It’s June, my lovelies!
It came without playdates!
It came without school!
It came without Charmin, hand wipes, or the pool!
COVID-19 didn’t stop June – it came!
Somehow or other it came just the same! 😊🌸☀️
I invite you all virtually to my back porch for a little sunshine and lemonade 😊
Ready to write?
Mix ‘n’ Match Mini is a 7 week writing challenge for anyone who needs a little boost or a little encouragement to get writing. . . or maybe just a little fun during this bizarre stay-at-home spring!
You get to write your own story, enjoy and be entertained by everyone else’s stories, and get yourself in the running for some awesome prizes (please see the end of the blog post for a list of all the prize goodies!)
To be eligible for the prize drawing you must enter all 7 weeks.
For a full description of the challenge or to add your Week #1 entry, please go HERE (Week #1)
To add your Week #2 entry, please go HERE (Week #2)
To add your Week #3 entry, please go HERE (Week #3)
Mix ‘n’ Match Mini Writing Prompt #4 for Week of June 1:
So far we’ve played with characters, setting, and emotion (or a combination, depending on where your random choosing landed you), with nursery rhymes and point of view, and with a picture prompt, fun names, and a plot point! 😊 This week we’re going to fracture fairy tales by playing with setting!
Choose a fairy tale from Column A, and a setting from Column B. If you like, you may also include a random object from Column C but that is optional. Write a 100 word story for kids where your version of the fairy tale takes place in your choice of setting (including your random object if you wish!)
| Column A: Fairy Tale | Column B: Setting | Column C: Random Object |
| The Gingerbread Boy | Wild West | polka dot umbrella |
| Cinderella | Pirate Ship | green balloon |
| Hansel & Gretel | Mount Everest | bubblegum |
- Stories can rhyme or not – totally up to you!
- You can go under or over 100 words if you want to – also totally up to you! – 100 is a guideline
- If you’re deeply inspired by another Fairy Tale or Setting that is not on the list you can use that instead – as long as you rewrite a fairy tale in a different setting from the original – the purpose here is inspiration and to get you writing!
- For simplicity’s sake (and to aid skimming readers who might be interested in a particular thing) please say which fairy tale and which setting you’re using at the top of your entry along with your title and word count.
Here is my sample (which I wrote in extreme haste because I’m still working on revisions – deadlines, deadlines!😊) (and which you should not feel compelled to read unless you want to boost your confidence because it is both not particularly good and. overly long!):
The (Not) Gingerbread Cowboy
(Gingerbread Boy – Wild West)
(way too many words 😊 – I didn’t have time to make it shorter!)
Once upon a time, Farmer Bubba and his lovely bride Thunder Lily had the most beautiful ranch in the Wild West.
The grass was emerald green.
The rivers were pure as morning dew.
The cattle were sleek and fat and gave such rich, creamy milk that all the ice cream makers in the world fought over who would get it.
But even with all this beauty and excellent ice cream, Bubba and Thunder Lily were sad. For though they were surrounded every spring by velvet-eyed calves and stilt-legged foals, fluffy chicks, pink piglets, and wooly lambs, they never had a child of their own. Thunder Lily was not one to sit around moping, however. “If I can’t have a child, I’ll make one,” she told her darling Bubba.
She got cornmeal and buttermilk, eggs, salt, and bacon drippings, and quick as you like she whipped up a sturdy little Cornpone Cowboy.
“We’ll call him Charlemagne,” she said as she plucked the skillet lovingly from the barbecue pit.
“You’ll have to catch me first,” snorted the Cornpone Cowboy, and off he rode as fast as his cowpony could carry him.
He passed the pigpen and the piglets grunted, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Don’t call me that!” said the Cornpone Cowboy. Besides, he knew better.
He doffed his cowboy hat and sang,
“Git along little piggies, git along.
If I stop then your tummies will be my new home!
I was born to ride the open range,
so forgive me if I’m on my way!”
And off he galloped.
He passed the sheepfold and the lambs baaed, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Don’t call me that!” said the Cornpone Cowboy. Besides, he knew better.
He doffed his cowboy hat and sang,
“Git along little lambkins, git along.
If I stop then your tummies will be my new home!
I was born to ride the open range,
so forgive me if I’m on my way!”
