The Mantilla Comb Sisters

The Mantilla Comb Sisters

We were two parts of a same comb. Our creator made a mistake while creating us. We were meant

to be one big comb. But, whilst hammering the rivets, he accidentally snapped us into two. Being a

poor craftsman, he was worried about his daughter. It’s more than 115 years since we were made.

But, we remember the day clearly.

At first, he was angry and disappointed. He took the broken parts to his sick daughter and lamented

how he had failed her. His daughter smiled and told him to make two combs instead. His face lit up

and he went on to make the finest comb anyone had ever seen in the 1900’s.

He stayed up late every night to polish us again and again until light shattered into thousand pieces

after it hit us. His daughter named us the “Dos Hermanas”, meaning two sisters. He used his dead

wives’ jewels to adorn us.

When we were made we were two of a kind, with slightly different length. Later, an American

merchant purchased us for a good sum and sailed off to his own land. We could feel the father and

daughter were sad to let us go, but then, he needed money for the medicines.

Ironically, after reaching America after several months in 1903, we heard the Wright Brothers were

successful in their first flight. The American merchant sold us to the owner of a crafts store, where

we were kept on blue cushioned velvet near the window.

Days flew by, rich men, poor men; beggars all looked at us while passing by the store. Sometimes

they lingered, sometimes they threw ignorant glances, but they looked. We were the epitome of

luxury to them.

One day, we saw a warm-hearted poor couple stop