Friday Fictioneers is hosted by the wonderful Rochelle, the undisputed master of what I call Sound Bite Fiction.
She sets the weekly challenge, and the standard.
This week’s teasing photo comes courtesy of the delightful Jilly Funnell.
The idea, as always, is to write a story of around 100 words based on this picture, below.
© Jilly Funnell
Click here to hear the writer read his words:
The Tower
The princess gazes forlornly out of the window.
She has been imprisoned in this high tower for almost two years.
She is allowed no visitors.
Her food and personal requirements are delivered by a gorilla-like deaf mute.
She must agree to marry the loathsome prince or languish here forever.
She hears a noise.
Someone is scaling the sheer wall.
Many have tried and failed.
Some have tumbled to their death.
But the sounds grow louder.
Perhaps rescue is finally at hand!
A handsome, smiling face appears over the sill.
Oh no, she thinks, not him again.
Sound Bite Fiction 
All that desperation and then to reject her saviour. Perhaps she is her own reluctant hero? Made me chuckle.
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Wow, he must be really bad. This made me laugh, I hope it was laughable and not some thing darker.
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Oh don’t be so bloody sceptical, Dawn, of course it was funny!
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Great ending I didn’t see coming. However desperate she is, she’s not that desperate.
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Even after 2 years in prison, she still has standards, Michael!
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I loved the original ending. Wonderful!
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Glad you enjoyed, Lisa, I love the comment, I’m smiling now.
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The life of a princess is hell, all that waiting and abuse.
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You look like the knight who can save her, James!
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Spoilt rich girls are not for me, all that glitter irrstes my eyes.
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Laughing. She is hardly spoilt, she has been a prisoner for two years!
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Avec de la persévérance et si il ne meurt pas avant !
Il finira bien par conquérir cette idiote de princesse !
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Mais non, elle attend un écossais, beau, charmant et poétique
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J’espère qu’il arrivera vite , très vite , ce bel et poétique écossais !
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Alas, it was that damn peeping Scot.
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Alas, no matter how cute the princess, my tower climbing days are long gone!
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Love your story and your reading of it. Fair to call in subtle cynicism ? Really like the fairy tale build up and the de-bunking last line. Well done.
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You are very kind, WWM.
I am especially pleased you like the reading, I am never sure if it is worthwhile.
But cynical, me?
Hah!
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And I see my comment on your story is still awaiting moderation.
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You took me all the way up then dropped me from a great height – brilliant!
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Thank you, Jilly, but if you were climbing in my window I’d never let you fall!
Cool photo, lots of different angles in this week’s stories.
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The window cleaner maybe?
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I don’t think that towers for the entrapment of princesses have double glazing, sir!
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Handsome, loathsome, and now worrisome. This is quite something. Loved this story, CEAYR.
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Thanks, Neel, he is kinda irritating!
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Hahah
Him again!
Sometimes love is just not two-sided! And I like this as a modern princess tower
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Some guys just can’t take No for an answer. And towers always make me think of princesses, an inherent flaw in my psyche!
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flaw
or just essence…
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Ha! Ha! I loved that last line.
At this rate she is not going to get a knight in shining armour but I think he is going to get a few nights in shining plaster.
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Ha Ha, I love this comment!
She is a bit difficult, isn’t she
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Really funny, maybe she likes the deaf mute a bit too much, a bit stockhausen syndrome.
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If she falls for the guy who feeds her is that the Munchholm syndrome?
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I think that deaf mute is way better for her than the loath/hand/some prince.
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One doesn’t mix with the servant classes, Bjorn!
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A fairy-tale where the princess doesn’t fall for the prince, I love it! Wonderful imaginings.
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Yeah, a fussy princess, who’d a thunk it?
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Strength, muscles, handsome, smile all this guy is missing is the horse. She is starting to sound like she bats for the other side.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Laughing. I should have expected this sort of thing from Oz! Too many Sydney Pride Festivals are clouding your vision, Rowena!
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Gay pride and heterosexual complacence. My husband and I have been married for 17 years and have become quite an oddity. Well, make that more of an oddity.
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glad, the princess doesn’t fall for the handsome but loathsome prince.
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She is a tough gal to win over
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Ha! Makes me wonder if some of those who fell were actually pushed. Funny story.
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Nah, she just leaves soap on the sill…
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Nice tale CE. I can guess how Viz magazine’s Sid the Sexist would have explained away the princess’ reaction, but I’m not going to share that in public.
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Yeah, John, best not, this is a family-friendly blog!
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This was just plain funny. The only guy that makes it up the wall is a handsome doofus 🙂
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Happy you enjoyed, ma’am!
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well, I mean, what’s the point of building a tower without a suitable prince?
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My thoughts exactly, Neil, they go together like custard and Latvians.
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Who is the owner of this handsome face? Is he the same loathsome prince?
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Nah, just some wannabe who doesn’t press her buttons either
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Handsome, smiling, athletic, courageous – and she turns him down?
Good girl!
Great fairy tale, CE!
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Who knows what a lady wants? Not this ancient scribe, for sure!
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Just like some people always get the weirdo sitting next to them on the bus, some princesses seem only to attract the wrong sort. But at least he’s alive. For now.
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Until she decides to join in this blog’s usual mayhem and helps him get down more quickly
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Dear CE,
Not every woman goes for the handsome prince who might be a tad of a shallow fellow. Well imagined, sir.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, m’lady, I guess there ain’t no accounting for taste!
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Such a bore when the tower isn’t climbed by the man of your dreams! A great tale. I loved it!
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You never know who’s going to come a-crawlin’ through your window!
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That last line puts it all together for me, says so much…unlike the deaf mute.
Sharp story my friend.
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Thanks, Em, nice dig at the hired help!
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Not quite the Knight in Shining Armour she was hoping for! Good chuckle CE.
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Well, what’s all this love at first sight fairy tale rubbish anyway, hmm?
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You old cynic!
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