Tor Oatenleif was Fio Nogbottom’s best friend in the whole world. They had become friends as wee little sprouts and had mostly remained so, except for a few odd times when they had come to blows, competing for the attentions of a a beautiful lass. Luckily, for the friendship, they had finally fallen in love with two different women and now had children that played together as they had.
On this fine summer morning Tor , carrying water from the creek, has run into Fio, who is excited to announce that he and his lovely wife are expecting their third child. Tor laughs heartily and says that after he delivered the water he was coming to tell Fio the same thing. Both elvse are excited that their new arrivals will already have a friend to play with. Also to be honest it kept a tiny bit of resentment at bay because in all things, the friends were still rather competitive with each other, though in a good natured way.
Termonius L. Woodburrow is an elf that had lived with his mother his whole life. There’s nothing extraordinary about that except for the fact that he was 795 years old. Elves live a long time by human standards, and stay with their parents longer than humans, but even for elves this was quite a bit over the usual time. To use a human coined phrase, there was definitely “a failure to launch”.
Every time Termonius would even think about or hint to his mom that it might be time for him to move out, she would bake his favorite pie, fairy berry, bring him his slippers, fluff his pillows and just generally spoil him rotten. Even if he had gotten the gumption to leave his cozy home and find a wife there were not many elf maidens who could meet the standards that his mother so capably set. So Termonius stayed put year after year. And it would perhaps have gone on that way for perhaps another 500 years or so, except that mom met her untimely end at the hand of a very angry dragonfly who burned her to a crisp with it fiery breath and a haughty twitch of its tale.
Termonius had no idea how to take care of himself. So he realized rather quickly that he needed a mo… no make that a wife to replace his mom.
Though he didn’t expect that anyone could live up to his mom, he still held great expectations and standards in his mind for his future bride. When he courteously explained these standards to the maidens he was very quickly and unceremoniously shown the door. After this had happened with the first fifty or so maidens, Termonius began to assess and understand the situation he was really in. Not only would he not find someone like mom, but he would be lucky to find anyone at all. What had once been an arrogant judgmental smirk on his face when courting now turned to the “snail caught in the headlights”. He was extremely nervous now when coming to call. It did not help his prospects to have sweat rolling down his face. He made no further demands and was practically begging someone to please marry him
It is quite possible that what Termonius should be doing with his time is enrolling in classes on how to take care of one’s self.
“Birds of a Feather~ The Elves Tale” Graphite 9″ x 12″
In the Age of steam, man discovered how to harness the energy of heated water and began to invent many marvelous and some not so marvelous contraptions that allowed them to do things only dreamed of in the past. The elves, ever watchful of the goings on of mankind, took notice. Some of them who had long been envious of the fairy race’s ability to fly, saw an opportunity to finally join their cousins in the air. They began a mad dash to see who would be the first to build workable wings. And really, “workable” was the key word because many elves perished dreadfully, failing and falling after leaping from the highest trees only to have their flimsy, fluttering wings tear and finally collapse.
After a short time they realized they needed a stronger, more durable material to use in the construction of the wings that would grant them the freedom of flight. And that is where they began to follow the folly of mankind, beginning the slaughter of field mice and other small creatures to obtain their skins for making durable leather wings. In doing so, they were finally able to achieve their eons old dream of soaring through the skies, but at what cost to their souls? The elves had always been the guardians of nature. What now? What else would they be willing to destroy next in their selfish pursuit of unnatural desires?
Copyright 2013 Ann Gates Fiser All rights reserved
I met Flegghop Durgbiner while sojourning in Anaria. While he posed for me I posed questions about his life in Anaria and the customs of the land. Eventually the conversation moved onto the topic of fashion and he told me that Anarians had not always been so flamboyant. He said it started a couple of centuries before with a a few elves that had worked the grave yard shift at a shoe cobbler’s workshop. They made these incredible shoes that were so colorful and different that everyone began to purchase their shoes exclusively at the shop. Other elves heard about their successes and began to make clothing in the very elaborate style of the shoes. They were soon competing to see who could make the most astounding outfits. And since then, Anarians had whole heatedly adopted the new way of dress and also began to compete with the most outlandish fashion that they could purchase from the wily elves. The outfit Felgghop wears in in my drawingf, was very modest by Anarian standards but he was out of sorts with his elven tailor and had not received anything new from him in months. He felt that if they didn’t make up soon he would lose all standing in the community as a fashion maven. Poor Flegghop!
