Once upon a time, there was a darning needle who thought herself so fine that she believed she was an embroidery needle.
"Take great care to hold me tight!" she said to the Fingers holding her. "Don't let me fall! If I fall, I'll never be found again, I'm so fine!"
"It's all right," said the Fingers, seizing her.
The Fingers used her to mend a cook's shoe. "This is common work!" cried the needle. "I shall never get through it. I am breaking!" And she did break.
"Now she's good for nothing," said the Fingers. The cook then dabbed sealing wax on the broken needle and stuck it in her dress as a brooch.
"Now I am a breast-pin!" exclaimed the needle proudly. She sat up, looked around, and spoke to a pin beside her: "May I ask if you are gold? You have a peculiar head, but it's too small. You must make it grow." As she raised herself proudly to say this, she fell out of the dress and into the sink.
"Now I'm off on my travels!" she said, washing down into the gutter. "I am too fine for this world," she declared, "but I know who I am, and that is always a little satisfaction!"
She kept her proud bearing as all sorts of debris floated over her. One day, she saw something glittering and thought it a diamond. It was a piece of bottle glass. Each believed the other was costly and boasted of their worth.
The needle told of her origins from a cook's workbox and described the proud Five Fingers. Suddenly, more water washed the bottle glass away. "Ah! He has been promoted!" said the needle. "I remain; I am too fine. That is my pride."
She sat thinking lofty thoughts. "I must have been born a sunbeam, I am so fine!"
Later, two street boys found her. One pricked himself and cried, "He's a fine fellow!"
"I am not a fellow; I am a young lady!" retorted the needle, unheard. The boys stuck her into an eggshell floating in the gutter.
"White walls and I am black—what a pretty contrast!" she said. "Now I can be seen to advantage!"
A wagon wheel rolled over the eggshell, crushing it. "Oh! How it presses!" cried the needle. "I am breaking!" But she did not break. She lay there at full length, and there she may lie.