And off he galloped.
He passed the cow barn and the calves mooed, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Why does everyone insist on calling me that?” said the Cornpone Cowboy. And you can guess how things went from there.
And so it was at the hen house… the horse pasture… and the goat shed.
Along about sundown a voice called, “Hey, Cowboy! Won’t you come set a spell by the campfire?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” said the Cornpone Cowboy, tuckered out from galloping. He hopped down from his pony, spurs a-janglin’, and came face to face with. . .
. . . COYOTE!
Quick as a wink he twirled his lariat. . . .
. . . hog-tied Coyote. . .
. . . and lit off for home!
When Bubba and Thunder Lily heard his story, Thunder Lily said, “That’s our boy! Lightning fast!”
Which is how he came to be called Lightning Charlie instead of Charlemagne (because really, who could live with that?) and they all lived happily ever after in a home that wasn’t anyone’s tummy!
Now come join the fun! Get some writing done! Encourage your kids (or students) to give it a try! Or just have a good time together reading what other folks have written!
Ready, set, WRITE! 😊
(And remember, for full details on the 7 week challenge you can check HERE)
Check out the Week #4 stories!
Untitled – Sue Lancaster (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Cinder of the Seven Seas – Candice Marley Conner (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Gingerbread What? – Linda Schueler (Hansel & Gretel, pirate ship, bubblegum)
Untitled – Genevieve Petrillo (Gingerbread Boy, pirate ship, polka dot umbrella)
Cinder Sherpani, Base Camp Scullery Maid – Jess Murray (Cinderella, Mount Everest, polka dot umbrella)
Cinderella Sails Away – Barbara Renner (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Hansel and Gretel Duel It Out – Jamie Bechtelheimer (Hansel and Gretel, wild west)
The Fairy Godfather Does Not Know Best – Colleen Murphy (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Shiver Me Timbers, A Gingerbread Boy! – Sara Ackerman (Gingerbread boy, pirate ship)
Caliope Cowgirl And The Three Leopards – Cindy Boyll (Goldilocks, wild west)
Pirate Anne – Mary Van Beuren (Cinderella, pirate ship, bubblegum)
The Big Bad Nice Wolf – Marley Conner age 9 (Three Little Pigs, Candy Land)
A Pirate-y Happily Ever After – Brenda Whitehead (Cinderella, pirate ship)
The Peak of Passion? – Elizabeth Meyer Zu Heringdorf (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Walk The Plank! – Brittany Pomales (Hansel & Gretel, pirate ship)
Captain Blackbeard’s Just Desserts – Kristy Nuttall (Gingerbread Boy, pirate ship)
Traveling With Gretel – Leslie Denkers (Hansel & Gretel, Mount Everest)
Hansel, Gretel And The Magnificent Climb – Susan Schipper (Hansel and Gretel, Mount Everest, polka dot umbrella)
Cabin Boy – Deb Sullivan (Cinderella, pirate ship, bubblegum)
Hansel And Gretel And The Greedy Pirate Captain – Rose Cappelli (Hansel and Gretel, pirate ship, bubblegum)
That’s The Way The Cookie Crumbles – Susan Inez (Gingerbread Boy, wild west, balloon)
The Showdown – Matthew Lasley (Gingerbread Boy, wild west)
Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch – Jill Lambert (Hansel and Gretel, wild west, bubblegum)
Brother’s Big Idea – Dawn Young (Hansel and Gretel, Mount Everest, bubblegum)
Untitled – Kay DiVerde (Cinderella, pirate ship, bubblegum)
Goldie Goes To The Beach – Sarah Meade (Goldilocks & The 3 Bears, beach)
Cinderella In The Wild West – Linda Staszak (Cinderella, wild west)
Pirate-Ella – Deb Buschman (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Limerick – Marty (Cinderella, wild west)
Gingerbread Pirate – Mia Geiger (Gingerbread Boy, pirate ship)
No Fella For Cinderella – Michelle S. Kennedy (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Cinderella’s Vacation Liberation – Michelle S. Kennedy (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Hansel And Gretel’s Pirate. Ship Adventure – Dot Anson (Hansel & Gretel, pirate ship)
