PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll
Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers’ challenge today is sparked by an image of a beautiful carved object. Can you write a 100 word story prompted by this image ? Here’s mine.
RHYME OR REASON ?
‘ Neni Zsofia, tell me the story about your life in Hungary.’
‘Now you are older darling niece, I will. Our family, we were old fashioned rural farmers. We supported ourselves, we got by, understood the land, and the plants for medicine. Your mother and me held the knowledge.
Greedy farmers moved in nearby, threatened us to get our land. I consulted my grimoire of spells, my witch-bottle, I communed with the household shrine….He reaps what he sows, wealth comes wealth goes…and…
Their whole family died of influenza.’
‘Your spell did that ?’
‘Maybe their wickedness weakened them ? Good story heh !’
September 19, 2018 at 7:34 am
Love the conclusion… but the darker side of this with greed in the old time, when everything was about the grabbing of land… when everything was a zero-sum game really. Love your choice of names… sometimes it just take a single letter to indicate an origin other than what we know…
September 19, 2018 at 8:01 am
Appreciate your comment Bjorn – thank you. I agree with you about the darker side in previous times. Glad you liked the story and the Aunt’s name.
September 18, 2018 at 4:57 pm
This was wonderful! I love Neni Zsofia! Karma, Universe, call it what you will… it will pay back. Now whether there was any help from any potions… we’ll just leave it to what we choose to believe!
September 18, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Appreciate your feedback Dale- so glad you liked the tale- even if it was a bit of a tall one !
September 17, 2018 at 11:25 pm
Just in case the flu was more than a coincidence, I want to tell Neni Zsofia about some other greedy bullies: pseudoconservatives like Donald Trump.
September 18, 2018 at 7:59 am
Thanks for your comment. Certainly isn’t any shortage of bullies in the world leadership arena is there ?
September 17, 2018 at 5:33 pm
Coincidences are few and far between. The universe works in mysterious ways. 😉 A nicely conceived story.
September 18, 2018 at 7:56 am
Thank you Jo, appreciate your feedback. I’m curious about whether coincidences exist, or is it Karma ? What goes round comes round …?
September 16, 2018 at 2:51 pm
I liked the ambiguity, tongue in cheek. 🙂
September 17, 2018 at 4:22 pm
Thank you Sandra – pleased you liked the ending.
September 16, 2018 at 11:32 am
I like the way you interpret the clock of the prompt as a household shrine. The ambiguity of the ending is good, too, and highlights the very different way that people thought about witchcraft in past times.
September 16, 2018 at 11:43 am
Appreciate your comment Penny, glad you liked the story.
September 16, 2018 at 8:22 am
Witchcraft or just bad luck? Who can say, but I would love to take a look at that witch-bottle. Good story.
September 16, 2018 at 11:01 am
Thanks so much Jilly – you’re right about the witch bottle – what is in it ? Saw an article about magic and spells, with a picture of a witch bottle, with opaque glass !
September 16, 2018 at 2:52 am
I love the mystery in this piece. Nice job!
September 16, 2018 at 11:09 am
So pleased you liked it Lisa, thanks.
September 15, 2018 at 8:20 am
Ha! Coincidence or… Nice one!
September 15, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Thanks so much Ali – pleased you like the story.
September 15, 2018 at 3:20 am
Oh! The powers that be or not … I think I like Neni Zsofia!
September 15, 2018 at 3:41 pm
Thank you Alicia. I think I’d want Neni Zsofia on my side, just to be sure…
September 15, 2018 at 4:44 pm
Ditto that!
September 14, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Dear Francine,
Neni Zsofia is a force to be reckoned with it seems. That is if she and her sister indeed caused the influenza. Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
September 15, 2018 at 3:43 pm
Thank you Rochelle- glad you liked the story…I enjoyed writing about spells !
September 14, 2018 at 9:52 pm
I love the mystery of the tale, hanging in the air between generations, hopefully to be passed on as family folklore
October 16, 2018 at 8:09 am
So pleased you liked the tale- I liked your phrase ‘hanging in the air between generations’.
September 14, 2018 at 5:07 pm
Ah, so we have to decide if it was a coincidence or not? Enjoyed this – the dialogue is really good.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
October 16, 2018 at 8:10 am
Thanks so much Susan, I appreciate your feedback.
September 14, 2018 at 1:12 pm
Do you believe in coincidence or…? Nicely done.
September 15, 2018 at 3:54 pm
Appreciate your feedback Iain, thanks.
September 14, 2018 at 9:58 am
A towering tall tale. Nicely dialogued, WWMax.
September 14, 2018 at 11:18 am
Thanks Kelvin – love your phrase – ‘towering tall tale’ ! It is indeed… Glad you liked the dialogue.
September 14, 2018 at 8:51 am
I like the uncertainty about the cause of the illness
September 14, 2018 at 11:24 am
Thanks for your comment Neil, much appreciated.