Photo credit: Seabamirum
The squirrel said to Fox, “Come, talk with me.”
“I think not,” said Fox. ” I know you, Tan-Tan the Trickster, and your tongue is a weapon.” She turned away.
Tan-Tan called after her. “I could make you beautiful.”
“In return for what?”
“Something small.” Tan-Tan winked, coy.
“Meh. What use is beauty? Will it feed me? Protect my cubs? No, I’ll give nothing for that.”
Tan-Tan stayed, gossiping and joking. Fox listened, even smiled. Clever is charming, after all.
The next day, Tan-Tan returned, chatting and laughing. Then: “Beauty could lure a mate.”
“No worthy mate values appearance over substance. I’ll give nothing for that.”
The third day, Tan-Tan tried again. “The other animals would treat you better.”
Tempting. Being the dull gray lump of the woodland hierarchy was tiresome. But, no. “Then they are fools. I’ll give nothing for that.”
Tan-Tan shrugged. “Fine. I only wanted the gift of your conversation. You give that freely, do you not?”
“Yes, but–” Only barks emerged.
Tan-Tan clucked his squirrel tongue. “My favorite part is, you knew better.”
Fox scowled at her bright, fiery fur, anticipating the dangers this fresh beauty would bring. She darted to safety, far too late.
Word count: 200. Written for this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction challenge. Big thanks to Al Forbes for hosting, and for providing the original photo, below.
Sorry I haven’t posted much lately. All is well, I’ve just been incredibly busy at work. I also lost a whole weekend worth of writing when I went to a three-day writers’ conference. It was totally worth it for the ideas and inspiration and meeting new friends and old, I just wish it hadn’t been in the middle of Killer September.
Photo © Al Forbes at A Mixed Bag
How the fox got its red coloring. Very good. One thing though, if she had cubs, she’s already attracted a mate and red foxes mate for life. I also found out that foxes are probably not color blind, so the change in color would matter.
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Of course you would catch that. 😉 I was trying to word the “my cubs” so that it could be hypothetical, about future cubs. Otherwise you’re right, the mate thing wouldn’t make sense. But then, if this is supposed to be one of those fables some group in Eneana tells, it’s the moral message that’s important; they aren’t necessarily accurate about the biological details. So there’s my out. 😉 Thanks for keeping me on my toes, James!
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We do that for each other. God only knows how I screw up daily in my own writing.
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Nice idea, the fox wasn’t so sly after all.
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Aha, but I never said foxes were considered sly. 🙂 I try not to use the same associations I learned in my own culture and copy them straight to Eneana, but to instead mix them up with associations from other cultures or some that are completely made up. For instance, the real-life trickster gods I’m used to are coyotes, monkeys, or foxes, whereas mine usually appears as a crow or a squirrel.
Thanks for reading, Iain!
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I love mythical stories of how things came to be. Good job
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Thanks, Susan, glad you enjoyed it!
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Wonderful story! It feels very authentically folk-tale-like.
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Thanks Josh, I’m happy you think so!
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This is delightful – I only wish it was fact, not fiction!
Click to visit Keith’s Ramblings
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Hm, I’m not sure about that — Tan-Tan (aka Condeanta) gets the people of Eneana in an awful lot of trouble. I’m glad she/he isn’t hanging around my world too!
Thanks for reading Keith, glad you enjoyed it!
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Very interesting, swapping the roles of trickster and fool; the fox is usually the former in earthly fables. Nice story!
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I wasn’t thinking of the Fox as “the Fool” in this story (not in the classic sense, at least). More that anyone who lets themselves be lured in to talk with the Trickster is taking a great risk. She should have listened to her instincts and walked away!
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Laughing.
Very Kiplingesque, Joy.
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Thank you CE, what a fine compliment!
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Great story, Joy. If only the fox had walked away at the beginning of the conversation, when it crossed her mind to do so. Such a clever story. Loved it 🙂
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Yes, exactly! I’d initially written out the moral of the story more blatantly: Tan-Tan said something like, “You should have paid attention to your instinct and not trusted the trickster.” But I backed off to make it a bit more subtle, and changed the title instead. Glad you enjoyed it!
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What a lovely fable! And so well written. Good job! And yes, I can definitely see some similarities between our stories. 🙂
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Thank you so much for the nice comment — glad you enjoyed it!
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That was fantastic, Joy. A change from your usual near-morbid stuff (Sorry if I’m wrong 😦 )
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Hm, I’ve never thought of my stories as being especially morbid, but I suppose people interpret them in a range of ways. I’m always worried I lean too far in the opposite direction, tending too strongly toward the happy ending. This one seems pretty sad to me, actually: poor Fox got really screwed.
Thanks for reading, Varad!
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Oops! guess I have been reading select few to form my opinions. Sorry about that.
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No, that’s fine! I’d like to think I write a range of moods, not just the same thing every time, and certainly some of them could be seen as morbid! Actually, I wish I could get a little *more* morbid sometimes — an awful lot of the place that accept fantasy short stories are looking for “darker” pieces.
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Anything mythical and i love it. Beautifully written.
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Always happy to provide something mythical (which is obviously a soft spot for me too)! Glad you enjoyed it, Neel; thanks for the nice comment.
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Well done fable. I like that squirrel is the ‘bad’ one instead of the fox.
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Thanks! I do like to mix it up. 😉 And yes, that squirrel Tan-Tan is quite the trickster! He features in a couple other stories too… stayed tuned.
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The squirrel got what it wanted for free, and the fox was the one that suffered. Sometimes being nice and selfless isn’t the best way to be.
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What an awful message for you to take away, oh no! The way I saw it, the squirrel is a trickster god, and the fox knew that it was dangerous to even talk to him, but thought she could be smarter than the trickster god. It’s always risky to play games with someone who’s trickier than you. I didn’t intend anything about the fox being nice or selfless; she was being cocky. In my stories, the nice and selfless people always win. 🙂
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