My Deal Me In deck turned up diamonds this week and, for my sins, I read Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Elder Tree Mother” as provided by Pook Press.

Was it a story, or was it a fairy tale, the characters ask one another.

IMHO, it was neither. It was a flight of fancy, maybe. If you’re in the mood to be enchanted and carried away by rambling descriptions of this and that and how beautiful Denmark is at all seasons and so and and so forth, it was sublime.

If you want a story, maybe not so much.

My favorite part was this dialog between a little boy and an old man who tells stories.

“Mother says that everything you look at can be turned into a story, and that you can make a tale of everything you touch.”

“Yes, but those stories and tales are worth nothing! No, the real ones come of themselves. They knock at my forehead, and say, “Here I am!”

Shoulda knocked harder this time. Lean over this way, old man, and I’ll give you something to make a story out of.

I usually like Pook Press’ Fortnightly Fairy Tales, and I usually like Hans Christian Andersen, but I guess they can’t all be gems. And, to be fair, if you were stoned in the mood, this might be just the ticket for you.

Better luck to me next week.

If YOU need a short story to read, I have free ones here on my Free Reads page. I also have four collections for 99 cents each linked from my Short Stories page.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Look to your left and think up a story about the first thing you see.

MA