Banga was looking for a place to hide. The Boggle, Fandang, had surprised him and his baby sister splashing in Trickle Brook. His sister, Ruby, had hid in the lee of a granite boulder. Banga darted below the waves in his fish shape, drawing the Boggle away from his sister, and the much bigger Boggle almost caught him in his fingers, which were like a tangled net.
Banga flipped up onto shore, and then changed in a flash to his elven shape. He ran as fast as he could toward the trees. The Boggle’s hairy feet thumped behind him, accompanied by the bing bang whack of his thick Boggle stick. A nearby sycamore looked young, but maybe old enough to be a bit hollow. Fandang was close behind him, and Banga could smell his hot, sour breath. The sycamore’s camouflage bark might confuse Fandang’s bad Boggle eyesight. Banga swarmed up it.
Sure enough, Banga found a hollow, in the crook of the thickest branch. No leaves had broken from their buds yet to provide cover. He hid in the dark nook, holding his breath. He heard Fandang stomping around in last fall’s leaves. Boggles like to catch Dolphinis, but Banga was practiced at getting away. Dolphinis were the smallest of the Merfolk and the only ones to live in freshwater. Like their larger cousins, the Sea Merfolk, they could grant wished. Boggles always had plenty of wishes, many of which would cause Dophinis no end of trouble granting.
He held his sweet breath, afraid the scent would lead the Boggle straight to him, until Fandang’s last bing bang whack of his Boggle stick faded into the distance. Then Banga zipped back to his baby sister, Ruby, the youngest Dolphini of Trickle Brook, where she was pretending to be a tigerfish, leaping out of the water and eating mosquitoes. They would both be safe another day.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
References: http://www.nycgovparks.org/news/daily-plant?id=19242
21 thoughts on “Fae Flash Fiction: Banga”
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Friendly Fairy Tales 
I will have the kiddos read this today for our story time. So beautiful, I love it!!!
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Oh, great, thanks! I spent some time plotting at Starbucks this morning, and the dolphinis and boggles will be in my new book. 🙂
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What a scary fairy tale! Is your next novel going to be a new instalment of Robocop by any chance?
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LOL It will have some excitement, I hope! LOL
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Dolphinis, how fun 🙂
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One of the races of mer people. 🙂
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This was a great adventure! It was fast paced and had me waiting to see what would happen!
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Great! I hope to write more about the Dolphinis in the future. 🙂
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you have such an amazing and imaginative mind, brenda. you never fail to delight )
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This may end up in my next novel. I’m trying some ideas out. I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
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Reblogged this on mihran Kalaydjian and commented:
Fae Flash Fiction: Banga
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Shades of “THE SWORD IN THE STONE (Disney)”!
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That’s a classic story, so I’m flattered!
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You should be!!!! 🙂 Merlin and Scrub…in the moat!
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Ah, gotcha!! The wart was hilarious as a fish.
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Oh yeah…the Wart. Knew he was called something like that…!
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LOL You were right!
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Ha! I can give a sigh of relief for now. That was a thrilling one. 🙂
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LOL Yeah, what a great comment! Thanks! Warmly, Brenda
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Pretending to be a tigerfish. I think I will do that today! I’m pretending to be an Angel fish! 🙂 I miss swimming, just now when I read this! 🙂
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