PLURAL MAGAZINE

excerpt CHAPTER ONE: WHERE LYL AND EVY SHOW UP We like it on Earth because there are pockets here that don't need fuel to get around! said Evy. You mean the people who live on this planet carry small pockets around with them, Lyl completed her sentence. But what is

excerpt No, I have not forgotten about Fear-of-Darkness. I have certainly not overlooked her, as little Cantemir does with certain commas and full stops when he writes down his homework. Fear-of-Darkness sat before him, sparse and finicky, you would not have believed it.

excerpt IRINA'S AND TOPKI'S GANG First of all, let's all give a hearty laugh. Like this: ha-ha! Ho-ho! Did you all laugh? It's good that you laughed, because now you can sit quietly and listen properly to the STORY.  Chapter OneChapter One doesn't

excerpt I May the flame of Saint Vitus strike you, bubblehead! and the slaps shot out in pair like two barrels firing in unison. The one to give them was a very upset Simion Mandruta, and the one to receive them was his rascal of a son, Toader, thin like a rake, fair-haired,

How on earth have we survived our childhood? If you were a child in the 60s, 70s or early 80s, how did you manage to survive? From early childhood on we would travel in buses and cars with neither seatbelts nor airbags… a trip in the trailer of a lorry was a remarkable

Do perchance fireflies and stars tell each other stories all night long?The stars ask the small insects, the fireflies, what they do in such a short life, and the fireflies don't understand what stars eat to live so long. (aged 12)  by student in The Zaica Exper

excerpt  MARGICA, PAPARUDA: You could die laughing, that's screamingly funny. Hah, hah, hah! MARGICA: Well, I never! Hah, hah, hah!PAPARUDA: Goodness sakes. . . hah, hah, hah!THE EMPEROR: But what's wrong? Why are you both speaking at the same time… what did

Can you still remember hearing once a story told to you by meOf the wolf who chanced anointed to the royal throne to be?I shall now impart what followed in his state or polity. Hearing first His lawful Highness that under his reign and ruleMost of his revered lieutenants

excerpt What happened, happened; had it not happened, there would be no story to tell. Once, there was a man, who was so rich that he lost count of his riches. He had such a large courtyard that seven times seven carts pulled by oxen could move in circles, and surrounding

Once there was an old woman and an old man. The old bag had a hen and the old man, a rooster; the woman's hen laid eggs twice a day and the hag would eat a barrel of eggs; and to the greyhead she would give none. One day, the old man lost his temper and spoke:Old woman,

In the days of old, when the people of today were just the project of a distant future, when God Himself trod with His sacred feet the rocky deserts of the earth – in those old times there was a king, gloomy and pensive as the dark midnight, and he was married to a young

One day Nassredin the Hajji, down a lane and past a rail,Walking, caught in so much wonder one rich sight, beyond the pale:In a rich man's yard an ass foal gaudily bedecked was, all,Clad in very gaudy harness gold embroidered and preparing for a day's big festival