Fairy Tale Starter #1:

Flying Marigold.

Once there was a young girl called Marigold who had trouble keeping her feet on the ground. She was always floating off like a dandelion dock, and things had been heading this way since she was about six. Nobody seemed to know why. But the problem was quite clear.

They tried putting weights in her shoes, which worked quite well, until she took them off for a bath or for a hot day. They tried tethering her with ropes, which worked less well, because it meant she was attached to tables and chairs and doors and couldn’t go anywhere without assistance. They took her to doctors and clinics and scientists, but nobody had the answer.

Eventually, all her relatives became so fed up that they decided to visit a Wise Woman.

The Wise Woman lived outside of town, at the end of a wild dirt track where everyone dumped their old refrigerators and used cars. Very few people ventured down that dirt track. Even the postman refused to go near her house, which didn’t matter really, since there were never any letters or parcels for the Wise Woman. Some people weren’t even sure she was still alive.

So there came the day when eight of the boldest relatives walked down that dirt track with Marigold in her heavy, clumping boots.  The track grew narrower and narrower and the dumped garbage became less and less. Finally they reached the house, which looked as though the earth was in the middle of swallowing it up, and knocked loudly on the front door.

The door opened, and there stood the Wise Woman….

YOUR TURN TO FINISH THE TALE.

Fairy Tale Starter #2:

The Rain Man.

Everywhere the young man went, it rained.

At first, it wasn’t a problem. Famers used him to water their crops. He was flown to desert areas to regenerate the plants. He was taken to areas suffering from drought, to bring relief.

But after a while, there were no deserts left, and no more droughts, and everybody was content with kind of rain that fell in a regular way from the sky every month or so. They had no more need of the young man and the dark cloud that surrounded him everywhere he went. They began to bully him, and then to shun him.

He moved from the city to the town, and from the town to the village, and from the hamlet to the edge of the wastelands. But even that wasn’t far enough. They came looking for him, to drive him further away, hammering at his door, beating on it with their umbrellas.

The young man had had enough. He needed the rain to stop. But who would help him? Who would have the answer?

And so he travelled. He travelled the world in search of someone, anyone, who might help. He did not dare to imagine that an answer might not exist. He crossed the wild steppes, and the highest mountains. He crossed the wildest rivers, and the deepest canyons.

And after travelling for exactly sixty days and sixty nights, he came across a hut standing alone in the middle of a lake, as if it was floating on the water. By the shore was a tiny wooden boat with a pair of oars, so he rowed this across to the hut while the rain fell all around him.

Before he even reached the hut, the door swung open to reveal…

YOUR TURN TO FINISH THE TALE.

Fairy Tale Starter #3:

Swollen Hands.

Miranda’s hands were hot, red and swollen. No matter what salve or lotion she rubbed on them, Miranda’s hands ached. Working in the garden was impossible and cooking painful. She ran to her sister’s home in the next village for relief.

“Dear sister, let me sprinkle some rose water on your hands, and I promise they will feel better, “ said her sister, convinced she could help her. But Miranda’s hands only got redder.

Miranda ran to her friend in the mountains, hands blistering open like overcooked sweet potatoes.

Her friend took once look at them and held them in her soft hands. “Let me give you some healing energy.” But Miranda hands swelled up like water balloons about to burst.

Crying, Miranda fled her friend’s house. She scurried back home but paused besides a small mountain pond. She knelt down by it, and put her hands in the cool water. At last, she felt a little relief.

As she cooled her hands, she saw her reflection in the water. It said, “….

YOUR TURN TO FINISH THE TALE.

Please click like if you loved writing your fairytale endings.