Random Act of Fiction! The Egyptian Androsphinx
Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.
One of my high-end Patreon rewards is the Random Act of Fiction, where I will write a micro-story featuring your name and the mythological beast of your choice.
This month, I posted (snail mail!) the first of these out to Marina (Min) Anderson, who is one of the marvellous people who supports my Patreon at the Deluxe Super Special Queen-Emperor of Glorious Patronage Level, the very best of levels, including all the rewards of various other levels combined.
Min nominated the sphinx - particularly the Egyptian Androsphinx, for her pet story!
Egyptian Androsphinx.
“Let me tell you about the Egyptian Androsphinx,” said Marina, from behind her fan of many feathers. “They are the best, simply the best keepers of secrets.”
Ida was intrigued, her fingers twisting in her strand of pearls as she leaned in to hear more. “Do you have so many secrets?”
“Not any more. I told them to the Androsphinx, and he ate them up like fish bones, crunch and bite.”
“I met a Sphinx once,” considered Ida. “Beastly creature - body of a lion, head of a ram. It moved in beside the mailbox one day, and I could not shift it with broom or rake. I made a trail of fresh mown grass to lead it away, and it barely even blinked at me. The postie didn’t dare come near us for weeks! I missed out on seven invitations.”
“Oh, a Criosphinx,” said Marina, bored already with Ida’s tale. “They’re quite mundane. You should have tried cake. A Criosphinx likes sugar even more than riddles.”
“Bartholomew read it a riddle,” said Ida, dejected at the memory.
“And?”
“It ate him. I didn’t even know a ram had the teeth for that sort of thing, but it managed somehow.”
“There you are, then,” said Marina, fluttering her fan. “At least my Sphinx is civilised.” She gazed across the ballroom, to where her pet Androsphinx sat majestic near the punch bowl. A Pharoah’s hat sat jauntily on its handsome head, and it rested its dimpled male chin upon soft sandstone-coloured paws.
“All your secrets?” Ida breathed.
“All of them,” Marina promised. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”
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