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved Ann Gates Fiser
The elves of Misty Glen have just now been told by their elder leaders that they must yet again leave their home and find a new place to live. The humans have posted signs and machines are coming to clear the land. It’s becoming harder and harder to find wild places, which are farther and fewer between. The elders are worried that the very old and the very young will not be able to make the journey. And what then? Is it only a matter of time before there is no wild wood, no place to call home?
Copyright 2013 All rights reserved Ann Gates Fiser
Cali is a mischievous imp of an elf who lives deep in the forest and plays benign tricks on people who pass by. If you catch her she will promise to paint you a picture in return for her freedom. And you should make the deal because she’s a pretty good artist!
Triggle Tunsbundy’s little brother Traggle had one very very good friend in the world, Oliver Maplesmort. Although Oliver was many, many centuries old( and not to mention the obvious fact that he was a tree) and Traggle only a few hundred years old or so, they were extremely fond of each other. You see Traggle was an excellent writer, a spinner of tales of far off places, and Oliver was a really very good listener. Unable to go anywhere Oliver was usually very bored when Traggle wasn’t around to amuse him with stories. And Traggle had usually been ignored when he tried entertain others with his incredible imagination, so the two friends were perfectly suited to one another. Eventually Traggle had practiced story telling so much with his friend
Oliver that he began to be able attract other people to his enchanting tales. He became very famous, but never forgot his friend Oliver and always came to tell him the new stories first. It was and is the perfect frienship with each gaining from the knowing of the other.
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved Ann Gates Fiser
Tom, the shoe cobbler elf was unhappy. He had not been that way before he had visited a new friend Dib, who was a kitchen elf. But the moment Tom entered the kitchen and smelled the wonderful aromas, saw the textures of the colorful varieties of vegetables, roots, and baked goods and much more, he was hooked. A passion flared in him the likes of which he’d never known. “Oh to be a kitchen elf,” he sighed. Well you might wonder and ask what the problem was. Why not just become a kitchen elf? What’s the big deal? It was this, and very great problem it was indeed. Tom’s family had always been, and would always be, shoe cobblers. In fact Tom was the great, great, great, great (for at least 200 years and many generations) great grandson of one of the elves in “The Elves and the Shoemaker”, the story chronicled by the Grimm brothers. If only the brothers had left well enough alone and never written a single line about the the three brothers that were Tom’s ancestors. After having that much fame the family was much reluctant to let go of the prestige of being “that family”. And therefore it was unthinkable to Tom’s rather large family that he should even begin to contemplate being anything else…. To be continued.
On the tenth day of the tenth month in the year of the Owl, Oliver Oldtree arrived home at last. He’d last seen his friends and family six months ago. It started with the realization that after 60 years of staying close to home, he was bored. He wanted to see what was outside the confines of his usual habitat. In short he had a bad case of wanderlust. He’d set out on a walk-a-bout with what he could carry in his backpack and his friend and trusted mount, a field mouse named Sneed. But that is a tale for another time. For this tale is about coming home just in time to avoid the cold winter winds and snow that Oliver was beginning to sense was coming very soon. Not only that, but he was truly homesick for his hearth, his warm bed, and the company of good friends and family. All he could think about was sitting in the pub and having a pint or two and telling the tales of his fantastic journey while his friends listened in rapt attention. After all he had traveled at least five miles there and five miles back. That was an amazing feat for someone who could easily fit in the palm of your hand. Imagine that! And that is the end of this very tiny tale. Copyright 2013 Ann Gates Fiser
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