High jinks ensue when two caterpillar fairies who are close to death attend a grand fairy ball as a last hurrah.

Genre: Fable, Fairy Tale, Fantasy

Excerpt:
“Alas! We are doomed to die as caterpillars, never having become butterflies.” Lickspittle shook hishead. He gazed up and shook several fists at the sky.

Sobersides sighed gravely. “Perhaps tomorrow morning.”

The two caterpillar fairies had woken that morning, and that meant that they were still caterpillars. And that would have been fine, save that they had both reached the age where most caterpillars had already formed cocoons and transformed into butterfly fairies.

What’s the Word (that inspired the story)?
There are two: Lickspittle & Sobersides
Lickspittle: a contemptible, fawning person; a servile flatterer or toady.
Sobersides: a humorless or habitually serious person.
(source: dictionary.com)

FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP
I held my first free writing workshop over Zoom to teach my method of writing short stories (an abbreviated version) on 11/8/2023.

The replay is available here: NILA'S WRITING WORKSHOP

(And there’s information for how you can learn even more from me.)

Follow my Fictioneering Mischief
The Storyfeather Gazette is a monthly round-up of my recent podcast episodes, short stories, trailers, news, recommendations, and more sent by email. Follow the link to look through old issues and to Sign Up: STORYFEATHER GAZETTE

Storyfeather-themed merchandise
T-shirts, mugs, stickers, notebooks, baby onesies, and more featuring artwork from stories and art challenges
STORYFEATHER TEEPUBLIC STORE

 
CREDITS
Story: “Lickspittle and Sobersides” Copyright © 2019 by Nila L. Patel
Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production:  Nila L. Patel

Music:
“Trip-Hop Lounge Abstract Background” by Digital Emotions (Intro/Outro)

Music by TRG BANKS
“Insideoutworld”
“The silver bus”
“Great Aunt Henrietta”

Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)*
“Wake up”
“La voie divine”

Music by JONATHAN SHAW*
“Checking Inventory”
“In Tranquil Spring”
“Spinning Tavern”
“Sinning Tavern”
“Thoughts”
“A Tale of Peace”
“Lingering Evil”
“Encounter of Misdeeds”
“Midnight Creeping”

*These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.

Music by Nicholas Jeudy and Jonathan Shaw licensed from GameDev Market
Music by TRG Banks is licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal License
Sound effects from AudioJungle and GameDevMarket

Find more music by Digital_Emotions at audiojungle.net
Find more music by Nicholas Jeudy and Jonathan Shaw at gamedevmarket.net
Find more music by Jonathan Shaw at jshaw.co.uk
Find more music by TRG Banks at bandcamp.com
Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com

Episode Art Description: Digital drawing. Two caterpillars, their raised top sections and heads facing forward next to each other at center. The rest of their bodies extend and curve down and out to either side of the frame. The caterpillar at left wears a vest and is smiling. The caterpillar at right wears a scarf that blows out to the right, has many arms crossed and is frowning. Discs of glowing spirals float above and lie below them.