The Tale That Never Ends

The Tale That Never Ends

“Tell us a story, tell us a tale,” the group of children begged as soon as they saw her.

Della, a wandering storyteller, sat down wearily. She looked at all the eager faces sitting in a circle around her feet and smiled slowly. She thought briefly, nodded as if to herself, then began.

“Once upon a time, there were two little balls. One was blue and the other was yellow. They were the best of friends. They laughed and played together all day long. But one day, the parents said to the little yellow ball:

“Those blue balls are not like us; we don’t want you to play with the little blue ball anymore.”

“The blue ball’s parents told their child the same thing. How sad the two friends were! They met together one last time to say goodbye. They hugged each other very tightly for a long time. When they reluctantly parted, to their shock, they were both green.”

“They ran together to show their parents. The yellow ball’s family got very angry and marched over to the blue ball’s family. They began shouting at each other, then fighting.

“Their children were so afraid, as more and more blue and yellow balls came over to where their parents were fighting. Finally, the children held hands, sobbing.

“Please stop fighting! Why can’t we all be friends?”

“The adult dots were ashamed. They looked at each other. The other children began to hug each other.”

“Then the adult blue and yellow dots began with handshakes that turned to hugs as well.”

Della stopped talking and said: “What happened after, do you think? “

“Finish the story.”

Della sat back, as each child stood up and told her how they thought it should end, with joyous excitement.

300 WORDS DAILY FLASH 3/10/2025