Sirenetta 

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This Side of the Moon 

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Goldilocks and the Three Boys 

(This story appears in the spring 2013 issue of Grey Sparrow Journal.)

Breadcrumb Trail 

I was out walking the dog. He's a shelter dog, a little skittish, doesn't like if we wander too far from home, I guess because he's scared I'll leave him out there. He likes to cover his fear with the illusion of sniffing, and he looks at me sometimes to say, "I want to run up ahead, I really do, but it's really important I do this sniffing first."

Walking with him is a slow leapfrog, driveway to driveway to driveway to driveway. We wander through corners of the neighborhood I've never seen, a different path every day, so he gets comfortable and so I don't get too bored.

That's how we found the path that ran between two houses, and back up into the woods, narrow but clearly marked, and littered with breadcrumbs. The dog, uncharacteristically brave, charged right up, chomping down the breadcrumbs as he went.

At the end of the trail, we found a quaint house with a picket fence, and a woman and her Pomeranian in the front yard. She laughed when she saw us: "I was leaving those breadcrumbs for the birds."

The dogs played in the front yard and the woman, named Marie, offered me a hot chocolate. We talked a while, smiling and admiring our dogs and our good luck running into each other.

The cottage became a regular stop for me and my dog: each day, Marie greeted us with hospitality and friendship—and before long, I fell in love with her. I and my puppy moved into the cottage, where she treated us with respect and love, holding us captive with it, like the witch that she is, never letting us escape, so we were never seen by our friends again.

The Labyrinth, Part 1 

There was a monster.

There was a horrible monster.

A long time ago, there was a horrible monster.

A long time ago, in a kingdom called Crete, there was a horrible monster.

A long time ago, in a kingdom called Crete, there was a horrible monster, half man and half bull.

A long time ago, in a kingdom called Crete, there was a horrible monster, half man and half bull, and the king had him imprisoned inside a deep maze, called the Labyrinth.

The monster was called The Minotaur.

But his name was Asterion.

A long time ago, in a kingdom called Crete, there was a Minotaur, and the king had him imprisoned inside a Labyrinth, where he wandered, hungry, savage, and alone.

Every year, the king required seven men and seven women to enter the Labyrinth, and none of them ever returned.

Every year, the king required seven men and seven women to enter the Labyrinth, where they almost certainly died.

Every year, the king decided, rather than kill the monster, to feed it seven innocent men and seven innocent women.

The monster's name was Asterion—which was also the name of the king's father.

So, this story is more complicated than it might at first appear....

Rapunzel's Tangles 

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The Thick of the Woods 

Two lovers in a meadow by a forest, and one says, "Let's go into the woods!", so they run off hand in hand. The forest grows thick—tangles of branches and leaves that block the sun, thickets of vines that snarl the paths—and before long, the two lovers become separated from one another, and can't find their way back.

"Where are you?" "Over here!" They reach their fingers through the vines toward the sound of that beloved voice. As long as they can hear each other, they never feel entirely lost; but they can't see one another, except in maybe-imagined flashes of colors glimpsed through the trees; and they can't find a path that will bring them back together.

"Where are you?" "Over here."

So they grow old in the forest, in love but unable to see or touch. Sometimes they call out more from habit than urgency; sometimes they mouth their answer without making a sound. Eventually, they stop speaking at all—so there's no longer any proof of the other's continued existence in the forest. But neither do they want any proof. They believe the other is over there, somewhere, in the thick of the woods; and undisturbed in the company of this hope, they live happily, quietly, ever after.

The Woman Who Planted Her Children 

When the first one died, she buried it herself in her own backyard, and on that spot grew a beautiful tree, which she named Sarah.

When the second died and was buried, another tree sprouted, and she called it Daniel.

So it was for each of them, a tree for a child, till at the end of her own life, she had a forest for a family, and was herself laid to rest in this quiet grove of sadness.

The Lion and the Thorn 

One day, a lion roaming through the jungle got a thorn in his paw. A shepherd saw the lion, and, his pity overcoming his fear, approached it, and offered to remove the thorn. "You cannot heal while the thorn is still in your paw."

"I am king of the jungle," the lion roared. "This tiny thorn cannot hurt me!"

Some time afterward, the shepherd again came upon the lion. He lay on his side; his paw was enormously swollen; he could no longer walk, and he was starving. Again, the shepherd offered to remove the thorn from the lion's paw, and again, the lion refused: "I am king of the jungle," he growled, scaring the shepherd off.

That night, the hyenas and jackals circled the lion, afraid to get too close, but waiting, as the lion weakened. He remembered the kindness and the wisdom of the shepherd, who was nowhere to be seen. "I am king of the jungle," he whispered proudly, and at that point, he used his powerful fangs to bite painfully into his own foot, till he himself had removed the thorn.

When Ulysses Returned to Ithaca 

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