paradisa | Story 105

Right, then. You new arrivals aren't any good at telling stories. You should leave it to professionals like me. [he pauses to yawn] I hope you're paying attention.

Once upon a time, there were three sisters: Elsie, Lacie and Tillie and they lived at the bottom of a well. You may be wondering what they lived on. Treacle, of course, because it was a treacle well. As you might expect, it made them very ill. Now then, one day these three sisters were learning to draw... TREACLE.

[he pauses dramatically as if expecting applause]

Not to your taste, eh? In that case, I'm going to enclose a story I heard about the Man in the Moon.
                                                                  Once there
                                                               was a great and
                                                          wise man who lived in
                                                      the moon. Every evening he
                                                     searched the stars hoping to
                                                       find a friend. To the earth
                                                         his hopeful light he did
                                                           send, hoping they'd
                                                                respond soon.