The Wish King’s daughter watched her father cross the Great Hall to select a wish from the wish bowl. Eyes narrowed, she studied his kind face. He reached into the bowl and plucked up a single scrap. He read the scrap and turned to the assembled villagers. ‘Damon, the harp maker,’ announced the Wish King. […]
Two little men, neither the one nor the other of ’em taller than a jar of jam, came out from the hollow under the tree where they lived and started off walking along the road, arguing furiously all the while. ‘You can’t, I tell you. You can’t, and that’s the end of the bargain,’ said […]
High on a snowy mountain, three trees, neighbors for hundreds of years, exchanged complaints. ‘All we ever talk about is eagle this, hawk that, or oh the bear has twins this year. I, for one, would like to go over to the other side of the valley and see what’s beyond the glacier,’ said the […]
‘I’m going to leave,’ said the broom, wiggling for emphasis. ‘See if I don’t.’ ‘You’ve been saying that for years,’ said the cauldron from its comfortable position above the warmth of embers in the fireplace. ‘And yet you never go. You complain a lot, but you’re quiet as Obadiah when the witch is around. Isn’t […]
Larks perch on my pillowcase. Eels occupy my shoes. I’ve nothing further to report. There is no other news.
Yardith, daughter of the sorceress, sat baking on a rock under heavy hanging heat. The sun burned in the sky. Drops of sweat fell in steady patient rhythm from her nose, enlarging the dark purple blot on her violet satin tunic. ‘Can’t you cast some spell to make it cooler? This is the worst,’ said […]
No one noticed when Temulon left the village. They were all too busy preparing the new ship for launch. Temulon trudged through snow up the steep hillside to the trees, where she rested, gasping little puffs of mist. She was determined to find the Wall, to get through it, to see for herself if what […]
Reginald Spoonmerry went off to swim wearing a hat with a vastly wide brim. The hat, it was blue where it fit on his head, but the rim all around was immensely quite red. Shouting ‘Hurrah!’ and ‘Bumpeddy bump!’ Reginald Spoonmerry did in the sea jump. His hat floated off and sailed out of sight. […]
There once was a palace standing all alone on top of a high mountain. The valley below it hid under a motionless blanket of mist. To descend into the mist was a crime, and nobody cared to defy the law, for legends of the horrors waiting in the mist below were more than enough to […]
oh, my dearie, have a care be not captured by her stare feathered leggings does she wear beyond the mist, you’ll find her there These words were sung in a creaky voice by the ancient beggar seated on a great boulder near the road. They made no sense at all to Mabel, the potter’s daughter, […]
