A Drop of Elfin Blood - By Brunie Brunie

Written By: Brunie Brunie

Category: Flash Fiction

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, Brunie Brunie, writing under the pen name Drop of Elfin Blood, enchants readers with "A Drop of Elfin Blood." This flash fiction piece transports us to the mystical realm of tree elves residing on Saysutshun Island. As a narrative rich in imagination and environmental awareness, it beckons the reader to ponder the delicate balance between nature and human progress.

About the Work

"A Drop of Elfin Blood" weaves a tale of fantasy and environmental reflection. The narrative is infused with a sense of longing and loss, as it depicts the struggles of ShooSheBooba, a tree elf, against the backdrop of human encroachment. The story's imagery captures the serene yet threatened existence of the elves, highlighting themes of conservation, heritage, and the silent resilience of nature.

Drop of Elfin Blood

Original Submission by Brunie Brunie

A Drop of Elfin Blood

Whether you believe this story is true or not is up to you.

ShooSheBooba climbed to the very top of her hometree, the highest tree on Newcastle Island now renamed Saysutshun in the native language. She cast her face to the morning sun to dry the last of her tears. She had been crying nonstop for seven days and seven nights. All the moisture in her body was spent and if she didn’t stop right now she would die. She was barely three hundred years old, a scant time for an Old Growth Tree Elf that could easily live two thousand years and more.

I, an old woman who lived on her little sailboat with her dog, across the narrow channel separating Saysutshun Island from Vancouver Island heard the strange wailing sound and wondered…

ShooSheBooba migrated to this area with her parents from Fairy Creek on the west coast of Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada, where now only one percent of the old growth trees are still standing alive and breathing.

Her mother had foreseen the destructive future of these majestic trees. She saw them crashing to the ground, cut from their roots by belching iron dragons, commanded by humans who rode on their backs. She saw their living forms dragged out with chains and loaded on big wheeled monsters who took them away to be sold in foreign lands.

The Tree Elfs clung desperately to their beloved trees, the source of their very existence. At the age of one hundred an Elf was granted a Hometree and as the tree grew in statue the Elf grew in wisdom. The Elfs died for they could not forsake their tree. Their bodies crunched unrecognizable under the heavy foot of the belching iron smoke breathing monsters that had no soul.

ShooSheBooba and her parents lived quite happily on Saysutshun Island singing their songs to nurture the trees. They were undisturbed by the few natives who lived on the Island during the summer. The natives had some inkling of the Elf presence and thought of them as tree spirits and counted them a blessing.

Sometime around 1780 the big sailing ships arrived to Departure Bay in Nanaimo now used by B.C. ferries bringing people from Vancouver. Sent by the English Queen to chart the coastline of the new world and add it to the British domain. After a few skirmishes, a trade began between the natives and the sailors. The natives brought fresh venison, fish, caviar, oysters, and soft cured furs.

The sailors gave woolen blankets that caused scurvy, tobacco, alcohol and chocolate. Chocolate! Oh how ShooSheBooba hungered for the taste of chocolate!

After watching for some time her parents decided to take this opportunity to do some trading. They gathered together some of their delicious dried berry cakes, salted seaweed and healing mint tea carried in their beautifully woven cedar baskets. To her great disappointment ShooSheBooba was not allowed to accompany her parents but they promised to bring her chocolate. Her parents paddled off in their specially designed paddle log.

The sailors welcomed them aboard and realized this couple was not from the native tribe and when they saw the beautiful little woman (barely three feet) they knew exactly what they wanted. The male was clubbed nearly to death and thrown overboard. “Hide daughter hide”, screamed her mother as she decimated herself.

ShooSheBooba managed to retrieve her father from the ocean but he had no will to live without his mate. “I can’t live alone “, wailed ShooSheBooba. “You must live” said her father. “You must find your mate and continue our line. Promise me daughter”! And so she promised and vowed to never show her face to humans.

