For this microfiction, I picked a little folktale that seemed like it could work as a 6-word story, so here is the 100-word version, and then the 6-word version:
Tug of War
"Help me pull my cow out of the mud," Rabbit said to Elephant.
"I'm glad to help!" Elephant replied.
"Pull when I give the command," Rabbit said, tying a rope around Elephant.
Then Rabbit said the same to Whale. Whale agreed, and Rabbit tied the other end of the rope around Whale.
Then Rabbit hid in the bushes between them and shouted, "PULL!"
Elephant pulled.
Whale pulled.
They were both amazed at how hard it was to pull the cow from the mud!
Finally Elephant pulled Whale onto the land, and they realized Rabbit had tricked them.
Rabbit just laughed.
Elephant pulled.
Whale pulled.
Rabbit laughed.
Author's Note. This is a famous African folktale which is told in the United States as a Brer Rabbit story and in the Caribbean as an Anansi story. This particular version is based on a Creole story about Rabbit (Compair Lapin): "5. Compair Bouki and Compair Lapin," in Louisiana Folk-Tales by Alcee Fortier (1895); online here. In that story, Rabbit plays another trick on Whale and Elephant afterwards, disguising himself as a deer. Throughout the story, Rabbit (Compair Lapin) is boasting to his friend Bouki about the tricks he is playing on Commère Baleine and the elephant (who is not referred to with a kinship title). Here's a version with Anansi: Anansi, Whale, and Elephant. And when I was trying to decide if "tug of war" should be hyphenated or not, I looked it up at Wikipedia: it has an article of its own there! Tug of war (not hyphenated).
The 6-word version really only makes sense if you know the folktale, so that makes the 6-word version kind of like a proverb, like the way "the boy who cried wolf" is a kind of miniature story assuming that you know how the story goes. I think for my microfictions this semester, I am going to try to find stories like this which can be told as very short stories and also turn into a proverb, like here where "Elephant pulled; Whale pulled; Rabbit laughed" refers to the way that a little guy can outsmart the two big guys by using a trick.
Hi Laura, I really liked this microfiction. When I first read your post I thought, "how could a 100 word story possibly be shortened to a 6 word story"? I think you summed it up very well. I like the idea of shortening stories into proverbs or titles like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" like you said. I might actually try this out too! It sounds like it would be fun to come up of ways to make a long story into a short and sweet one.
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! I really loved seeing this as a six-word story! I remember in middle school, my English teacher was teaching our class how to write a precise, and I'm a little jealous at how short you were able to get this story! It really is amazing how magical storytelling is. You can go from the most bare and basic description of the action to a full plot that shows character, action, and development!
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