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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

“Mason the Mighty” by Cole Lane

Submitted to Contest #88

Mom must still be at work. At least I don’t have to lie about the dirt covering my clothes. Carl and his band of jerks beat me up again.I unlock the door and step inside.The bruises are tender, Carl is good at inflicting wounds where they don’t show. He learned it firsthand from his dad. At least that’s the school rumor.Walking by the kitchen, I notice a package addressed to me.Removing the brown paper wrapper reveals a book, a really old one from the looks of it, along with a note in my grandmother’s handwriting.‘Dear Mason,Hoping your scho...

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“Ask Me No Questions ” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #88

“Hi, I’m Jason.” He extended his hand. “The Argonauts are outside with the boat.” ‘Shut up! You dork!’ “I’m Jill…” She took his hand and glanced around conspiratorially. “Parking that thing must be a… pain.” He laughed at her joke. “That’s good. Not everyone gets it.” Ice broken. ‘Maybe this won’t be such an ordeal…’ They each paused, expecting the other to talk. The silence hadn’t yet become strained. He gestured to the hostess’ station. Jill said, “I never had a blind date with a person so legendary.” “Really? This is my first,” he lied...

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“A Lily for a Life” by Liz_the_spooky_bean _

Submitted to Contest #88

Adeline's dress flapped against her ankles as the wind blew across the moor. She shivered in contentment; summer was finally coming to a close. Normally she would be grateful for the warm weather and constant sunlight, but the castle had no cooling system but the cold water tubs placed strategically throughout the halls. She gasped in surprise, all that thinking had gotten her distracted enough to step in the small creek the supplied the moat around the castle with water. Adeline stopped and bent down to smell the Lilies. She had always love...

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“Dream Come True” by Angelina Jeong

Submitted to Contest #88

Ariel started singing with her gorgeous, golden voice and Ursula started pulling the voice into a glass case. “Huheheuheheh,” Ursula’s evil laugh filled the ocean and right then, Ariel glowed brightly and her mermaid fins got replaced with two legs.  Emma’s giant, glossy, hazel eyes were wide open, showing a little mix of confusion and anger. “Mother, why is Ariel trading her beautiful mermaid fins for ugly legs?” Emma stopped her mother from reading.  “Oh, Emma, it’s just a story. This is something that won’t ever happen. It...

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“Royalty” by Aiden Chu

Submitted to Contest #88

The crowd cheered in delight as the dragon tore off the wailing prisoner’s head, sending a geyser of blood into the air. The king and queen smiled in satisfaction as the dragon spread its leathery wings and roared as loud as a volcano erupting. Breathing a column of white-hot fire into the air, the dragon slammed the decapitated prisoner’s body into the air and swallowed it in one gulp. Arthur, the prince of the kingdom, discarded his cloak in disgust. His parents were killing slaves for sport! How he wished he could save their lives but eac...

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“A Change in The Blueprint” by Naomi Pledgure

Submitted to Contest #88

Since the beginning of time, humans have been the only creatures to roam the earth. Well besides animals of course. Except humanity has never been that accepting of new things. They're afraid of things that are different. And god forbid you're something that they've been taught to hate. So when Alex learned that there was more to the multiverse than just earth she had to take the chance to escape. She had already known since the time that she came out that she wouldn't be accepted. And considering that she's already African American she wa...

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“Incarnations of a Woman Made Real” by Amarah Friedman

Submitted to Contest #88

Isobel stood at the mouth of a vast desert.She could hear the waves of the Oasis lapping gently against the shore behind her, and she turned her head away from home. Worth it, she thought, soaking in the sight of the dunes before her. Worth everything.And she’d given everything to be here-- her crown, her family-- everything just to look upon the earth and see nothing but possibility, feel everything but lack of breath and lack of time. She had no water, no resources, and no sense of smell, but she had her memories of home, and she had a bli...

