Wednesday, August 06, 2014

A Fine State of Affairs

Copyright-Björn Rudberg


Contrary to popular legend it wasn’t a Prince who first discovered a path to Sleeping Beauty’s castle

Council records indicate many bailiffs had been sent to the King’s last known address.  Of which three were eaten by Ogres, five turned to toads and two preyed upon by the big bad wolf.

It was Tom who finally served the castle a notice under ‘Sec. 41 -1 0.4 Clearing of weeds, garbage and waste from property.’ 


He was the first to go though the jungle, the vast trees and the entwined bushes and brambles.  The fine remained unpaid for another ninety-nine years.


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Written for 
Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100


Ok so it's back to the silly season for this week.  Maybe the music will make it better.


26 comments :

  1. Dear Subroto,

    What a clever take on the prompt and Sleeping Beauty. Nicely done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thank you Rochelle for your kind comments. Somebody has to document what the Fairy tales don't tell us :-)

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  2. Ha.. yes I guess the prince had to pay a nice interest to get sleeping beauty... hope he was loaded... love when failed bureaucracy enters the fairy tales.

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    1. Thank Björn for the comments and for providing this weeks prompt. If they could get over the 100 year age difference they could win over the bureaucracy too :-)

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  3. Tax collectors always arrive first, but in this case not luck for them.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Elizabeth. Knowing those tax collectors I think they will never give up.

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  4. Anonymous6:26 pm

    There are going to be a lot of fines to pay when the Princess awakens.
    Hope the Prince is a rich one.
    Maybe it'll put our budget in balance.
    Whaddya think?
    Randy

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    1. The Prince will have to put in some new taxation measure then. Thanks for your comments Randy.

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  5. Great! I love how the bailiffs disappeared. Thanks for the smile.

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    1. You are welcome Alicia, I just documented it as it actually happened :-)

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  6. Anonymous5:54 pm

    I love this story, Subroto. I'm still laughing.

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    1. Thanks Karen, I am glad you liked it.

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  7. Anonymous8:54 pm

    lol interesting take on the sleeping beauty. thanks for telling us the untold story :)

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    1. Thanks Kz. This was the sanitized version. The original Sleeping Beauty and the other fairy tales should be right up your alley :-)

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  8. Subroto, I think my first comment was eaten by the ogres, so here's a second one. Good for Tom. He was clever enough to get past the ogres, etc. so no wonder he found the princess. Those story princes all seemed to have money to spare so no problem. Funny and well written as usual. :) ---Susan

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    1. Thanks Susan. The moral is that even a fairy godmother cannot help Castle owners escape from paying their Council dues:-)

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  9. Anonymous8:29 am

    Hahaha! Wonderful story this week, Sub. Great thinking outside the box.
    Now, of course, the joke around my home town is whether the City Planning Commission will approve it due to the lack of "ingress and egress." Probably not.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Kent. Ingress/Egress are all good, it was the Ogress that made it hard in those days :-)

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  10. Anonymous5:05 pm

    Lovely take on the prompt, but I want to know what happened to Tom. Presumably he was some efficient (dare I say officious) council worker, but what happened to him after he landed his section 41-10.4?

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    1. Thanks Sarah. I think he later served notice to seven men who had a young woman in a glass coffin, in their house.

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  11. Anonymous3:50 pm

    This was really, really fun! thanks. I'd love to see more reality encroach on fairy tales.

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    1. Thank you, I am glad you liked it. I like to see more fairy tales encroach on reality though :-)

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  12. Anonymous9:39 am

    So Sleeping Beauty was kissed awake by a council worker from the Environmental Health Department, not a prince. :)

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    1. Maybe he did but the council is not giving out any information. Thanks for reading and commenting Ann.

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  13. Anonymous8:34 am

    Just like Wile E. Coyote would say: "Sheer genius!" Brilliantly constructed and the footnote about unpaid fines?--delicious dessert of the mind.

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    1. Thank you Kirizar for your generous comments. As Wile E. Coyote said "Being a genius certainly has its advantages." ;-)

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