Story-telling
Issue ten: flash fiction by Carter Lappin
One of the interesting things about fairy tales is the way they reinvent themselves. A story can be told over and over again, changing as it moves from place to place, from storyteller to storyteller. Although it is easy to connect Carter Lappin’s flash tale ‘Story-telling’ to ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ it changes and evolves with each iteration. Who is in the right here: the huntsman or the wolf? We’ll leave it for you to decide.
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The huntsman and the big bad wolf met in the woods. The wolf was evil, and the huntsman was good, and so the huntsman killed the wolf.
They were in the woods.
‘Have we met before?’ asked the huntsman.
‘Many times,’ said the big bad wolf.
And because the huntsman was good, and the wolf was evil, the huntsman killed the wolf.
The wolf was sleeping. He cracked open an eye to look at the huntsman when he approached.
The huntsman said, ‘Have you ever tried to not be evil?’
‘No,’ said the big bad wolf, and his teeth flashed. Because he was evil, and because the huntsman was not, the wolf was killed by the huntsman.
The huntsman sat on an overturned log. The bark was old and crackled beneath his touch. The wolf approached. They were in the woods.
‘It’s time,’ said the wolf.
‘It doesn’t have to be,’ said the huntsman.
‘Yes, it does.’
The good huntsman killed the evil wolf.
‘Why do you have to be evil?’ the huntsman asked.
‘Because if there is no evil, there is no good.’
‘Am I good?’ asked the huntsman.
‘You must be,’ said the wolf. ‘Or else I would not be evil.’
Evil was killed by good.
‘Have we met before?’ asked the big bad wolf.
‘Many times,’ said the huntsman.
Good killed evil.
‘If one cannot live without the other,’ said the huntsman. ‘What happens to me after I kill you?’
‘The same thing that always happens,’ said the wolf.
Good killed evil.
The big bad wolf met the huntsman in the woods.
‘Let’s sit a while,’ said the huntsman, and they did. The wolf leaned up against the huntsman’s legs. The huntsman leaned his axe against a tree.
‘You could be good, if you wanted to,’ said the huntsman to the wolf.
‘But the story would end.’
‘Don’t you want it to?’
‘You would end, too.’
‘Don’t you want me to?’
‘Never,’ said the big bad wolf. ‘Never.’
With reluctance, good killed evil.
In the woods, the huntsman said, ‘What if I wanted it to?’
The wolf said, ‘Do you?’
‘It has to end somewhere.’
‘Where?’
‘Anywhere.’
The wolf did not answer.
The huntsman and the wolf met in the woods.
Carter Lappin (she/her) is an author from California. She has a bachelor's degree in creative writing. Her works have appeared in a number of publications, including Sunlight Press, Apparition Lit, and Brigid's Gate Press. You can find her on Twitter/X at @CarterLappin.
I really enjoyed this - it's kind of fascinating watching our attitudes to the wolf change in various stories. I love that little touch of the wolf leaning against the huntsman as anyone who hangs out with dogs knows that gesture and its meaning.
What a great way to tell an interesting take on an old story... Loved the ending!