In the color spirit of the love month, Chinese New Year, and the latest trend in fashion and design in general, we are finally agreeing to write this brilliant sob story that we rather bury deep down inside otherwise.

The Carmine of a Girl

Once upon a time in the highlands of Peru, lived a little girl named Felimone. She was eight. She lived with her parents and her eight siblings, all of which suffered from pneumonia; At the time, life treated her unfairly.
Despite it all, Felimone was a happy girl. She was the only one taking care of everyone in the family. She worked hard day and night, all tired her not.
Early in the morning, she would disappear into brushes of prickly pear cactus. There, she would harvest hundreds of peppercorn-size cochineals. When the sun set down, it was then time for her to go to the city to sell her harvest. Right before she gave the bag to the buyer, she would slip several cochinies into her small pocket and later would bring them home. She was very gentle not to crush them on the way or she would be one very very sad girl.

Once home, she cooked for the whole family. She helped feeding them. She also cleaned them afterwards and tucked them into their beds. And just before they went asleep, Felimone took the little cochineals out from her pocket, showed them to the girls, crushed the tiny ones in a little bowl, and smeared the carmine dye onto the girls' cheeks.
"Oh," Felimone thought, "Aren't they just beautiful with their red cheeks.."
The vision lasted forever.

Days passed, months gone by, one by one they lessened. At last, it was only Felimone, her little loyal cochineals, and the money she had saved. She bid farewell to the land and the brushes. She left her hometown, determined to make her dreams come true.

Finally, Filemone prevailed and became very successful with the help of her dear little friends. Her natural red dye would proudly be used in everything from cosmetics to textile dye. "Red is rad," people thought, "We'll paint this world red!" exclaimed the Chinese.
Filemone then lived happily ever after with her cochineals.

-The End-


Image Credit:
Gretrude Elizabeth Offord's Portrait of a Young Girl in a Red Dress 1900

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