100-word Tales

Salt and Pepper

There is salt and pepper in every kitchen. And always they argue over their mutual superiority. They are joined in their contempt of other spices, however. They scoffed at the curry powder:

“So unclean!”

At the paprika:

“Dried and ground!”

And the sugar:

“Sickening!”

In this way they put themselves above all others, but they never reached consensus as to their mutual worth.

“You can’t have food without salt,” yelled the salt grains.

“There is no enjoyment without pepper,” bellowed the peppercorns.

“Salt! Salt!”

“Pepper! Pepper!”

Used separately they’d pull faces and make gestures at each other. Applied together, they complained they were done an injustice.

They forgot that they were only condiments: never enjoyed by themselves, and often not added at all!

So there you go: salt or pepper? Each is bitter on the tongue.

The Genius

“I am a genius!” exclaimed the Needle and leapt into a haystack. “Now they’ll have a hard time looking for me!”

But he was never found – though in his view not much effort went into the search, either – and there he stayed.

“How strange! I stand out so well from this mass. I am straighter, harder and brighter than any of these blades of hay. They must not have looked in the right place!”

As time passed, the Needle became pricklier and pricklier.

“Whoever finds me will surely be considered especially lucky. But first I’ll teach them a proper lesson – with a darned good pricking!”

The Two Castles

“Just one puff and you and your towers will vanish into thin air,” said the Sandcastle.

“Let me show you the power of water vapour,” said the Cloud Castle and wrapped the Sandcastle in its embrace. Dew-drops shimmered on the Sandcastle’s battlements and it became enveloped in mist.

“I will prevail!” the Sandcastle shouted.

But the mist prevented it from seeing the rising tide. And so the Sandcastle tumbled down and was wiped out, leaving no trace of its former existence.

Suddenly the sun came out and shook the Cloud Castle’s turrets. The wind rose and finished off the job by blowing the whole thing down. With its last breath the Cloud Castle called out:

“This much was needed to destroy me!”

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