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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#88: Fairy Tale Truths

Did you know that April 2nd marks Hans Christian Andersen’s 216th birthday? Andersen’s work has been adapted and reimagined so many times it's become part of our literary DNA. In fact, it's hard to imagine the world of fairy tales without them. And while some were based on old folklore, many sprang from his own imagination — sometimes even incorporating details of his life and using the genre's fantastical trappings to write parables about his experiences.

This week we invite you to use your stories to explore larger truths. Whether you set them in a magical fairy tale realm or not, stories are a wonderful way to examine important ideas. So sit back, reflect, and prepare to let your imagination run wild through the forest.

This week's prompts

Write a cautionary fable about someone who always lies.

Adults – 116 stories

Write a story about an ordinary person speaking truth to power.

Adults – 68 stories

Write about a prince or princess who is asked to give up something valuable as part of a deal to escape the world they come from.

Fantasy – 190 stories

Write a fairy tale about an outsider trying to fit in.

Kids – 173 stories

Write about an author famous for their fairy tale retellings.

Teens – 73 stories

Stories

“Liar's Blooms” by Robin McGrew

Submitted to Contest #88

Once there was a wicked girl, with a most wicked mouth. “Goodbye. I’ll miss you, mother,” the girl said, a statement that echoed resoundingly empty in her ears as she walked the lonely road, basket tucked under her arm. Her cloak billowed out around her in the wind. Another fiction, another untruth. She didn’t get far along her travels before someone stepped into her path, blocking the way. “Well now, where could someone like you possibly be headed at this unfine hour?” He grinned, his wide smile a glinting knife in the rising...

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“Petal” by Elaine Entenza

Submitted to Contest #88

Right in the center of our little town square is a statue of a beautiful butterfly. She stands in the center of a small, moss-filled circle, which is enclosed with a petite, pebble fence. She is made of polished river stone, and a simple inscription lies on her heart, within the center of her sprawling wing span: Petal-Love Too Good To Be True Petal, like me, was a butterfly. But funny enough, she was a butterfly that never flew. Bird attacks, extreme weather, and wildfires and such are natural threats to our kind, but it wasn’t any of these...

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“Scotty Beam Mich Hoch, Part Deux ” by Nikita Linivenko

Submitted to Contest #88

Nestor, now sober, crossed under the spotlight and tapped his hands on the podium, trying not to make eye contact with the packed auditorium. “Dim the lights. Thank you. It’s not that I have an aversion to public speaking, I just feel better if I don’t see all those eyes on me. Now, all you sitting there in the dark. I could rave like always. I could give you all the schtick you expect from me. I could spew platitudes about how our penal system began in Salem, or our policing started the first time a plantation hand chased after a runaway s...

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“Not All It Seems ” by Catherine Hammond

Submitted to Contest #88

It's a dark night in the middle of January. Chilly, with a slight breeze. The moon is dim, a waning crescent, and the stars are bright like fireflies on a summer night. My eyes follow my feet, left...right...left...right...left...right as I walk down the glowing cement pathway to my destination. Left...right...left...right...left...right...stop. My destination, an ordinary place, is a small urban town. We like to be blind to the world around us. I walk up the wooden steps and shake the snow off my leather boots. We'd like to think ou...

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“No Hard Feelings” by Pamela Griner

Submitted to Contest #88

February 14, 2021 Dear Saj, It sure has been a minute! This letter probably seems out of the blue since we haven’t seen each other since our five-year reunion, but for some reason, I’ve been reminiscing about elementary school lately. Maybe because today is Valentine’s Day, and I always think about how this holiday has never been as much fun as it was back when we were eleven. I know it’s been decades since then, but I swear, I can still picture it vividly. Remember the lunch sacks we would decorate and hang from the ch...

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“Saving Grace Street” by Anna Rogers

Submitted to Contest #88

As she walked to school Belle Fraser heard rumbling sounds. ”It’s all over bar the shouting”, commented a passerby. Catching his eye Belle shook her head exclaiming “Not if I can help it.” “Yeah right kid.”, the man chuckled. the rumbling was being caused by heavy earthmoving equipment. Contractors were starting demolition work at the top end of Grace Street. City Hall called it gentrification. To the local community it was corporate invasion. Belle’s family had been involved in the Save Grace Street campaign. Yet to her annoyance they...

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“Lying to Yourself” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #88

The look on her face said it all, disbelief and disappointment. Wrinkles melded into forlornness and the usual bright blue eyes faded into dullness. “I will ask you one more time Adam. Did you take the money from my purse?” She was willing him to tell the truth. She thought maybe her needing him to be truthful would show on her face and somehow be transported from her mind to his. But it didn’t work. He lied….again. “I’ve told you” his voice was slightly raised and tiny beads of perspiration had formed on his smooth brow, “I don’t know where...

