Twittering Tales #124 – 19 February 2019 – Lost

Photo by Gavilla @ Pixabay.com

Lost

All morning wandering around the city. They’d seen many places of interest. None in the right place though! Stopping to discuss where to have their picnic. Dave made a discovery. ‘Bob’ he scolded ‘you’re using that map upsidedown.’ Karen muttered ‘should of gone to Specsavers.’

(Characters 279)

This is part of Kat Myrman of Like Mercury Colliding‘s Twittering Tales.

Tale of the fisher king

A knight king did in battle fall,  brutal was his wound

His groin was gashed wide and cut deep no matter how  bound

His blood could not be stemmed. No cure could be found.

Many came with balms and cures , potions charms and spells

Yet for all the ministering’s  of, knights, magicians and nurse

No one could cure the brave king or relieve  him of this curse.

The as I have said the wound was in the king’s groin

So this made him impotent no life sprung from his loins.

His lands suffered as he did and soon all he owned lay dying and barren.

So as the king suffered as did his lands and people fade

A greyness and a failing of all crops, like the wound the sword had made.

So in this dark land, inside his castle named Corbin laid this king a keeper of the Holy  Grail.

So why the title Fisher King , why this name it is a strange thing.

The king so wounded in vital parts would spend his days fishing

I do know know my friends, he maybe spent his time  a’wishing

To be healed and to restore his lands to prosperity.

And so the Fisher King spent his days fishing in the river by his Castle

While his daughter guarded the Holy Grail in a lonely tower

He catches the fish to to feed the Grail’s power.

The tower where the grail is kept is full of special powers

False hearts, if detected, the chamber will be filled with arrows

Or boiling oil the false at heart to foil, while the keeper will be unharmed.

So now dear reader you know the plight of the Fisher King

How his fishes for the food of life and prays for a cure to heal him.

His daughter spends her days, and her nights too keeping the Grail safe from the clutches of sin.

Finally Sir Lancelot , following in Sir Percival’s trail,

Arrives in hopes to help the Fisher King , where Percival had failed.

Lancelot arrives by sea and crosses the guarded Bridge.

Did I tell you , the seaward bridge to the castle was guarded by Lions

Fierce and dangerous are they, and many knights they have repelled

Lancelot had been searching years to find the Holy Grail he will fight the Lions and he will prevail.

Brave Sir Lancelot who rode with God and right on his side

Came, challenged and defeated the Lions where lesser knights had failed.

He Entered the castle and survived the tower and claimed the Holy Grail.

Then to the Fisher King he went and with God, and cured his wounds so sore

As if by a magic brush the kings  lands were fruitfully as they were before.

There is more to this tale , but dear friends, for now I can tell no more.

This is another old poem of mine  from 2013 , if  you are interested in the legends surrounding King Arthur and his knights I have a collection of poems on the  subject here .

 

Thursday photo prompt: New #writephoto

Standing in the golden glow of dawn they felt the true meaning of “A New Day” . They could see for miles from here, sadly there was nothing much left to see.

It looks just like the books showed it to be but not as colourful. The light though, they had never seen anything like it, nor had they felt this warmth upon their faces. They were glad of their eye protectors.

Those who had last walked free up here had been dead at least fifty years now. These two, Adam and Eve, were the first two chosen to walk the earth since the nuclear holocaust had excelorated the climate change. Making planet Earth inhabitable.

They had been tasked with the job of reconnaissence to find out if it was finally safe to emerge from underground. The first couple to walk the earth for two hundred years.

They sampled the water and tested it, they took geiger counter readings, and samples of the as many plants the could find. The amount of insects amazed them, there were so many.

They spent a week working. The night before their return they were so excited about being the bearers of good news. It was, at last safe for the masses to return above ground.

The next day they started the long journey home, they were looking forward to some fresh grown food and a rest from the light and the weather.

They were greeted by the elders and passed on their findings.

Eve unwittingly also passed on an invisible virus.

The virus was virulent it wiped out every single survivor within a month. Millions died no one survived, it started inocently with a sneeze. Soon all of the animals died too. The crops wasted and withered, only the insects survived.

This is part of Sue Vincent‘s #writephoto

Twittering Tales #123 – 12 February 2019

This is part of Kat Myrman’s Twitterlng Tales.#123 – 12 February 2019.

photo by Skeeze on Pixabay.com

Trouble in Heaven.

Gabriel looked at his mobile these texts didn’t look like St Peter’s handwork. Angel, Jump 4 Me, Miss You. What now he thought. Azriel was with Michael so it wasn’t him. As Gab’s robe burst into flames his mobile beeped. Time to Dance it read. Satan’s laugh echoed around heaven.