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“The Dark Messiah” by Gregory Pinson

Submitted to Contest #88

You even notice how leaves chime in the wind, especially during fall as they flutter from branches to the ground. It goes unnoticed, unbothered, just another cycle of life. What happens if a leaf stood up to this cycle, forced its way into remaining immortal. Using ideas, certain actions to cast a shadow unto all. Our connection is boundless, the food we eat together makes me happy. How do I know I'm in darkness? I create my perception therefore I am God. I am a man so I must dominate all. Into this world I come, I come before my mother who ...

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“Tale of A Fairy Tale-Maker” by Sinria Lee

Submitted to Contest #88

"Perhaps we are all unlikely writers." I heard those words through the depths of my thoughts. Who can say with any certainty how, where, or why they have been visited by the creative impulse? What we know is that when it arrived, largely unbidden; having infiltrated our psyche, we were transformed. This was my experience, although unlike most of the writers I know who were busy making up stories when they were old enough to pick up a crayon, my creative life did not begin until my 45th year. And that beginning was as surprising and pr...

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“Something in the Water” by Karen McDermott

Submitted to Contest #88

“Hi Lenny.” “Hello,” I replied to the lank-haired guy in horn-rimmed glasses, sitting about three rows from front. The host, Jerome, had picked him as he’d the one being most insistent with his hand-waving. Jerome was probably grateful that someone looked more nervous than he did. I shot a glance at him before turning to listen to the question from the audience member. He was holding the mic at arm’s length, like it was a snake about to bite him. “Um, so, as I’m sure a lot of us are wondering, but, err, how is it you get your ideas for ...

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“A Cat's Tail ” by Kay (:

Submitted to Contest #88

I’m the only cat in the entire shelter. There were only big, loud, smelly dogs. They didn’t even know how to groom themselves! I wasn’t what you considered the youngest cat, but I definitely wasn’t the oldest. I loved playing outside, but even stranger with water. It’d been my dream ever since I was a kitten to sail the seas. To feel the fresh sea air in my coat.  But no. That dream died when they dumped me here at the Sandy Valley Animal Shelter. Dogs left and right, literally. My cage was next to two yapping Chinchilla's who never st...

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“The Storyteller” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #88

Do you want to hear one of my stories? I have a knack for knowing when people do, you know, and it rarely lets me down. But you’re looking a bit dubious, as if you think you probably would, but you’re not quite sure. Well, I think I know what’s bothering you. You’re not in the mood for something whimsical and fantastical, about beings you don’t know if you believe in and don’t know if you want to believe in, nor for my legends and myths and all that business. You want me to tell you a story that’s set in the real world. Very well, then!I wan...

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“Parable of Snow White and the Journalist” by Eva Lewis

Submitted to Contest #88

Parable of Snow White and the Journalist          In time prevailing de jure, a vain older woman, whose face was in a mirror, was jealous of a little girl whose face was not in the mirror, where hers was. Whenever the woman looked in the mirror, where her face was and the little girl’s was not, she was conscious that she did not have the face of the little girl. She wrote an article in her journal column, informing the men of the world that the little girl, whose fa...

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“A Broken Fairy Tale” by Nadya Garza

Submitted to Contest #88

The dark sky screams with swooshes, falling stardust, and an intruding aurora. Regret rags my soul in pieces as I writhe to escape time’s choking hold. I fall on my face on the cobbled ground, look up to the starlit castle uphill, and realize that the kingdom is torn between realms.  Time’s invisible rope binds my hands. I feel I’m going still with the world as some wicked force presses upon me. I’m left tied by my own mistakes, my own foolishness, my outrageous compassion…  I shouldn’t have trusted anyone because trusting is giv...

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“The Promise” by Nettle Swanson

Submitted to Contest #88

 You screamed. I looked around, was there a wasp nearby? Your eyes were wide and your lip was quivering, you were on the verge of crying. You picked up the nearest rock and threw it at me. I dodged it. Was rock throwing a type of human game? You were backing away, chucking every item you could find in my direction. “Get away from me!” You screeched. Those words stung just as much as the sharp stone that sliced my shoulder. “Stop!” I spoke for the first time. You stopped in your tracks, as did I. I was as stunned as you were. I...

13 comments 13
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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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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