Cinderella And The Pirate Ship – Everard Anson (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Cinders And The Pirate Ship – Tracy (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Escape From The Greedy Gulch Home For Children! – Di Litwer (Hansel & Gretel, wild west)
The Leather Boot – Ashley Congdon (Cinderella, wild west, bubblegum)
The Gingerbread Boy (On A Pirate Ship) – Bev Baird (Gingerbread Boy, pirate ship)
Tinley’s Magical Fir Tree Cookies – Corine Timmer (Gingerbread Boy/Hansel & Gretel, Mount Everest/Himalayas)
Cinderella And Prince Sherpa – Susan Krevat (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Untitled – Shariffa Keshavjee (Cinderella, pirate ship, green balloons)
Cinderella And The Wild West – Penny Adler (Cinderella, wild west)
The Woman In The Moon – Amy Flynn (Cinderella, moon)
Cinderella And The Bubblegum Ball – Lily Erlic (wild west)
Love On The Mount – Alicia Meyers Kelly (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Cinderella Climbs Mount Everest – Rebecca Gardyn Levington (Cinderella, Mount Everest)
Untitled – Liz Kehrli (Cinderella, pirate ship)
Humberto And Genevie – Katie Schwartz (Hansel and Gretel, Mount Everest)
Cinderella In New York City – Patricia Nozell (Cinderella)
Untitled – Ugo Anidi (Hansel & Gretel, Mt. Everest, bubblegum)
Hansel And Gretel And The Candy Pirate – Lauri Meyers
Mt. Everest Writes To Cinderella – Ketan & Ravi Ram
PRIZES & PRIZES OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES!
When it comes time for prizes, names of all those who completed the challenge will be drawn randomly and matched with prizes drawn randomly until we run out! 😊
Please join me in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazone, B&N, or anywhere else if you like them, suggesting them for school visits, and supporting them in any other way you can dream up! 😊
For Spacious Skies by Nancy Churnin, award-winning author of so many fabulous books I don’t have space to list them all! Visit her website or Amazon Page!
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Kirstine Erekson Call, author of THE RAINDROP WHO COULDN’T FALL (Character Publishing 2013) and the forthcoming MOOTILDA’S BAD MOOD (Little Bee Books, September 2020), COW SAYS MEOW (HMH March 2021), and COLD TURKEY (Little Brown Spring 2021)
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Ellen Leventhal, author of DON’T EAT THE BLUEBONNETS (Spork 2017), HAYFEST: A Holiday Quest (ABCs Press 2010), and LOLA CAN’T LEAP (Spork 2018)
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Lindsay Hanson Metcalf, author of BEATRIX POTTER, SCIENTIST (September 2020), FARMERS UNITE!: PLANTING A PROTEST FOR FAIR PRICES (Calkins Creek November 2020), and NO VOICE TOO SMALL: FOURTEEN YOUNG AMERICANS MAKING HISTORY (Charlesbridge September 2020)
Picture Book Manuscript Critique (non rhyming) from Kaye Baillie, author of BOO LOVES BOOKS (New Frontier Publishing October 2020), and MESSAGE IN A SOCK (Midnight Sun Publishing 2018)
Your choice of EITHER a Picture Book Manuscript Critique or a Virtual Visit with Keila Dawson, author of THE KING CAKE BABY (Pelican 2015), and NO VOICE TOO SMALL: FOURTEEN YOUNG AMERICANS MAKING HISTORY (Charlesbridge September 2020)
Winner’s Choice of Webinar from the amazing Alayne Kay Christian, author of picture books Butterfly Kisses, An Old Man And His Penguin, and the forthcoming The Weed That Woke Christmas and the chapter book series of Sienna The Cowgirl Fairy, and editor at Blue Whale Press! Webinar choices include: How A Picture Book Is Made, Perfecting Your Critique, Top Ten Reasons For Rejection, and How To Write Powerful First Pages Like A Pro!
15 Minute Video Chat – ask your questions about writing, research, submissions – whatever’s on your mind! – with Christy Mihaly, author of DIET FOR A CHANGING PLANET: Food for Thought(Twenty-first Century Books/Lerner 2018), HEY, HEY, HAY!
