16 Comments
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Benjamin McCoy's avatar

That was awesome! Beautifully done in a classic style.

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

This was sitting in my WIP folder for a while. I wanted to retell The Tinder Box but it was actually quite tough reshaping it. I'm glad it worked out.

Thank you very much. Have a great weekend.

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Sandy Shaller's avatar

A lovely grim take on the tale of "The Tinder Box." I love the way you use the fairy tale trappings and then slide them into the terror of the ending. Excellent.

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

Thank you very much, Sandy. I didn’t like the original. I thought it was just showing the kids you can take what you want and get away with everything. You don’t have to work hard, just find a magic tinder box and murder the old woman who told you about it.

It was a much more interesting story with Cerberus, I find 😅

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Sandy Shaller's avatar

Absolutely. There's another version of "The Tinder Box," that you might enjoy. It's called "The Blue Light." It's a minor Grimms' Fairy Tale, but a great one. I was a teacher, but also ran an after school drama program at my school and wrote a show called, "Four Tales from Grimm's" and "The Blue Light" was one of them. I also did "The Frog Prince," as a comedy and the princess was dressed up to look like, and act like, Mae West. That story brought the house down.

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Richard Ritenbaugh's avatar

Life-lesson: Never cross the Three Fates.

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

Never. Just work with the opportunities you're given and see what the universe has in store. He showed no remorse for what he did in the original story, and when he walked free at the end (as King) I was just like 😱

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Anne Hickley's avatar

Love this one. ‘Loadsa money’ really made me laugh, snuck into the olde worldly telling. Are you planning a book of feminist fairytales soon?

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

I'd love to do that. Just have to work out a cover. There are a few stories ready to go!

Thanks Anne. I laughed reading your comment 😂 Loadsa money!

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Anne Hickley's avatar

I wish I could magic you up a marbled fairytale cover but alas …just a tad beyond me 😂

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

That'd be lovely, but I agree, it's a step up from a silk scarf or a bauble.

Saying that, I would be rubbish at marbling. Those photos from Japan put me in my box labelled “happy observer”😂

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Anne Hickley's avatar

😂Yeah, more a staircase than a step …and I bet you’d enjoy it if you had a go …so would the girls. Potential for spillage, mess and ruination is slightly terrifying though. 😅

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Bill Denson's avatar

Very well written! Hanna you are indeed a talented young lady.

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

Thank you very much, Bill. Funny, it’s always the ones that I’m not sure about that people seem to like the most. I only say that because this took longer than other things I have written.

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Keith Long's avatar

Fantastic

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Gerard DiLeo's avatar

Wonderful! Bravo!

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