Welcome to Muse on Monday!

The challenge is to write a story of your own based on the prompt below. If you’re 18 years old or younger, you can submit it using this link for a chance to have it published next Monday when the new prompt comes out. You just need to submit it before 12:00pm EST next Sunday.

If you have an idea for a prompt for a future week, you can also send me that at greenwalledtreehouse@gmail.com.

(click the headings of each prompt for a description of it.

Story Prompt: April 12, 2021

SETTING: any

CHARACTERS: any

CONFLICT: any

GENRE: science fiction

TONE: conversational

OTHER ELEMENTS: fruit, glass

And now, a story based on last week’s prompt:

• Setting: a volcano
• Genre: fantasy
• Other elements: a crow

The Crow and the Volcano

There was once a crow that lived on a tropical island. He was not happy because all around him were colorful things, from the birds to the flowers and even the rainbow that hung in front of the waterfall that fell over a cliff on the eastern side. He wanted to be more beautiful than everything else, but nothing he could do could change the color of his feathers.

In the very center of the island was a tall mountain peak with a volcanic cone at the top. This was the only black place on the island, and there was always a little smoke coming from cracks in the cone. The crow flew up to the cone.

“Hello, king of the island!” the crow called. Finally, a deep thick voice answered from out of the mountain.

“King?” it said. “Are you talking to me?”

“You are in the middle of the island,” the crow said. “And you created this island long ago, so of course you are the king.”

“That’s nice,” the volcano said. “I like being the king. What does it mean?”

“It means that everything on the island looks up to you,” the crow said. “There is only one problem.”

“Problem?” the rocky voice said.

“The entire island is covered with more colors than you could imagine,” the crow said. “You yourself are the most beautiful color of orange but all around your house it is nothing but blackness. It is an ugly scar on the island.

“What should I do?” the volcano asked.

“Come out of your mountain to cover up the black with your wondrous orange color,” the crow said.

“That is a good idea,” the volcano said. “It has been a long time since I have been outside.”

The earth began to shake, and the crow flew up to the edge of the volcano. Smoke poured out of the cone, followed by bright orange lava. As the lava filled the cone, it quickly covered all the black patches. However, as soon as it reached the top of the cone, the plants near the edge caught fire.

When the volcano saw that there was a little more blackness, it moved out farther, but again the plants it touched began to burn and turned black. Farther and farther it went until lava was pouring down the sides of the mountain and across the island. The animals and birds panicked and swam or flew to the nearby islands. Even the crow had to abandon the island as the fires spread.

The lava reached the water on all sides but could not go any further. Despite its power, as soon as it was outside the earth, the orange lava cooled and became black rock. A few days later, the entire island was black.

The crow flew back to the island. He could not live there anymore since there was no food or shelter, and the air was hard to breathe. He was finally the prettiest thing on the island but he was still not happy because he could stay there. Sadly, he flew back to the closest island, where everything was still green and colorful.

Good luck and happy writing! Come back next Monday for another story prompt.