The Identity Crisis that Didn’t Happen

Imagine an Elf, a tall slender barefooted Elf with long golden hair and a long swishy dress, a typical Elf in fact. All of the Elf’s friends loved her hair. It was her most distinctive feature, and her greatest vanity. Then one fine day, when she was bored and visiting her sister, she cut it off.

How could this be? Her one beauty (as Amy said of Jo’s hair which she cut off in Little Women), could it be gone? Could the Elf, even really still be an Elf? After all, elves have long hair. At first the Elf worried about how she herself would handle the change. But, after the initial shock of being handed a length of her hair all tied up, several hours of clipping, and the later shock of seeing herself in the mirror, she adjusted. It felt natural.

She went home. Everyone who knew her was shocked. Such a change! For the most part they expressed their appreciation for how well the haircut suited the Elf (as strange as it is for an Elf to have short hair), and for the most part those that didn’t like it held their tongues. The Elf appreciated their reactions, at first.

But time goes by, and her friends seemed to expect her to feel the loss of her hair. But, she really didn’t. She didn’t mind at all, and she hadn’t changed. No, her personality really hadn’t changed. No, her head didn’t really feel any lighter (it still felt like her head). No, she had not really changed at all, except for that her hair had lost nearly two feet worth of length. Such a change! And was she still an Elf? Of course she was.