For fans of micro-flash, this story is a challenge within a challenge. I wrote six-word stories–fairytale retellings–then wove them into a 100-word drabble.
Bonus: political satire!
By Anna Kander
“Mom, tell a fairytale! Can you do it in six words?”
“Hmm—”
“Alice in Wonderland?”
“Well, it’s 2017 … The Mad Hatter gets himself elected.”
“You made it political!”
“I teach politics.”
“Aesop’s fable about hard work?”
“Grasshopper ran. Ant voted for him.”
“Come on. Try The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”
“‘Failing’ boy spreads fake news. Sad.”
“Mom!”
“Boy Who Cried Wolf: nobody tells that story anymore.”
“MOM!”
“Jack and the Beanstalk: Beanstalk? We’ve giants to kill—here.”
“I can’t even—”
“One more, sweet daughter: Kissed frogs. Lived joyfully. Beautiful tadpoles.”
“What do you call it?”
“Happily ever after.”
Anna Kander is a writer in the Midwest. Her tiny stories have appeared in Nanoism, tweetpulp, Story Seed Vault, TweetLit, and 121 Words.
Anna Kander 