Tales from the Stuffed Fabulist
(philosophical / spiritual)
Once the Angel of Death gave the champagne service a pass.
Once it was claimed God had taken sides in a war between ant colonies.
Once an ape answered the casting call for a Hollywood blockbuster.
Once a bear attracted quite a following in faith-based wrestling.
Once a beast-within spent a great deal of time licking its wounds.
Once a bedbug thought it had "found God."
Once a bubble took itself very seriously.
Once a bullfrog was looked to by many who sought a spiritual master.
Once a cat read the obituary for its just-ended eighth life.
Once a caterpillar reached the edge of a leaf and paused to consider what might lie ahead.
Once a chipmunk looked down when it should have looked up.
Once Church and State hooked up at a singles bar.
Once a corpse in a wildly popular "Bodies" exhibition had some things to say about the crowd milling around it.
Once dots complained about all the attempts made to connect them.
Once an ophthalmologist had some good news and some bad news for a dragonfly.
Once a dung beetle had intimations of immortality.
Once an ephemera assumed it had all the time in the world.
Once a rich man managed to squeeze through the eye of a needle, followed by another rich man, and another after that.
Once Faust sought to renegotiate the fine print.
Once a foxhound began to have second thoughts about chasing the fox.
Once a gazelle found itself in a state of suspended animation.
Once a glutton for life dreamed of swallowing it all.
Once a hog grew philosophical.
Once an immortal decided to call it quits.
Once a knight, Death, and the Devil approached the edge of a Dürer engraving.
Once a lab rat had a pre-existing condition.
Once laughter was the only thing that kept a person sane in this life.
Once a lemming went online to get a life.
Once a movement was founded to support the claim that “the jury’s still out regarding life on this planet.”
Once a metronome hypnotized itself.
Once reports came in that a misanthrope had been spotted on the outskirts of town.
Once a missing link chose to ignore the scientific evidence.
Once a mole and an owl shared a soul.
Once a glob of mud reflected on its state.
Once the great god Pan rolled over and declared, "I ain't dead yet, folks."
Once a panda snapped open a fortune cookie and found the following message: "A change for the better which will be made against you."
Once a panther was well aware of the spell it cast over all who came to the zoo.
Once a phoenix considered having itself embalmed.
Once a pig had mixed feelings about the donation of a heart valve it was about to make to save an ailing human.
Once a potato thought it heard a voice.
Once Prometheus investigated the merits of canned heat.
Once a rhinoceros noticed it had a bruise.
Once a robot created an artificial human being.
Once a sacred cow worried about its fan base.
Once a salmon broke the surface and kept right on going.
Once a sanctamander cut off its own tail.
Once a scorpion experienced a moment of compassion.
Once the Seven Deadly Sins formed a support group to buck up their spirits.
Once the wisest judges in the land decided to cut Solomon in half.
Once the Sphinx grew weary of it all.
Once a sunflower lost its bearings during a total eclipse.
Once a tortoise realized its time was drawing nigh.
Once a tree fell in the forest when nobody was there to hear the sound.
Once a warbler just couldn't get an annoying song out of its head.
Once a worm came back from the grave.
Once the Zeitgeist felt a bit confused.
Copyright © 2004-2024 by Geoffrey Grosshans Artwork by J. Savage
(philosophical / spiritual)
The "moral" or "lesson" of each tale is left to the reader to decide.
Scroll through the opening lines and select highlighted text to read a tale in full.
A PDF version can then be downloaded from a link on that page.
If necessary, Adobe Acrobat Reader is available free from www.adobe.com
Once the Angel of Death gave the champagne service a pass.
Once it was claimed God had taken sides in a war between ant colonies.
Once an ape answered the casting call for a Hollywood blockbuster.
Once a bear attracted quite a following in faith-based wrestling.
Once a beast-within spent a great deal of time licking its wounds.
Once a bedbug thought it had "found God."
Once a bubble took itself very seriously.
Once a bullfrog was looked to by many who sought a spiritual master.
Once a cat read the obituary for its just-ended eighth life.
Once a caterpillar reached the edge of a leaf and paused to consider what might lie ahead.
Once a chipmunk looked down when it should have looked up.
Once Church and State hooked up at a singles bar.
Once a corpse in a wildly popular "Bodies" exhibition had some things to say about the crowd milling around it.
Once dots complained about all the attempts made to connect them.
Once an ophthalmologist had some good news and some bad news for a dragonfly.
Once a dung beetle had intimations of immortality.
Once an ephemera assumed it had all the time in the world.
Once a rich man managed to squeeze through the eye of a needle, followed by another rich man, and another after that.
Once Faust sought to renegotiate the fine print.
Once a foxhound began to have second thoughts about chasing the fox.
Once a gazelle found itself in a state of suspended animation.
Once a glutton for life dreamed of swallowing it all.
Once a hog grew philosophical.
Once an immortal decided to call it quits.
Once a knight, Death, and the Devil approached the edge of a Dürer engraving.
Once a lab rat had a pre-existing condition.
Once laughter was the only thing that kept a person sane in this life.
Once a lemming went online to get a life.
Once a movement was founded to support the claim that “the jury’s still out regarding life on this planet.”
Once a metronome hypnotized itself.
Once reports came in that a misanthrope had been spotted on the outskirts of town.
Once a missing link chose to ignore the scientific evidence.
Once a mole and an owl shared a soul.
Once a glob of mud reflected on its state.
Once the great god Pan rolled over and declared, "I ain't dead yet, folks."
Once a panda snapped open a fortune cookie and found the following message: "A change for the better which will be made against you."
Once a panther was well aware of the spell it cast over all who came to the zoo.
Once a phoenix considered having itself embalmed.
Once a pig had mixed feelings about the donation of a heart valve it was about to make to save an ailing human.
Once a potato thought it heard a voice.
Once Prometheus investigated the merits of canned heat.
Once a rhinoceros noticed it had a bruise.
Once a robot created an artificial human being.
Once a sacred cow worried about its fan base.
Once a salmon broke the surface and kept right on going.
Once a sanctamander cut off its own tail.
Once a scorpion experienced a moment of compassion.
Once the Seven Deadly Sins formed a support group to buck up their spirits.
Once the wisest judges in the land decided to cut Solomon in half.
Once the Sphinx grew weary of it all.
Once a sunflower lost its bearings during a total eclipse.
Once a tortoise realized its time was drawing nigh.
Once a tree fell in the forest when nobody was there to hear the sound.
Once a warbler just couldn't get an annoying song out of its head.
Once a worm came back from the grave.
Once the Zeitgeist felt a bit confused.
Copyright © 2004-2024 by Geoffrey Grosshans Artwork by J. Savage