Little Novelty
Little Novelty
by Noel Sloboda
Baba Yaga knew she was second string, destined for convenience stores and Dollarmarts. But a PEZ head still meant something. The old witch felt sure she was about to arrive. When she signed the contract with the folks at PEZ to license her image, Baba Yaga was full of herself. The feeling lasted for almost three months, until a package from PEZ arrived. When she opened the box and spied the prototype, she was beside herself. Her limited marketability had not rated a new mold, and the company had had thousands of unused candy cappers on hand from a major celebrity prematurely retired. Princess Di still retained an aristocratic mien–even with her hair painted white, a great wart daubed on her nose, and two of her teeth blacked out. Baba Yaga supposed some would be flattered to have a royal likeness. Nevertheless, she cursed the PEZ people, praying to long forgotten dark gods that their sweet little necks would all snap.
Mmm. I recognized ‘Baba Yaga’ from an old D & D handbook/module from my teens and i believe Miyazaki’s ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ may be partially based on her tale.
Here’s more: “Baba Yaga or Baba Roga known by various other names, is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps (and presumably eats) small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. In most Slavic folk tales, she is portrayed as an antagonist; however, some characters in other mythological folk stories have been known to seek her out for her wisdom, and she has been known on rare occasions to offer guidance to lost souls. According to Propp, she often fulfills the function of donor; that is, her role is in supplying the hero (sometimes unwillingly) with something necessary for the further quest.” [Wikipedia].
I respected the block format more used for flash fiction here since so much of flash fiction is made to look like poetry with short lines and stanzas.
Anyways, intriguing how you mix a tale that is centuries old with the modern and make it relevant, humorous, yet something that is gripping in a serious way.
Well done! Cool as hell read!