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“Truth Be Bold” by Bonnie Seach

Submitted to Contest #88

TRUTH BE BOLD"Gold! I've found gold!" Hans de Beer drenched himself with the pan of water, it trickled down into his unkempt beard. He danced about clutching 3 gold nuggets. “Look!” He thrust his open hand toward his companion. “We’re going to be rich Gert!”Gert grabbed a nugget and threw his battered hat into the air, “It feels so good Hans, ou maat”. They danced about barefoot! Wealth and power go together like bread and jam. You can't have one without the other. The Transvaal of South Africa attracted gold diggers from all ...

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“The Explosive Truth” by Amanda Wilson

Submitted to Contest #88

As the dust settled, a few people coughed. Chunks of concrete tumbled to a stop, some landing at the feet of an off-duty officer standing in a daze in the devastated food court. Not much was clear other than the fact the mall had been the target of a bomb. Survivors started to gather in the food court with the officer. Seeing confusion, fear, and panic flit across the faces of his fellow survivors, the officer climbed on top of a dust and soot covered table calling for everyone’s attention. As the crowd moved closer, he did a quick hea...

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“Loneliness” by Jasmine Beck

Submitted to Contest #88

"You want to escape this world, but that means much more than you think." The old woman smirked. "I don't care. I don't want to live here anymore! I don't want to be a pawn or a doll or some political piece! Please..." "But in order to do that. I need something of value." "Name it! Anything!" She cried. "I need a payment." The princess nodded as she undid her necklace and handed it to the old woman. "Those are real diamonds...Here." She also took off her hair clip along with her earrings. "Each are real diamonds. Please just get my mom a...

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“Just Jane” by Jules L

Submitted to Contest #88

It was like a paper cut, Jane always thought. One is fine, a hundred and you bleed out. When she was 10, she began to be scrutinized by the public eye. Someone would mob her with a camera, which, to an outsider, might seem flattering. In her eyes, the flash would blind her, catch her off guard, and it was a stolen moment of privacy. If you were to see her getting fitted by the finest quality of silk for the thousandth time, she saw it as the thousandth time someone else decided for her, treated her like a doll. There was never a moment...

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“The Prince of Hearts & The Princess of the Roses” by Gaby Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #88

With his mighty magical sword known as "Triumphant love," The Prince of Hearts defeated the villain known as Teseo, who kidnapped the Princess of the Kingdom of the Roses. He wanted to steal her mighty and dormant magical powers, granted by the Kingdom's red roses. The Prince, known only as "The Prince of Hearts," originally came from a kingdom far away. He only had known the Princess for a month when Teseo terrorized the castle and kidnapped the young woman. Before as he died from the wounds inflicted by the Prince of Hearts of sword, Teseo...

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“Wingless” by Cesar Sanchez

Submitted to Contest #88

Far below the Great Hill where the Angel of the North sat on their thrones was Razec, humiliated and powerless as he looked up the palace and saw from the window of the throne room, the glaring of gold which lined every inch of the floor and made full mountains. No rightful king should ever stand looking at his throne from the angle in which Razec did. Razec’s father was of the first humans to ever discover the beauty of our lands which lie within what the people of Earth 1 call “The Bermuda Triangle ”'. When the fleet of American sol...

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“The Bellowing Ones” by Josh Hanlon

Submitted to Contest #88

It all began one summer’s day. Four suns are up on a warm afternoon on the remote planet of Tremmour. Separated, beyond reach. A distant cousin perhaps to earth. Both planets are based upon comparable terrains, the inhabitants are almost indistinguishable, yet the very essence of nature is alive back on the rolling plains, I once called home.The plants and the trees all united to a consciousness that sees all hears all. Yet, the inhabitants simply cannot agree on common ground. Pride, the lust for power, and envy have blinded the eyes of a n...

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“Only The Legendary Survive in Fairytales, Anyway” by Rosa Brock

Submitted to Contest #88

“And then I asked her, ‘what’s your favorite season?’” The man paused, laughing to himself. His yellow teeth showing, distastefully. “This woman really said autumn. Can you believe that?” His friends joined in with the laughter, yet I wasn’t even smiling. Of course they didn’t care about that. I was just the bartender serving their drinks. I zoned out temporarily as I attempted to figure out what the orange blotch on the sleeve of his grey blazer was. “Hey! Don’t be a bitch, honey!” I scow...

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$50

Prize money

622

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 09, 2021 EST

Won by Shannon Ethel 🏆

Title: No More Happy Endings

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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