Her tears today were not for the loss of her parents decades ago. Somehow, she did not know how such a terrible thing could have happened but one of her elfin slippers was gone! The slippers were made from the trees, without them she was not able to conceive an elfin child. The slippers contained the memories of her race. Knowing that when the time was right she would find her mate and have a child was what had sustained her all these lonely years.

Once again she scanned the Island with her build-in radar. Every nook and cranny but no slipper could she find. She cast out further across the narrow channel separating Saysutshun Island from Vancouver Island and blip, blip, blip there it was hanging by a string on a hook beside the head of the old human woman living in her sailboat with her dog. Elfs knew humans were destructive and cruel but there was something about this human…

The Elf had noticed this woman walking the Island paths with her dog, the third one now, for the past twenty-five years. Usually she walked barefoot and hugged a tree here and there. This human was half native whose great, great grandmother came from this area. Was it possible? Yes it was possible that a lusty male Elf impregnated …yes, yes she detected a drop of elfin blood! She could mind-speak this woman. “Hold the slipper hold the slipper”, whispered a strange voice in my head.

Hold the slipper?

I looked up and indeed it was a slipper. Three inches long, two inches wide, a sharp point at the toe and a high rolled ridge at the back. The slipper was tan in color interlaced with dark brown strips. The center bottom was bare allowing the Elf to always stay in touch with the earth and the tree.

I found the slipper on the path thinking it was a pretty burro of some kind. It looked delicate and puffy. I took it gently in my hands and the memories flooded in…

Elfs only have three fingers and a thumb. The nails on the fingers and toes are hard and pointed enabling them to scamper up a tree like a squirrel. Saysutshun Island has many different kinds of green vegetation, an assortment of mushrooms and delectable berries, dried together with salted seaweed and the spring sap of the Yew tree these cakes are the Elf main diet and can be eaten at any time.

The Island has park status so there is no development and can only be accessed by boat. ShooSheBooba’s mother picked a safe place.

The Elfs wore pantaloons and tunics finely woven from beaten cedar strips laced into intricate patterns. The Elfs looked like tree, smelled like a tree, clean strong with a patience that only comes from living a long life.

I found a log by the marina gate a sign that ShooSheBooba was on her way back to Fairy Creek her birthplace to find herself a mate. She left the lost slipper with me for safekeeping because she needed to entice her mate to return with her. Both slippers had to be worn to conceive an elfin child. Elfs were only able to have one child.

When I held the slipper I could see…

She had to jump quickly to avoid the robotic cars, hurrying, hurrying where to she wondered. She knew life had greatly changed. She had seen the buildings rise up on the shoreline across from her Island. The big noisy birds without feathers in the sky, the watercraft spewing their poison in the ocean. There was much work to do for the young trees keeping the air breathable from the poison created by humans.

I saw her fall to her knees in horror as she reached the clear-cut old growth tree stumps that stretched on and on as far as she could see. Her stomach retched at the devastation of her race. Finally she came to the last remaining old growth trees. She was surprised to see a number of humans among the trees in a last ditch effort to save the remaining few from the axe. She saw more humans in dark uniforms wearing guns grabbing the humans trying to save the last few trees. She saw them being handcuffed and dragged away in chains. Would she find a male Elf still living?

My drop of Elfin blood stirs and boils in outrage! If I had the political power I would declare a moratorium on killing trees, all the trees. I would start with no more clearcutting with housing development. We are so stupid. We humans are contaminating the air, the soil, the waters of paradise earth. Every tree is a blessing.

This story is true whether you believe it or not and I have the Elfin slipper to prove it.

Hopefully one day when you and I are long gone the Fir trees, the Cedar trees, Arbutus, Oak and Yew trees of Saysutshun Island will be standing tall.

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About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar celebrates literary creativity across genres. This international platform invites participants to share their unique voices through poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and essays, fostering a global community of writers. The competition stands as a testament to the enduring power of the written word in capturing human experience and imagination.

Thank you, Brunie Brunie, for sharing "A Drop of Elfin Blood" with us in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Your vivid storytelling and evocative themes have left a lasting impression, reminding us of the intrinsic connection between humanity and the natural world. We look forward to more of your captivating narratives in the future.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.