A Tale of Bales and the Machines That Make Them (Holiday House 2018) , and FREE FOR YOU AND ME: What Our First Amendment Means (Albert Whitman March 2020)
Quick Impressions on your Picture Book Manuscript from Rosie Pova, author of IF I WEREN’T WITH YOU (Spork 2017), SARAH’S SONG (Spork 2017), the forthcoming SUNDAY RAIN (Lantana Publishing March 2021) and others.
RONAN THE LIBRARIAN, (Roaring Brook Press April 2020) brand new fromfabulous author Tara Luebbe
Your Choice of EITHER A Picture Book Manuscript Critique (fiction, non-rhyming) or an Ask Anything 15 Minute Video or Phone Chat with Tara Luebbe, author of SHARK NATE-O,(Little Bee Books 2018), I AM FAMOUS ( Albert Whitman 2018), I USED TO BE FAMOUS (Albert Whitman 2019), OPERATION PHOTOBOMB (Albert Whitman 2019), and RONAN THE LIBRARIAN (Roaring Brook Press 2020) (see above)
Sherry Howard, author of Rock And Roll Woods (Spork 2018) and a series of Nonfiction Middle Grade titles for Escape Publishing (2019)
is offering 6 of her nonfiction middle grade titles which will go to 6 lucky winners!
Ann Whitford Paul, author of Writing Picture Books (being donated by Becky Scharnhorst below), the book we ALL use as our picture book bible 😊, and countless wonderful picture books, is offering signed copies of her IF ANIMALS… Series (Farrar Straus Giroux):
If Animals Went To School (2019) If Animals Kissed Good Night (2008)
If Animals Said I Love You (2017) If Animals Celebrated Christmas (2018)
If you would like to benefit from her picture book wisdom, please sign up for her newsletter HERE!
A hand lettered quote of someone’s choice from a picture book, or a quote about reading or writing that could be framed as a gift for a child’s bedroom, a writer you know and love, or an inspiration for writing in your own work space (why shouldn’t you give yourself a present?!) offered by Kristy Roser Nuttall! (Samples below – you can choose your own quote!)
Making Picture Book Magic – Self Study Class any month (x3)
Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul, donated by Becky Scharnhorst whose debut picture book P.S. Camp Wildwood Stinks will be released in Summer 2021 from Philomel!
![Writing Picture Books Revised and Expanded Edition: A Hands-On Guide From Story Creation to Publication by [Ann Whitford Paul]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51rbO+CMLNL.jpg)
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert donated by Becky Scharnhorst whose debut picture book P.S. Camp Wildwood Stinks will be released in Summer 2021 from Philomel!
The Nuts & Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books by Linda Ashman (only available for Kindle) (x2)
![The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Writing Picture Books by [Linda Ashman]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51JTh6P3L1L.jpg)
Magnetic Poetry – Little Box of Happiness
The Story Book Knight by Helen Docherty
This Book Is Gray by Lindsay Ward
Writing Journal (x10)
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Alicia Meyers-Kelly
Words: Cinderella, Mt. Everest
WC: 144
Title: Love on the Mount
Hold my water jugs, Cinderella! Speed it up, Cinderella! Hold my pack, Cinderella! Her stepbrothers demanded as they continued their journey climbing Mt. Everest.
It had been 9 days of strenuous work, as she tended to every need of her stepbrothers and stepfather. They had finally arrived at Base Camp, where in a few days they would become acclimated to the altitude.
Cinderella began pitching their tent, when she looked up and caught the eye of a beautiful, blue-eyed stranger. Neither looked away, as they both stood to their feet, dropping the stakes of their tents. They took slow steps toward one another, with eyes locked.
Soon they were standing in front of each other, as the brisk, cold air breezed by their snow suits.
The blue-eyed stranger kissed Cinderella’s hand, and she knew at that moment, she had found love on the mount.
CINDERELLA CLIMBS MOUNT EVEREST
By REBECCA GARDYN LEVINGTON
(Cinderella, Mt. Everest, 141 words)
“There’s no way!” Cindy said, staring up at the climb.
“How in the world will I get there in time!”
She pulled on her slippers — her precious glass pair
(not very sturdy, but chock full of flair!)
Discouraged, she frowned. Then a voice shouted out:
“Wait for me!” said the Prince. “We can figure this out!”
