale" is unique among the other 50 because it's actually a set of seven individual "micro" stories, as I like to call them. I had an idea for one fairy tale involving all seven, but after a recent conversation about the seven deadly sins with my friends, I thought it would be better to separate them so each one has a moral/lesson being taught. What I wanted to accomplish, was to show just how stupidly we humans act when we let one of these traits take over our lives, so I hope I got that across. On a side note, I was unanimously said to be "Wrath" within my group of friends...

Reviews

[Christina]

Nicely done senpia. I thought this was an interesting take on the sins that most people to day are very wrapped up in although they don't realize it until it is too late. I have yet to read some of the other tales, but when I have the time and I am not updating on other things then I will let you know what I thought of the other ones.

[Omegax45]

Nicely done. You explained the meaning of the seven sins very well. I was a bit skeptical about the part of Wrath, with the angel coming down to show the farmer, and incidenly the merchant's wife, what could have been had he not caught the merchant stealing from him. I think it could've been done a bit different, but it is still good.