Black and grey script lettering reading Be careful who you trust, the devil is an angel, over shaded wings tattooed on the side of a ribcage.

Script quote with wings on the ribs

Lettering · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

Flowing cursive script spells out a quote across the upper body, with the words overlapping a pair of shaded feathered wings. The lettering is solid black with soft grey shading, and the wing feathers fade into the skin with smooth gradients. The tattoo sits on the side of the torso and fills most of the frame.

Lettering Ribs Script Quote Wing Angel Devil Feather

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Sit closer, all of you, and mind the brazier, because the wind off the harbour has teeth tonight. You want the tale of Hesper the grain factor, who kept his ledgers in Sidon and his purse up his sleeve. Hear me out, for the tale is short and the lesson is older than the city walls.

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One dusk a stranger came up the quay with his wings folded so neatly under a grey cloak that no one thought to ask why a man should carry such weight on his back. He had a voice like warm oil and a smile that knew your name before you gave it. He told Hesper that the sea would turn against the Tyrian ships, that the price of barley would double by the new moon, and that he asked only a share of the profit and a seat at the table. Hesper, who had never once been pleased by a man who seemed so pleased to see him, laughed and poured the wine.

Sweet words are cheap as figs in summer. The ships sailed. The price did double, though not in Hesper's favour, for the stranger had bought every sack in the warehouse on credit under Hesper's seal. When the creditors came with lamps, the stranger was gone, and only a feather lay across the ledger, black at the tip and scorched along the quill.

So when a man offers you the heavens, count your coins twice and then count them again, because the one who calls himself an angel has very often come up from below. Be careful who you trust, children. Now bank the fire and go home.