Why Humans Have Five Long Fingers

Fingernos Island was a booming seaport, home to Queen Europa, the Fingerlings’ kind but short-tempered ruler. In accordance with the latest trends, Europa wore fancy gloves on her dainty hands. Her royal glovemaker was always stitching new gloves to fit her standards, for fear of being beheaded, as her last glovemaker had been. In those day, most humans had short and stubby fingers, except one person: Nicodemus, the glovemaker’s son. Young Nico had dropped his hammer onto his fingers, flattening them into long, thin ones, but this allowed him to sew rapidly.

The Queen had set a day for a new pair of gloves. That very day, the glovemaker fell sick and was unable to finish them. The material had been picked out, but the cloth still needed to be cut and sewn together. He decided to send Nico to the palace first, as he could stitch faster.

Poor Nico’s luck was not favoring him that day. He reached the palace and began to sew vigorously. He forgot to consider the Queen’s measurements, and instead stitched the gloves to fit his own hands. Only when he had finished did he realize his mistake. Horrified, he ran home to show his father. The calm old man hatched a plan.

At the palace, Nico presented Queen Europa the gloves.

“What! Is! This!” Europa stared at Nicodemus, as she tried them on.

Nico took a deep breath. “Your Highness, these are special gloves.” Puffing up his chest, putting on his most righteous attitude, he explained, “I have visited distant lands, and this is the most popular fashion on the mainland.

Europa’s eyes lit up. “The most popular?” She put them on and paused. “I must stretch my stubs out. I shall call them ‘fingerns,’ not, ‘fingers,’ after the Fingernos Island and my people—the Fingerlings.”

Nico heaved a sigh of relief. From that day on , Queen Europa demanded that every Fingerling stretch their stubs out into fingers, and that is the story of why humans have five long fingers.