Small fine line tattoo of three arrows in dark ink with red and muted green accents on the forearm.

Three arrows on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

Three small arrows are tattooed vertically on the forearm, each with a different feathered tail, and one has a row of dots near its head. The linework is thin and mostly dark, with the feathers of two arrows filled in red or magenta and the third in a muted green. The photograph is taken against a plain teal wall, with the subject's long hair and grey sleeve in the frame.

Fine line Forearm Arrow

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth, the madder came in from Hobb's at last, so I have been up since four with the dye pot, and the feathers have gone the colour of a robin's breast, which Father would have called showing off. I have made the three you asked for. The first is the plain shaft with the row of dots bound beneath the head, the way Grandmother bound hers, so you will know it when you see it laid out in the case.

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The second carries the red feathers, cut from the left wing of the grey goose that has bullied the orchard gate all spring. The third I fletched in green from a pheasant cock I found dead under the hedge, and I think it is the best tail I have ever set. It will never fly straight for anyone who does not know how to hold it. Hold the nock at the cheek, not the chin, and let the string go before you start thinking about it.

Mr Aske came by yesterday asking after the wall. I told him the wall was still standing and the goose was still at large. He wanted to know who I was shooting at, and I said nobody, that you had gone to London to be a lady's maid and these were for keeping the children off the apples. He laughed and bought the plain one for a shilling and asked whether you would be back for the harvest.

Keep the three together, Ruth. The lean of them is the only thing I ever got right in a shop. If the green feathers wear thin, send them home and I will refletch them the way we always did with your bow, and the pot will still be warm on the back step when you come.