Three Line Tales : Playing with creation

three line tales week 35; deer at sunset

photo by Rebecca Johnston – here’s a bigger version

 

‘What does it mean?’ said Tully, blinking away the mist that gathered liked tears on her lashes.

Wing laughed. ‘Mean?’ he said, cuffing his nose with a meaty fist. ‘A bleached deer with the dun means nothing, only that God is bored and plays with creation as a child plays with a poppet.’

But Tully had been watching, seen the crows clinging to the trees like stubborn snow, seen the ice-coloured squirrels and the ghostly, stripeless badgers. The creatures of wood and heath were paling, fading into the mid-winter sky and there was no part of her that could guess why – yet.

 

Written for Sonya at Only 100 Words’ Three Line Tales. See the lovely photo, write a story of three lines. See here to join in and to read the other stories.

By the way, dears, for those of you not in the know, poppet (though used more recently when referring to a sweet and likeable child) is an old word for doll – though one often associated with witchcraft.

18 thoughts on “Three Line Tales : Playing with creation”

    1. Thank you Joy. Yes, I like that word. Makes me feel like reaching for my pins and getting all witchy, sticking them in a poppet. Now, if I can only work out why all those animals are turning white … 🙂

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      1. Hey, it’s a mystery, right? At least you don’t have to be sure the answer to this mystery fits in with the worlds in all the rest of your stories. 😉

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      2. Haha! True. Though I’ve just had a brilliant idea to set part of my latest book in a part of central London – a city I hardly know and which I have no time to visit. This means hours of trawling the net and Google street view and history sites for suitable locations, finding out how they’re viewed by locals, by the population in general, their ethnic mix etc. Stupid, stupid woman 🙂

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  2. That photo’s amazing, I viewed the bigger version too. Really catches you, same as this premise for your story. My favorite line is the crows like stubborn snow, that’s gorgeous. Yeah, I’d not let that one go. Bill

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    1. Thanks Bill. Yes, Sonya picks a gret photo, that’s for sure. I liked the idea of those creatures turning pale, the whole of nature bleaching against the winter sky. Goodness knows why it should be, though – perhaps one day I’ll work it out 🙂

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  3. And thank you for explaining about poppet, glad you did. I’d heard it but didn’t know it was associated with witchcraft (better yet!). Bill

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    1. Great word. Pass me my pins and I’ll go prick my poppet!
      First heard the word when I was reading The Crucible with school – one of the women has a poppet hidden in her house, a sure sign of witchery. ‘I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!’
      Still gives me chills.

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      1. Love that Lynn! Freaky is right. You carry that element in your writing too, it’s cool. Hope you have something you’re baking again for Walt’s writing thing. Bill

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  5. This to me seems obvious, but I think that’s the point, the young person is innocent and doesn’t know about how nature works. I would say like the rabbits do before snowfall around where I live, the other creatures have adapted and like the rabbits change white as winter comes. My other thought is perhaps their is this albino gene is this population of different animals and it’s very strong by this point. But that’s science when I believe your one character thinks it’s only God playing with his creations his “poppets.”
    Thanks for sharing what the word means. I see why many English people call little girls poppets etc.

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    1. Mandi, what an insightful, thoughtful comment – thank you so much. This is true, of course, that many animals change colour as winter approaches, something which is sadly becoming a problem for some species due to global warming as they still change their coats every year, whether the snows come or not.
      Glad you liked the word poppet one of my favourites since I read The Crucible years ago. Thanks very much for reading and commenting. 🙂

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