(279 Characters )

Thursday photo prompt: Blade #writephoto

This is my entry for Sue Vincent‘s Thursday Photo Prompt. I have done an Acrostic Tanka.

Blade

Bound in time and space

Latent magic hides within

Answers hidden there

Down through the annals of time

Excalibur is retrieved

Twittering Tales #122 – 5 February 2019 – It starts with one word…

Photo by Pexels at Pixabay.com

Blowing away the dust I saw an old typewriter. There was a piece of paper with five words upon it. Bending down I read. ‘It starts with one word.’
I typed in a word and so it began.

(180 Characters including: It starts with one word)

This is for Kat Myrman of like Mercury Colliding Twittering Tales.

Thursday photo prompt: Fragrant #writephoto

Lilac and white contrast like day and night.

Standing in the garden waiting for the visitor to arrive Anne fiddled with her sleeves. She had a habit of pulling them down over her hands. She had never liked her hands, that stupid extra finger, no use nor ornament.

She watched the bees buzzing round the lilac and she wondered at how they never tired or grew slack in their travails. Bending down she picked a good size bunch of the lilac and a couple of roses and made them into a posey by wrapping them in her handkerchief. She took a ribbon from her elaborate dress and bound it neatly around the posey.

Anne looked at her handy work and smiled. Yes she thought an innocent gift for a visiting King.

Approaching the centre of the garden Anne suddenly shivered as a cloud momentarily blocked the sun. The lilac transformed into rivulets of blood, trailing down white skin.

A commotion brought her back to the present, the cloud and vision had past, though the doubt was there deep in her soul.

Her father and a very handsome man where approaching both smiling. “Anne” her father said “the King desires to meet you.”

Me though Anne, what would Mary think? Anne shook off her doubts and fears and decided to face this challenge. She also decided to do so, as much on her terms as possible.

As Henry took her hand and kissed it the vision of blood rivulets and white skin again coloured the garden. Anne blinked the fears away and smiled at the handsome king she was happy for now.

Above is another of my little plays on history, mostly imagination but based on fact.

It’s part of Sue Vincent‘s #writephoto Fragrance.

FINISH THE STORY — THE CIRCUS PART 5

Teresa, The Haunted Wordsmith, has started another one of her intriguing stories where she gets things started, tags another blogger to pick up where she left off, and then that blogger picked someone else to keep it going.

Fandago was second, and he tagged Scott as the third. Then Scott tagged Ritu of butIsmileanyway here goes.

To get us started, here’s what Teresa wrote:

Andy sat in the front row every night and watched the small family circus perform. There were clowns, acrobats, dog tricks, and even a high-wire walking monkey. His favourite though was the juggler. Andy watched as he threw balls, flaming torches, rings, and knives in the air and caught them with ease. Everyone in the circus seemed so happy and nice. He longed to join them.

Late one night after the final performance, Andy mustered the nerve to find the circus owner who travelled with them.

“I’ll do anything. Please let me join you.”

Mr Tall looked at the scrawny boy and scratched his chin. He walked around Andy and looked him up and down. “What could you do for us?”

Andy spared no time to think. He blurted out a laundry list of menial tasks he could do.

“I have plenty of people to do that.” Mr Tall shook his head and stared at Andy. “I asked what you could do for us? What are your talents? Your secret talents?”

Andy gulped. Few knew his secret, but those who did knew it immediately. Could Mr Tall be one of them? Could he risk telling the truth? Not telling the truth? Andy took a deep breath and swallowed his fear. “I could …”

Fandango’s addition to the story:

…change my appearance.”

“What do you mean you change your appearance?” Mr Tall asked.

“I’m a shapeshifter,” Andy said.

“You mean that mythological crap about being able to transform your physical form or shape?” Mr Tall said. “Get out of here, kid. You’re wasting my time.”

“I can transform into anything I want,” Andy insisted. “Think of something you want me to change into. Don’t tell me what it is. Then close your eyes and I’ll let you know when to open them.”

“This is stupid, but fine.” Mr Tall thought for a moment. “Okay, boy. Now what?”

“Close your eyes until I tell you to open them.”

Mr Tall closed his eyes and waited a few seconds. He then heard a voice from overhead instructing him to open his eyes. Mr Tall looked up, but all he saw was a red-tailed hawk perched on the high wire near the top of the tent.

“So?” the hawk said, looking down the shocked circus owner. “You thought of a hawk, right?

“Am I hallucinating? Did you slip something in my drink?”

The hawk opened its wings and started circling above, slowly working its way back down to the ground. By the time it hit the sawdust-covered floor, Andy was, once again, a scrawny, human kid. “So, Mr Tall, can I work in your circus?”

Mr Tall just stood there for a minute or two before he found his voice. He looked at Andy and said …

Then Scott’s…part

“Come with me!” and he hurried off into the night.

