Most stories are really just paragraphs, about 200 words long.
Have fun reading!
By the way, pictures for these stories can be found HERE.
My Crazy Marten by Jemma Tainsh
A geography story about China. The first sentence was written by Kathy Tainsh.
I edged carefully around the corner and IT WAS STILL THERE!
I mean seriously! How long does it take one marten to eat its disgusting meal? Sorry,
that was kind of random. I should introduce myself. My name is Lifen Cheah. I live in Guilin, a Prefecture-level
city on the west bank of the Li River in China. My parents are guides, we get a
lot of tourists here. And what I said earlier about the marten? Well I’ll
explain. A few months ago on my birthday I had asked my parents for an
interesting pet as a present. What I did not mean was a beech marten. Beech
martens are nocturnal and bite. Not a terribly good combination for a pet. My
marten (who I named Ru) had caught some kind of bird for dinner (I suppose it
would be his breakfast) and was tearing into it with gusto. It was absolutely
disgusting. Plus Ru was right in front of the door I wanted to get through. You
do not want to come between Ru and his meal. As I said earlier, he sure can
bite. I had to wait ten minutes before I could finally get inside. Ru scrambled
up me, onto my shoulder, he there began to nibble my ear. I think he was being
affectionate. Or maybe my ear was tasty. I couldn’t tell.
The Lantern at Night
Short story written from a picture which can be found on this board
Laurel crept through the trees of the Haunted Woods. Water
dripped of the leaves of the dark branches. The scent of rain drifted on a creeping
fog. He really shouldn’t be out at night. Especially not in the Haunted Woods. But
after hearing some legends the other day about the Wizard’s castle he couldn’t
resist. Laurel imagined himself exploring the castle while evading the wizard,
if there was a wizard, that is. He was so preoccupied with his musings that he
was taken aback when a finger of fog shifted and a castle was revealed. He
almost quit then, the castle looked so sinister. Nevertheless he pressed on
toward the castle. A moss covered fence encompassed the castle; a little gate
hung open, listing to one side. Upon the post beside the gate there was an old-fashioned
lantern. It was made of a black metal with a vine-like cage to shield the
flame. Laurel approached the lantern and peered at it intently. No, there wasn’t
a candle in this lantern. There was a fairy. It glowed green and fluttered
helplessly against the walls of its cage. Laurel gazed in astonishment at the
flickering green fairy. He had never seen anything like it! Cautiously picking
up the cage he examined it closely; yes, there was definitely a fairy in there.
Its wings were like that of a butterfly and it was dressed in leaves. “Free me, free me” a little voice whispered
like the rustling of trees, “please, please”
Laurel started, was that the fairy? “Please...please…please”
the voice whispered.
“I will free you
little fairy.” He replied bravely. He felt the lantern over, looking for a
latch. Eventually he found one, it was a tiny thing, he could barely open it;
but he managed in the end. The fairy fluttered close to it so Laurel could see
what he was doing. The latch made a faint click and a door in the lantern
creaked open. The fairy flew out, spiraling in the air with delight. “Thank
you, thank you” it whispered. Laurel smiled, holding out his open palm for the
fairy to alight on.
“You are welcome” he told it, a smile spreading across his face
as he kept very still so as not to disturb it.
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