Brown hatched octopus tattoo with curling tentacles on the outer thigh of a person in a green knit jumper.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Octopus tattoo on a thigh

Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A large octopus with its tentacles curling around the thigh, drawn with fine cross-hatching that builds up the shading. The ink is a single brown-red tone, giving the piece a monochrome, engraved look. The design fills the upper leg, with the bare skin and grey fabric beneath it forming the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dearest Nell,

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Forgive the smudge. The galley stove has been drawing badly since Madeira, and the cook's mate, a Shetlander called Harald Voe who never stops whistling, says the damp has got into the flue. I am writing this at the chopping board with the lamp turned low, and the thing I want to tell you about is sitting in the copper behind me, where the stock pot should be.

We hauled it up in the trawl on Tuesday, a great knot of grey-brown arms and a head the size of a church bell, wrapped round a broken crate of tinned peaches. Captain Ransome wanted it thrown back. The bosun wanted it sold to a fishmonger at Lisbon. I wanted to cook it, for I have not had fresh meat since the Azores, and I cannot say I was wrong to try. But when I lifted the first tentacle to the light, every sucker turned to face me, as neat as the rings on a bell-rope, and I found I could not put the knife in.

It has a single eye, Nell, the colour of weak tea, and it has watched me every hour since. Last night I covered the copper with a sailcloth and it lifted the corner with one arm and let it drop again, very slowly, as a man might when deciding whether to speak.

I shall give it the peaches tomorrow. I think it has earned them. Tell Father the lamp oil is not my fault.

Your loving brother, Tom

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