Originally written in 2022, this is my take
on a beloved fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
Tag: Trees
Wraithwood
Written for Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative
Challenge #057. I chose pic #1.
Here’s where the image took me.
Into The Woods
Written for Melissa’s Fandango
Flash Fiction Challenge – #337.
Here’s where the photo prompt took me.
Slowly Dying
Written for Crispina’s Crimson’s
Creative Challenge #047. I chose pic #1.
Here’s where the image took me.
Rainy Night
Written for Esther’s Laughing Along
With A Limerick #243. Using the prompt
word ‘touch’, this is my limerick.
Night Air
Written for Eugi’s Moonwashed Weekly
Prompt, incorporating ‘forests cloaked’,
‘undisclosed’ and ‘purple haze’.
This is my response, an etheree.
Up In Tall Trees
Written for Sadje’s What Do You See # 282
and Esther’s Laughing Along With A Limerick
with the inclusion of the word ‘chill’.
This is my limerick response.
To Fly
Written for Eugi’s Moonwashed Weekly Prompt,
I have chosen her prompt ‘reach for infinity’.
Fallen Soldier
Written for The Unicorn Challenge where we are
encouraged to be creative in 250 words or less
using the photo prompt below. Originally written in 2022
as a 750-word story, this is my revamped submission.
I stood at the bedroom window staring at the devastation caused by the previous night’s storm. My wife Dianna is going to be crushed when she sees what happened during the night – Mother Nature at her fiercest. I heard Dianna stirring in bed.
“Mike, it’s so early. What’s wrong?” she asked sleepily.
“We had a pretty bad storm last night. It’s not good, hon. We lost some trees” I replied.
She threw off the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, feet skimming the floor searching for discarded slippers. “Not Red. Please don’t say we lost Red!”
Dianna gasped loudly at the sight before her, then the tears came. She cried for a long time. I held her and let her cry; this was not something carelessly brushed aside or easily forgotten.
Finally her sobs lessened and with a broken heart and a weakened voice she sighed, “Poor Red! How I loved that beautiful old tree. Look at him now, a fallen soldier.”
We sat on the bed side by side; I spoke tenderly. “There’s no shame in mourning the loss of a tree. It’s not silly. It is, after all, a living thing. Does it feel pain when a leaf is plucked or a branch broken? Does it thirstily lap the rain after a dry spell? Does it feel your heartbeat as you rest a weary back against its old, sturdy trunk? How can we presume such things are not possible? No, it’s not silly at all.“
NAR©2024
250 Words
This is “Falling (Death Of A Tree)” by Over The Rhine
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.
The Proofreader
Written for The Unicorn Challenge where we are
encouraged to get creative in 250 words or less
using the photo below as inspiration. This is my story
Dear God in heaven! How the hell I’m supposed to get through this book is beyond me!
I’ve been at it now for hours and I’m bored stiff. I don’t know who this guy thinks he is but I’ll tell you what he’s not …. a good writer! I’ve read menus more interesting than this rot!
Jeez Louise! I’ve come across some real clunkers in my day but this one is totally b-o-r-i-n-g. Haul out the woodchipper!
The owner of the small publishing business behind me, Miss Willow Everwood, is my boss; I work there as a proofreader and I really like my job but reading this book is torture. Miss Everwood spotted me dozing off on the chair and demanded I sit on the hard pavement to keep from getting too comfortable and falling asleep. She even said she didn’t want me rooting around inside until I was done with my job.
Well, now my limbs are as stiff as an old hickory stick, my noggin feels like it’s full of sawdust and my butt’s as hard as a slab of redwood. I swear if I have to keep reading this, I’m going to nod off right here in the middle of the sidewalk and start sawing wood.
If I had a rope I’d hang myself from the nearest tree! But I’m not about to get all sappy.
Well, good luck to this Tolkien guy if he thinks he’s going to make it with these creepy Ent people!
NAR©2024
250 Words
This is Rob Inglis with “Ents and Entwives”
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.
REBIRTH
The writing challenge from Fandango #FFFC #183: In what way does this image inspire?
Unseen, unwanted and alone
I’ve stood here a thousand years
Until you came, a man forlorn
And I felt your salty wet tears
Whatever caused this pain in you
And made you feel this way
Whatever broke your heart in two
Now makes my branches sway
Please come back again to me
Lay your head upon my bough
Cry your tears so tenderly
And smooth your furrowed brow
Tis life I feel again in me
Love locked in by this earth
Come back to this abandoned tree
And instill in me rebirth
NAR © 2022
The Elephant's Trunk 