The following flash fiction story was requested by one of my former students (hi Aubrey!) for a unique & fun-sounding huge scavenger hunt. My instructions were to include a guy named Misha, the Queen of England, an elopus (an elephant/ octopus hybrid animal) and that my maximum word count was a mere 140 words.

The following is what I came up with. Enjoy!



"Misha and Queen"
K. Edwin Fritz

One upon a time there was a jester named Misha who was the greatest juggler and actor in all of England. When he was summoned to perform for the Queen, however, Misha was terrified, for the Queen was known to behead anyone who displeased her.

Misha practiced and practiced, and when the big day arrived he went to the castle and performed a brilliant one-man, three-act play which passionately conveyed the heartbreak of a lonely elopus who broke his 8th and favorite trunk.

The Queen was delighted, and gave him first a kiss on the forehead before beheading him anyway. "I alone should be permitted to see such perfection," she explained.

To this day the kingdom holds an annual "Misha Day" in which everyone wears elopus costumes and one unlucky soul is stabbed eight times in the neck.

THE END