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#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

“What does love look like?” by Chaitali Kulkarni

Submitted to Contest #88

Jaanvi had moved to Solnit islands a week ago and the brunch was her first Saturday outing. The café had a long table at the center to enable people to mingle. Jaanvi sat next to a handsome man with blue eyes, soft hair and a toned stomach. As she sat down, he turned towards her and initiated conversation. As she reached the end of her explanation about 16th century technology with rapt attention from him, something clicked. His hand started contracting and pulsing. His eyes bulged and sprang back, deep into his head. His hair separated from...

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“Not to Me” by Carlo Sarrosa

Submitted to Contest #88

I tugged nervously at my collar. At the very least, I thought, I looked like I actually belonged here. The rich purple of my cloak, and the blue of the clothes underneath, blended in well with the other colors of the royal court around me. Still sucked, though. The frills extending from the collar rubbed against my chin, and I pulled it back as discretely as I could. I’d always hated turtlenecks, and this felt like the turtliest of them all. Some Victorian designer HAD to have looked at this, and thought: “Yeah, none of that.” And than...

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“The Beautiful Witch” by Miriam Brinckley

Submitted to Contest #88

I was once beautiful." "You're the most beautiful creature I have seen," I cried, in disbelief. She turned from the window, looking at me in the eyes. I drew in a breath, feeling my heart beat faster then before. I felt beads of sweat appearing on my forehead. It was true. The woman before me was the most beautiful creature I had eyes on. She was tall, with milky, white skin, which seem to glow under the sunlight. Her long, golden, hair was braided down her back, daises and tulips intertwined in the braid. Her eyes were the color of the ...

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“If Only to Dance with the FaeFolk” by Sun Shine

Submitted to Contest #88

It must be another full moon, new moon, equinox, birth, death, successful bowel movement, or any given Tuesday’s witching hour. They’re in the Faerie Ring. Again. They’ll go to the Faerie Ring for anything. It’s like catnip to cats for them. They can’t get enough!All they talk about is Faerie Ring this and Faerie Ring that. How cool it is inside the Faerie Ring.“It’s just a stupid circle of fungus. Can’t be THAT great,” I think to myself as I sulk by hoping to go unnoticed. Not my lucky night.A handful of Fairies were beatboxing when Nixy no...

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“A Different Point of Shoe” by Vikki Peat

Submitted to Contest #88

No doubt, you all know of the Evil Queen’s magic mirror. I expect you’ve heard all about the Beast’s enchanted rose. And how could you not be painfully aware of the goose that laid the golden eggs? Magic mirrors, enchanted roses and golden eggs. Poison apples, spinning wheels and magic beans. All of these things are familiar features in the stories that you know, every magical item had its place. They delightfully bewitched you and have never relinquished their power over you. What you don’t know is, well, everything else. Magic takes more t...

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“Dare to be Different” by Esther Onubogu

Submitted to Contest #88

You know how people could be outsiders to a group,organization or even a country ? Well it wasn't so with Nevaeh. She was an outsider in her own old fashioned home. Her family go back a long way of producing elegant lawyers in the making. From generations to generations,her relatives were lawyers,so was her father,her mother,her older brother Liam who was studying law in college. Her twin younger sister Heaven was an aspiring lawyer and even her kid sister Kate went on all day about becoming a lawyer but ever since Neveah was a kid she had s...

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“Home” by RIC .

Submitted to Contest #88

Dragons are not all that mysterious. In fact, sometimes they are more human than humans themselves. Dragons are very much like people. Some like to live in cities while others prefer to live alone. Some have businesses while others work for someone more powerful. Some have families. And some must raise that family alone. Far away, farther than any human ship has ever gone and can ever reach, was a mountain. A mountain, rising out of the ocea...

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“The Tail Of Aslaug” by Anna-Marie Hayward

Submitted to Contest #88

Once upon a time, there lived a hulder girl named Aslaug. Like all other hulders, Aslaug looked like a human from the front, but she had the tail of a cow and a large, gaping hole in her back like one would find in a hollow oak tree or a rotten log. Hulders were gifted with superhuman strength, shapeshifting abilities, and immunity to fire. They lived deep inside forests and mountains. As such, they were quite knowledgeable when it came to what grew in nature. They knew which berries were poisonous and which were safe to eat, they knew which...