“Oh shoot! How’d he find me?” She muttered with dread,
then switched on her headlamp and forged on ahead.
She climbed and she climbed, never taking a break—
Soldiering on, leaving dust in her wake.
She arrived before midnight. “Ah, look at that view!”
It was then she discovered her one missing shoe.
She took off the other and tossed it aside.
She’d traveled so far. Her head filled with pride.
“I don’t need nice shoes and I don’t need a man.
All I need is to always believe that I can!”
Liz Kehrli
Cinderella, Pirate Ship
Cinderella didn’t realize what she was getting into when she took a summer job with Captain Red Beard. Swab the deck? Clean the cannon? Polish the plank?
Shirley, there must be some mistake.
First mate Shirley said there wasn’t. She told Cinderella, “Get to work Scallywag, or you’ll be feedin’ the fish.
So, Cinderella swabbed…
And cleaned…
And polished…
When the Captain came to check her work, he slipped on the shiny floor and slid headfirst into the poop deck.
First mate Shirley gasped. “Blimey, ye landlubber. Walk the plank.”
Cinderella asked, “How do I get up there?”
Shirley said, “Arrgh! Follow me.” She jumped onto the shiny plank, slid off and splashed into the water.
Cinderella smiled and blasted the cannon. “Yo ho ho! A pirate’s life for me!”
Ha, ha, after a weekend of writing (hubby doesn’t need to eat, does he?), I might make it, 4 (short) poems in a weekend is a record. (3 to go)!
But yay – thanks Susanna, having goals is a good thing – and we all can use a push!
Hansel and Gretel, Mt Everest wc- 220 (over again 🙄).
Humberto and Genevie
In the shadow of the mountain, since they were barely three
Lived Humberto with his sister, known to all as Genevie
Each night they dined on dumplings, while the moon rose to its place,
And watched dark shadows dance across the mountain’s Snow White face.
Humberto sat and daydreamed. It helped him pass the time
Genevie wrote stories, and she tried to make them rhyme
Her first was ‘bout their life before they came to Everest.
“Humberto, we lived in the woods, our life was not the best!”
‘The food ran out, Ma took us to the deep dark woods – and then
we found our way back home, but then she took us out again!”
“We shouldn’t even be here, we barely made it through!”
“Genevie”, Humberto said, “your story can’t be true!”
“It’s much too grim, no one will read it, so sad and very scary!
Genny thought, I’ll try again, I’ll try to make it merry.
She wrote a ton of stories, happy, joyful, fun!
But she never got them published, though she tried, not even one!
After many years, she found Grimm’s anthology of tales
Scary, gruesome, all about goat eyes and toad toenails!
She longed to tell Humberto, give him what-for and a smack.
But he’d wandered towards the woods one night –
and he never did come back.
You are on a roll Katie! This was great fun. I like the change of names, a wonderful change of pace to Hansel and Gretel.
Wow! What a “Grimm” ending for Humberto! 🙂 Your spin off of Hansel and Gretel is fabulous, Katie! Love the names, Genevie and Humberto and I could really relate to Genevie’s tale of never getting them published..but that’s a fairy tale, right? Fabulous work!
Yes, (good play on words!). I maybe could have tweaked that line, I didn’t mean to test fate! Not a prediction, just came out that way. Thank you for reading!
Somehow, I never managed to write the week 4 story until yesterday, when an image of Cinderella appeared in my head:
Cinderella in New York City – 1880s (100 words)
“Iron this frock, Cinderella!”
“Shine these boots!”
“Fetch my bonnet!”
“We’re off to Coney Island to ride the new carousel! Now scram!”
Cinderella sighed. “I wish I could go!”
“Close your eyes,” said a wizened woman. “Repeat after me, ‘Take me to Coney Island.’”
“But don’t forget – Leave by sunset. The spell ends then!”
Cinderella bobbed on a brightly-painted horse, hummed with the organ, and chatted with a prince of a fellow. As the sun set, Cinderella fled, leaving one boot behind.
The heart-stricken fellow found it and searched the tenements for its owner, until he discovered…his beloved Cinderella.
Ugo Anidi
360 words
Hansel and Gretel; Mount Everest: Bubble Gum
In a small quaint village at the edge of the world lived a palmwine tapper, who had two wives and two children. He loved his second wife and her son more and together, they maltreated the first wife and her son.
