You humans don’t realise how demeaning this is. And boring. For me anyhow.
The griffin, the unicorn, even the cockatrice have their fans. And Leroy over there gets a stream of visitors. “Do rampant!” They say. “Do couchant!” And he obliges. He’s a trooper.
Well, actually he’s a lion and an egomaniac. But that’s Leroy.
Not me. I don’t get the requests. Does anyone have me on a shield? The only visitors I get say: “What’s this funny looking thing?”
I say: You want funny? Look in a mirror!
No, I don’t. Can’t speak, can I? But think it and try to transmit my contempt by telepathy.
The above was written for the Friday Fictioneers flash fiction forum. The prompt: what appears to be a large soft toy animal with the hindquarters of a zebra, the body of a tiger, the forequarters giraffe and the trunk of an elephant. Obviously a camelopardophant! As ever the Friday Fictioneers target is 100 words – as ever I fail to hit it, but the above is only 107 words long. To see a list of links to all the responses to this week’s Friday Fictioneers prompt, click here.
Dear John,
Cute story. Poor little guy. He’s so cute I’d think people would flock to see him. Love the illustration as always.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle, He is cute, though I think more so in EL Appleby’s original photo.
That’s one Camelopardophant with an attitude.
“An attitude AND a trunk. I dont know what he’s compalining about.” (That was Leroy 🙂 )
Funny story and superb drawing as usual! I empathize with the poor guy watching some egomaniac lion soak up all the glory.
Thanks, Perry. At least I put him into an heraldic device – and gave him Leroy as a supporter.
Great take on the prompt. Well done.
Thank you, Sandra.
Hi, I’m new to your blog but I’ll definitely be back. Loved the picture and the story – you have a great voice for this creature and I particularly enjoyed his comments on Leroy.
I’m the FF’s resident cutting expert and if you want to lose 7 words, try “And boring. For me anyhow” and “over there” (referring to Leroy). Not that they are bad words, just the easiest to cut without losing the voice / meaning. Just a suggestion!
I enjoyed the whole story and voice but I especially liked the title.
janet
Thanks, Janet. The title (falling outside the 100 word limit) was a convenient place to offer an explanation of where the story was taking place.
One of my favourites this week – especially the picture. I love seeing my crazy creature immortalised like this 😀
One of your favourites! That’s great 😀
Did you make the soft toy in the photo yourself?
I look forward to reading your story. Not had the opportunity to read anyone else’s yet as we’re celebrating Swedish National Day here at the present and I’m only now snatching a moment on the net … Tomorrow it’ll have to be.
Neat take on the photo — I like the idea of the unusual animal being jealous of the other animals. And fun idea to include it on a shield!
Thanks Dave, Glad you liked and glad I was able to put “C” in a shield of his own. 🙂
Love your illustration, and the story kind of reminded me of the first Madagascar movie where everyone just wants to see the lion striking poses! Poor little guy, I’d have him on a shield 🙂
Now you mention it, I suspect “Madagascar” may have been in the back of my head.
Great story – I often wonder what the animals think of us staring at them!
I saw a troop of chimps in a zoo once make their feeings plain. They chattered and screamed at their audience and then turned their backs on us and disappeared indoors.
I loved: look in the mirror if you want to see funny. Well done.
Thank you! 🙂
Ok, I’d take that on my coat of arms any day. I’ll call when I get my lordship. Brilliant drawing BTW.