CREATIVE
Original short stories. We wrote these at first playfully, trying to test how difficult/easy it is to write about animals. The initial idea was to let ourselves slide into the skin / hide / scales / plumage of an animal. Then it got serious / mythical / totemic, or otherwise ludic / ironic / candid.
(Image coloured by Iasmina-Katia Oțoiu.)
Twelve animal tales will be published here, one by one, over the next two weeks. Bookmark this page and come again.
Freedom or Chained Beauty…?
She noticed a movement in the canopy and she could hear all sorts of beautiful and intriguing sounds from inside the forest. She took a step inside and a magical place opened up: thousands of flowers in all the colours of the rainbow, sparkling insects with shiny wings and all sorts of amazing animals she had never seen before appeared. Lyria stood there transfixed for like an eternity: a beautiful girl in Paradise. Read on …
Redemption
I have been listening to stories about my tribe. I can still hear the eagle cry over the battle, I can still see the bloody water of the lake and the tearful sunset.
I have heard of a medicine woman who had been living in the Arbuckles mountains since the beginning of time. I was told she had
Life after the rebellion
Rats crept through every nook and cranny and infested everyone. Bugs, big and small carried deadly diseases faster than our claws and teeth shred them. Birds flew right into the engines of planes and brought them down within minutes. Bees attacked the heavy tanks and once the men came out, dogs, wolves and other animals jumped on them. Read on …
What a Family!
When we return here, in March, they wave at us and they are glad as they see in us, storks, a sign of prosperity and of good luck! They also say – or they used to say – that we bring them the babies. No, we don’t bring them such things, but we bring… Read on …
Cánaalah
Humans are not aware that each animal keeps the memory of its ancestor alive. Even if people have named species, these animals already had a primeval appellation. Wolves call themselves Cánaalah after their ancestor, the Canid. Cánaalian legends say that Cernunnos… Read on …
The incident that changed everything
The day my parents first saw me, they were very excited. I was their first child and their last one as I found out later. My own life begins with me in a dark chamber, being surrounded by plenty of delicious food and no one around to bother me. For a long time, all I did was eat and sleep. My life was a dream, some would say. Read on …
The Baby Albatross
The Little Albatross was raised with love. When he had just hatched from the egg and opened his eyes for the first time, he did not first see the light, or the eyes of his mother, but pure and eternal love. That love was in everything, everywhere, every time. Read on …
The Arcane Life of a Fox
Though my mind and stomach were full of those eggs, after a moment I realized that what I was doing was wrong.
“I am not a thief or a murderer,” I told myself, for I knew that there was more to life. I began to feel something rolling out of my eyes — it was water. Read on …
A Goat Story
Purple cabbage is the best, as well as beetroot leaves, but inexperienced kids sometimes get fooled by the bright yellow dandelions along the fence and it’s always a funny sight to see them taking a bitter mouthful of them. Read on …
The White Raven
From a distance, he looked like a spear thrown from Valhalla. His feathers were as dark as a cloudy night when the moon is hidden. His eyes were as glassy as the water surface, and his claws were big enough to catch a baby from its mother’s arms. Read on …
To Flutter Through Adventures
There were many caterpillars in that tree, and each of them had its own leaf. Some of them were eating, biting and scrunching pieces of leaves until they had to move to another one. Others rolled their leaf as if it was time for a good nap to be taken after a well-deserved meal. It seemed that nothing could have disturbed them from that job, except a… Read on …