One day, they banished the poor wife and her son into the forest.
There they met an old woman crying under a tree. “I’m dying of hunger” she said “Feed me please”
When they offered her some bread, she cried harder. “No! I need palmwine from the tree on top of the tallest mountain in the world! It is in the middle of the forest.
She gave the son a gourd and a stick of bubble gum and off he went.
At the foot of the mountain, he stopped. there was no way he could climb the mountain.
“Chew me”
He jumped. Then he popped the gum in his mouth and blew a bubble. It grew and grew and grew until it enveloped the boy and floated up the mountain. It also took him back to to the old woman after he tapped the wine.
The old woman drank up the palmwine and gave him the gourd.
“Go home, lock your door and break the gourd. Everything good will come”
When the mother and son snuck back into their home and broke the gourd, their room was filled with treasure! coral beads, cowries, tubers of yam, goats, wrappers, kolanuts, goats!
The second wife immediately set out for the evil spirit. When they met the old woman, they smiled.
“Give us the gourd of riches or we’ll beat you”
The old woman gave them the gourd and the bubble gum.
After they locked their door and broke the gourd, masquerades with long curved whips flogged and flogged and flogged them. When they ran outside, the masquerades followed them.
“Chew me”
Immediately, the son popped the gum in his mouth and blew a bubble. It grew and grew and grew until it enveloped the boy and his mother and carried them away, never to be seen again.
The palmwine tapper and his first wife and son lived happily ever after.
Hansel and Gretel and the Candy Pirate (331 words)
Papa loaded Gretel in the small lifeboat.
“But Papa what’s wrong?” Gretel asked.
“The ship has a hole,” said papa
“But papa where is the hole?” Hansel asked, scooting close to Gretel.
“It’s down below. You have to go,” Papa said sternly.
The waves bobbed them in and out of many days. Their tummies ached terribly.
“I think we should just try to sleep,” Gretel said and rested her head on Hansel’s shoulder.
“I’m having the most wonderful dream,” Hansel said. A gingerbread ship with taffy sails and peppermint planks floated near. He grabbed a licorice rope and pulled himself on the ship.
“Me too,” Gretel said popping a gummy railing into her mouth.
A hatch opened, and an old lady with skin like a squid climbed out.
“Stowaways!”
“Sorry, ma’am, we thought we were dreaming,” Hansel said.
“You’ll fish and cook to earn your voyage.” The old lady said.
The two children nodded with bellies full for the first time in weeks.
Gretel fished each day, and Hansel learned to bake cookies. They had rarely tasted sweets in their short lives.
All was well, except the old lady’s songs scared Gretel. “Fatten ‘em up with candy, fill ‘em up with sweets, hook them in the fanny, and have some yummy eats.”
Gretel started to eat the frosting around the plank while she fished.
“Come see my shiny hook, Hansel!” The old lady licked her lips and threw a rope around Hansel.
“I’ve caught a big one!” Gretel yelled quickly.
The old lady left Hansel tied up and walked to the plank.
“I don’t see anything, child.”
“Come out further,” Gretel said. As the old lady stepped on the plank, Gretel jumped into the ship and bit the last chunk of frosting. The plank broke free.
“Noooo!” The wicked old lady fell into the water and sank for her heart was made of stone.
Gretel untied Hansel, and they hugged tightly. With Gretel fishing and Hansel baking cookies, they lived happily at sea.
POSTED FOR KETAN & RAVI
Mix and Match Week #4
by Ketan Ram and Ravi Ram
word count 104
Sonnet:
Mt. Everest writes to Cinderella
Oh, Cinderella! How I miss thee.
When small you loved to play amidst me,
When older you climbed my Everest peaks,
With bright red nose and frost bitten cheeks.
And then a wind led your family astray,
Your cruel stepfamily kept you away.
A Fairy Godmother I brought to you,
To grant that your dreams may come true.
What life you must have, Queen in Onceuponatimeland,
I pray one of joy and contentedness grand.
And now I wonder, will you ever return?
For these Himalayan summits, do you not yearn?
Just know that I am always here,
My heart filled with your memories dear.
