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The blacksmith agreed to forge me an axe

  • The blacksmith agreed to forge me an axe if I brought him the head of a manakete and a vial of virgin tears. I didn't know of any virgin crybaby manaketes, so this would take time.

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  • I knew my sister was virgin (that box was checked) but it took 8 months to secure the manakete head. I brought the head and my sister's tears to the blacksmith but he said

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  • "no, I said parakeet head, not manakete head." Well, what can we do with this then? I handed him the box with the bird head and my sister's tears. The blacksmith thought deeply 4

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  • a minute, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "no worries, only absolute losers who live in their parents' basement know what a manakete is anyway." I'll get you a new parakeet if

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  • you promise not to teach it any curse words. He agreed and we went to the pet store. There was only one parakeet left and he came with a free eye patch. Can we name him Squawkers?

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  • Yeah, sure, whatever. Squawkers the parakeet came home with us & all was fine. Then we started hearing him in the next room singing...was that...no, it couldn't be...Beatles songs?

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  • "Hey Bungalow Bill what did you kill. Bungalow Bill." chirped Squawkers. "It's gonna be a parakeet if you don't shut up" I yelled. I hated Beatles songs, but he just segued into

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  • "For the benefit of Mr. Kite, there will be a show tonight..." It made his blood boil. He grabbed the Beatles singing Parrot and put Sqwuakers's head in a vice. He slowly tightened

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  • the vice and then glued a long haired wig and head band on top of the Parrot's head. The parrot now had that classic beatnik look which was perfect for his

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  • production of "Death of a Salesman", set in a post-apocalyptic Paris & featuring anachronistic costuming choices & minimalist set design. Crisis averted, he set off to find Willy.

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17 Comments

  1. buddyboy4711 Feb 16 2013 @ 18:08

    For what it's worth, my dorm is at basement level, Mr. Blacksmith.

  2. jayursus Feb 16 2013 @ 19:03

    So - manakete: man with a parakeet's head, or parakeet with a human head?

  3. buddyboy4711 Feb 16 2013 @ 19:55

    A manakete is a dragon that takes the form of a human to stay low key. Pretty neat, but these man-parakeet mixes sound neater. If we take 'para-' to mean "above or beyond" (it has loads of other definitions, though), then replacing it with 'mana' could maybe be seen as taking away the parakeet's ability to fly above or beyond, so I'll pick the man with a parakeet's head. I'd name him Squawkers.

  4. SlimWhitman Feb 16 2013 @ 20:17

    I'm hoping to see Squawkers fly again.

  5. PurpleProf Feb 16 2013 @ 20:23

    Kinda like George Harrison meets Jimmy Buffett??

  6. MangoMania Feb 18 2013 @ 12:53

    I spent most of the 4 minutes thinking of the name Squawkers, I'm glad you liked it and hope Squawkers reappears in future folds.

  7. SlimWhitman Feb 18 2013 @ 14:16

    Names add character to stories: when you only have 180 characters to go on, that's important! The right name can really spark the imagination. "Squawkers" is gold.

  8. m80 Feb 19 2013 @ 00:53

    So is this story!

  9. MangoMania Feb 21 2013 @ 11:42

    Top story this month woot woot!

  10. SlimWhitman Feb 21 2013 @ 14:38

    And getting into the all time top 20 is also quite a feat!

  11. Chaz Feb 21 2013 @ 23:38

    I used to know Squawkers when he was part of the "Yard Birds"

  12. MangoMania May 24 2013 @ 13:37

    Thanks to this amazing story, I am now a proud owner of a Squawkers pint glass. I shall drink from it every time I fold.

  13. PurpleProf May 24 2013 @ 14:00

    That's awesome, MangoMania!

  14. SlimWhitman May 24 2013 @ 19:08

    Very cool. First we have manatee sox and now the squawker's glass!

  15. MoralEnd May 24 2013 @ 19:55

    Way to go MangoMania!

  16. WilDom May 29 2013 @ 12:58

    soooooo jealous, Mango!!!!! Is there a FoldingStory store you bought it from?

  17. ben May 29 2013 @ 18:45

    WilDom, there is a FoldingStory store. It doesn't have character-inspired items like MangoMania's excellent Squawkers glass, but if you want to sport a FoldingStory t-shirt, this is the place to get one. See this blog post for details: http://foldingstory.com/blog/2011/03/foldingstory-t-shirts-gear/

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