Andy rushed after him, eager to pursue the chance he had been longing for.

Mr Tall brought him to the centre of the campsite, he stopped in a ring of caravans, the doors looking inward. Andy felt suddenly like he was on trial. The brightly coloured caravans seemed like elderly matriarchs, stern but hiding an impulse to burst into laughter.

Except, one. There was one dark caravan, unpainted and in disrepair. It was completely out of place in this bright court.

Mr Tall caught the direction of his gaze and then looked abashed. He ducked his head as if to hide his shame or some other emotion not meant for Andy’s eyes.

‘I shouldn’t have brought him here,’ Andy heard his thoughts. ‘He will not resist that place and we will be discovered.’

Then he spoke.

“Listen, lad. There’s no doubting your talent, we can use you. I am just not sure how. My people here, they. Well, they are an old fashioned bunch. Give them bearded ladies, conjoined twins and they’re fine. But you – you show them that and they will freak. And you and me won’t last five minutes. As for the audience. Well, we have to be subtle. Show them a trick that looks impossible in a way that they can believe it’s all smoke and mirrors.”

Andy stared at him. Was he going to give him a job or not? Was he going to bow out at the last minute? Lose his nerve?

Mr Tall glanced at the dark caravan again, then back at Andy. He took a deep breath as if drawing his strength.

“OK. Wait here! I have an idea, let me introduce you to my partner. He will know what to do.”

With that, he swept off into the darkness between the caravans.

Andy stood, suddenly unsure what to do. Should he just wait? What was going on here? It was all very strange.

But then it was a strange situation he had engineered. And much of the strangeness emanated from him.

He smiled wryly at himself. Wasn’t this exactly what he wanted?

Then he caught sight of the dark caravan again. It seemed to draw his attention. What was in there. What was Mr Tall afraid of? Ashamed of?

What would he discover behind that tatty door?

He found that he had already walked up the steps to that door. He looked around, something was warning him not to go any further but he found he could not resist. He pushed the door open.

It was dark inside. He stepped forward into the darkness. He took three steady steps and then there was a click.

Too late he sensed a trap. There was a clash of metal. The darkness fled as the sides of the caravan fell away to reveal he as inside a cage. A cage with fine wire mesh sides.

He could transform – but not into anything that small.

“So! You could not resist?” Mr Tall. “You read my mind! At least as much as I wanted you too. And could not resist my bait.”

He smiled strangely.

“You are not the only one with talent.”

Before his eyes, Mr Tall seemed to shimmer and he transformed. Not into an animal but into a young girl not much older than himself.

“We have been waiting for you to joins us for quite some time,” she said.

“Indeed we have,” said another voice. And out of the darkness came another man. Broad, long-haired and bearded, dressed in an immaculate suit.

“What shall we do with him?” asked the girl….

And now, Ritu’s addition.

It had been a few hours.

The two had observed me for a while, whispering to each other and smiling, but they were just a little too far away for me to sense what was being thought in their villainous minds. Then they left me, striding to the far caravan.

Slowly doors opened and the other circus ‘acts’ stepped out, one by one, to peer at the newest addition to their crew.

The acrobats flipped their way to the cage and stared at me. “What’s so special about him? He’s a mere boy.” Unimpressed, they stalked off.

Andy tried to smile at the juggler, his favourite act, as he sauntered over, lazily tossing two small balls up in the air. “Hey! Mr Juggler! Please, let me out. They tricked me!”

“Jacques. I am Jacques the Juggler extraordinaire. And trick? No. Franco and Seline. They never trick anyone. You only end up here, if this is where you are meant to be… A demain, garçon mystérieux.” He turned and made his way back to his caravan.

“No! Please! Wait!” Andy called out in vein. Slowly the others retired to their caravans, tired of waiting for something to happen.

This boy.

What was so special?

Andy slumped against the metal bars that caged him and slowly slid to the floor. A tear formed and trickled down his cheek.

Why did he never listen? Mother had told him no good would ever come of his revealing his secret to anyone. She had lived with her shapeshifter gift all her life, using it to help them survive. But never in a way that one of the ordinary folks of the world would ever discover her power.

“Psst!”

Andy’s head jerked up. In the darkness, he was unable to make out anybody there.

“Psst! Over here!” The voice was just behind him. He turned to see a young girl, head covered, beckoning to him.

“Here,” she pushed something through the railings. Bread. “You must be hungry.”

Andy scrambled over and took the food.

“Eat.”

She watched as he devoured the chunk of bread hungrily, before looking up at her again.

“Er, thank you.”

She smiled.

“I heard Maman talking about you with Papa. You are quite an enigma. No one seems to know why you are here. Caged. Oh, so rude of me, I am Nina. The juggler’s daughter.”