Setting: Wild West. Fairy Tale: Magic Porridge Pot. Object: Polka dot umbrella. 845 words
(posting as a personal challenge)
Way out yonder in the wild, wild west there was a spell so dry ,that in the corn popped on the stalk while the beans tuned to leather britches in Little Stella’s garden. A spell so dry, that out on Miz Myrtle’s boarding house clothesline , the clothes whipped themselves into dust in the wind. A spell so dry that in Slim Gubbins’ Saloon nextdoor, the rootbeer was served powdered. But things were about to change, all because of ittle Stella, who lived with Miz Myrtle in the boarding house above Slim Gubbins Saloon right over the boardwalk in the happeningest part of town. All because of Little Stella and her twirly yellow umbrella.
And because an old drifter on a steer sized armadillo ambled into town.The old drifter found nowhere to stay. Nowhere to eat, and worst of all, nothing to drink. He was ambling out of town when he met Little Stella
She shared her last prickly pear from her dooryard cactus. She told him he might sleep in the dusty hog waterin’ trough out back of the saloon, and dug up the last bottle of strawberry soda that Slim Gubbins had stowed away, deep, deep deep in the sand away from the hot sun.
The old drifter thanked her for the prickly pear and her kid offer of a place to sleep. He’d somewheres else in mind to hit the hay somewhere’s where the folks uz more accomodatin’, , but the offer of a cool drink he wouldn’t refuse. Then he drank half, and poured half into the red clay. He stirred it into mud. Then he drew red round polkadots all over the twirly yellow umbrella of Little Stella.
“This is now a magic umbrella,” he said. Whenever you want a drink, or a little spot of rain, you just twirl your yellow umbrella and say,
‘Magic spots, magic spots
Make it wet where it is not.’
Little Stella did. And It did.Truly.
“And when you have had enough wet, you twirl your yellow umbrella and say:
Magic spots, magic spots
No more rain. Now make it stop. ‘
Little Stella did. And It did.Truly.
She twirled her umbrella in her garden, and it grew plump and juicy.
She twirled her umbrella under Miz Murtle’s clothesline, and the boarder’s clothes reconstituted rightly.
She twirled it up and down the row of stools in Slim Gubbins Saloon, and soon the mugs were foaming with strawberry, sasafrass and sasparilla.
Everywhere Little Stella went with that yellow and red polkadotted umbrella, folks began to soak and swell and feel expansive sproutings.
But there were some, Slim Gubbins among them, that did not feel it was yet wet enough, who thought, more water, more wetter. More drinking, more cleaning, more shining, more better. He spied on Little Stella. They spied on Little Stella. They watched her Red and yellow polkadotted umbrella, and they thought they knew just how she did it. Just before sunrise,Slim slipped up the stairs and snitched it.
He took it out back to the waterin’ hole by his hitchin’ post, which was actually filling up quite nicely. But not fast enough for Slim. The more horses he could water, the more folks he could seat, the more those folks would eat. Drink. Eat.
He carefully twirled the umbrella. He carefully repeated the words.
The sun came up. The rain came down. And down, and down. The waterin’ hole filled up. A little stream began to trickle down Main Street, running in rivulets past all the other houses, rising into a rushing river cascading to the bluffs south of town where it began to form a lovely lake. woke up the towns folk. There was Slim, wading through the water, headed for the hills, as fast as he could go. He couldn’t remember the words to make it stop! Folks all followed after him. The water rose high enough to float their shoes under the beds but not so high it touched the pillows, and the cats could still jump up onto the tables.
In all the commotion Miz Myrtle pulled a sleepy Little Stella to the rooftop, One look, and she knew what had happened.
“Magic Spots, Magic spots
No more rain. Make it stop.”
And it did.
Slim stayed on the far bank of the lake and opened a booming dude ranch lakeside resort. He bought the drinks for his resort in capacious barrels from Little Stella’s new Sodapop Emporium, where Little Stella’s yellow umbrella was displayed, never used. And where umbrellas were for sale, for she was sure the rain would range wide and yonder sometime in a more extensive sweep, and folks would need one. Without spots.
And furthermore and moreover, anyone who wanted to sleep in their beds that first night had to swim, canoe, or doggy paddle their way back.