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“THE OPOSITE SIDE” by Rotem Ziv

Submitted to Contest #88

Yesterday I sat with grandpa Roy in the balcony and ate rise, he put down his fork and started eating with his hands, “grandpa Roy, you are eating with your hands!” I told him “right,” he said while getting more rise from the bowl, that’s when I remembered when my mom told me that eating with your hands is disrespectful. “Alex” uncle Roy said “there are places where you eat food with your hands and there are places where you eat food with sticks. But did you know that parents in the Oppositelle kingdom tell their kids “don’t eat with your fe...

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“With Your Permission” by Keith B.

Submitted to Contest #88

“Most likely he’ll ask you a lot of questions.” Darlene says. “That’s okay.” “He’ll size you up, he’s testing the waters, you know.” “Understood. You sent him my movies, right?” “Yeah, but I don’t know if he watched them. He’s a busy guy.” “I can imagine, writers’ minds are on going.” “You should be able to relate, you wrote most of your plays.” “Seems many years ago.” “Soon you’ll be saying that about directing movies.” “Maybe. Ready?” Jean and Darlene finish their drinks and set their empty glasses on the kitchen table. They walk to the ...

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“RING AROUND THE ROSIE” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #88

RING AROUND THE ROSIE Giambattista Vicchi had been a writer who, however prolific____he has written hundreds of works___his fame, not to mention his existence, had not crossed the walls of the town ( city) where he was born and lived all his life. Oh, there, within the walls of his city, he was well known, and was much appreciated, indeed even celebrated. , since one day didn’t pass that he was not interviewed or invited to give his eagerly awaited opinion on the most disparate issues or matters. So he wa...

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“Happy Endings” by S K

Submitted to Contest #88

The old woman sighed sorrowfully and then pretended a smile which was broken in the creases that had formed on her old, frail face. Her wide blue eyes with a touch of mascara stared at the sky, the sun was beaming, its rays attacking any viewer however, Mrs. Gray didn't flinch. She stared hard at grey clouds, the sparrows flying by and the vast ocean of blue stretching above her head. She let our another sigh and brought her lips to sip the coffee, she was warming her palms with. As soon as she took a sip, the hot liquid poured itself dow...

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“No Such Thing as Perfect Endings” by Sarah Bird

Submitted to Contest #88

Pre-order now! The long-awaited final instalment of Ellie Harper’s Midnight Flower Garden trilogy will be released on 4th May. Secrets will be revealed. Blood will be shed. Kingdoms will reunite. And the millennia-old mystery of the Midnight Flower Garden will finally be laid to rest once and for all. Pre-order your copy today! Ellie’s eyes read and re-read the placeholder text on the website. Next to the paragraph was a grey box promising title and artwork reveal soon! Too soon, if Ellie had her way. The release date was set in stone accord...

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“Who I do it for.” by Andrea Van Egmond

Submitted to Contest #88

‘Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview miss Golden’ The young boy looked nervous, nervous the way she had once been nervous during her first interview. She had just published her first book, her first fairy tale retelling, a combination of ‘little red riding hood’ and ‘frau Holle’. Her publisher said it was new, fresh, and needed to be shown to the world, she had done about twenty interviews just for that story alone, but she had always hated interviews. After that first story had been published and the promotion for it was fin...

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“Of Spring and Silver” by Zift McZift

Submitted to Contest #88

Spring came with many delegates. And although these delegates were perhaps too many to count, I have grouped them into three separate categories. The first appealed to your eyes. Any child could see that the clear skies, stretched days, blooming trees and strikingly colored birds meant that winter’s harsh grip had softened into spring’s coddling embrace. The second appealed to your ears. You would know spring had arrived when the proud song of a flame breasted robin echoed through the forests before dawn. Or when you could hear young’uns run...

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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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