“Can you help me get out?” Andy knew nothing more than the fact that he needed to be released so he could run back to his own mother.

“What is your name?” She just looked at him, making no move to open the lock.

“Andy. My name is Andy, and if I don’t leave soon, my family will be up in arms! Please, Nina. Help me!”

She pondered his request for a moment. “I don’t know… you intrigue me. Maybe I don’t want to let you go. It’s been a long time since I had company here, more my age…”

Before Andy could make another plea, the door to the far caravan flung open. The voice of Franco bellowed out loud. “Quick! Pack up, everyone. We need to leave – IMMEDIATELY!”

Like magic, the ground filled with people, unpegging the tent, harnessing horses to the caravans, packing up the circus paraphernalia that was all around.

And just like that, Andy felt a shudder as the sides to his cage became solid. Someone had pushed the wooden covers back, leaving him nothing but a small slat to look through.

Then with a jerk, he was flung onto his bottom. The caravan started to move. He scrambled back up to peer through the slat. He could see nothing.

All he knew was that he was trapped, with no idea where he was being taken…

My turn now.

It was dark and try as he may Andy could see nothing through the single slat. He was tired and not a little frightened. Slowly the rocking of the caravan, come cage set him off to fitful sleep.

When he awoke he was surprised to find that the wooden slats were down and he was in the open cage again.

Everyone was across the way in a large clearing putting up the Big Top. There was a lot of noise and everyone was very busy.

Andy felt he was being watched so he spun round and smiled as he came face to face with Nina who was standing outside his cage again. “Hello” she said, “I have brought you some more bread and some water. Sorry” she said pushing a hose pipe through the wire mesh, “you will have to drink through this.”

Andy was hungry and thirsty so he did not complain and drank copiously from the hose.

“What do you think they will do with me” he asked Nina. She smiled and told him that she had heard her father and the Boss talking. “They are going to use you in a magic act.” She told him.

“There is no need to be afraid” said Nina, ” Everyone who joins this circus starts off in this cage.” Nina shifted on her feet and continued, “my Mum and Dad did, everyone does ” She smiled at Andy then continued, ” really no one joins this circus unless it is meant to be.”

“What do you mean” asked Andy. Before Nina could answer her father called her away. As she ran off towards the big top she turned and waved to Andy giving him a wonderful smile.

Curiosity was burning in Andy’s head as he thought over what Nina had said. Suddenly and for the first time in his life Andy felt the tingling in bones start, the warning that he was about to change. He was shocked because he had not discided to change. This change was happening un announced.

To his amazement Andy shape shifted to a worm, he had never changed into anything so small before.

Quickly he passed through the wire mesh, once outside he shifted once more in to a sparrow. After he had got his breath back he set off to see what he could find out…..

Teresa’s rules for Finish the Story are:

Copy the story as you receive it.

Add to the story in some fashion.

Tag another person to contribute to or finish the story.

Please use FTS as a tag so Teresa can find it or link back to part 1.

Have Fun!

I am going to tag Micheal, Morepethroad. I know he will have something interesting to add.

Twittering Tales #121 – 29 January 2019

This is my entry for Kat Myrman of Like Mercury Colliding. Twittering Tales

Photo by Oleg Magni at Pexels.com

Hearts and Stars.

He was delighted, that last beating must of worked. At last she was being wifely. The smell was delicious. She gave him a plate of cookies. He ate them all to her delight.”Bastard” she thought as she waited for the poison to work. Her bags packed and ready in the car.
(269 Characters)

No apologies for the video you don’t need to watch it.

JusJoJan 2019 Daily Prompt – Jan. 25th

Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 25th is brought to you by JP! Click here to find their last post and say hi while you’re there! JP’s word for our prompt today is “Balance.” Use it anywhere in your post or make it the theme of your post. Have fun!

Balance.

Standing on one foot, striving for body balance was not Gina’s idea of Monday morning fun. Why did she do this to herself, on balance she was useless at these classes but she persisted.

Week after week, rain or shine she went to class, why, it was not as if her life was in the balance. In fact was it really of any importance at all.

Standing there she finally came to the realization that she hated the gym, life was for living not surviving. At this point she lost her balance completely and crashed to the floor. There was a stunned silence in the room. Everyone looked.

Sod this though Gina this is not a balanced way of life I have had enough. She stood up straightened her leggings and walked out never to return.

The following Monday morning she was sat in bed sipping coffee and reading the news, later she had lunch planned with friends then a long dog walk.

Her life was her own no more classes no more gym. Here body balance was perfect.

The women at the gym wondered if she had lost the balance of her mind….. They were just jealous.

Image from Pixabay

Top image from Pixabay