Shame and Acceptance

Stories with the Shame and Acceptance theme:

• The King with the Horse’s Ears Aug 13, 2025

  

  There was once a king whose ears were the ears of a horse. They were not ugly as such things go, but they were unmistakable, and the king—being vain as a magpie—hid them beneath a velvet cap and commanded that none should speak of them on pain of silence forever.

  Each spring, the hair beneath the cap grew hot and restive, and the king needed a barber with careful hands. That year they chose young Donnchadh, a barber whose razors were kind and whose eyes knew how to look away.