Tales Most Disturbing

The Handless Maiden

Book Diorama (table top or wall mounted)

Paper Mache Assemblage

Book:8.5″H x 6.5″W x 2″D; Stand: 10″H x 8″W

This diorama is part of the Tales Most Disturbing series.

This fairytale-inspired series is hand painted and constructed to resemble an old treasured tome.

Displayed on their own stand… each little diorama book tells a tale not so happily ever after.   

The Handless Maiden… In making this piece I was inspired to revisit one of my favorite tales The Handless Maiden.

The maiden in the story is violently robbed of her hands by her own father who is in leagues with the devil. Forced to fend for herself, she searches for a way to heal her wounds. 

The hand-painted, original poem inside the book reads:

"A poor bargain is made
when you don't know your worth,
And you give away more than you were given at birth.
And this bargain takes root before you give it much thought;
till you cringe with remorse when you see what you've bought.
But from the wound grows a knowing that is part of the plan.
Although while you endure it you may not understand
that in a bargain with darkness lies a glimmer of light,
for the wound is the price paid
for a new kind of sight."

View the gallery pages of the other pieces in the Tales Most Disturbing Series: A Cautionary Tale, The Skeleton Woman, The Nightingale, The Witch of the Wood, Moonlit Vigil and Shadowlands.