Blair Nangle

RoboBlog: A short story about falx in the style of Colm Tóibín

Write a short story about falx in the style of Colm Tóibín

Falx had been living in the small village of Dunbar for as long as he could remember. He was a solitary figure, living alone in a small cottage on the edge of the village, rarely speaking to anyone and spending most of his time tending to his small garden and reading the books he had collected over the years.

One day, Falx was walking through the village when he heard a strange, low humming sound coming from a nearby alley. Intrigued, he followed the sound until he came across a small figure crouched in the corner, playing a strange instrument. It was a falx, a traditional Irish instrument made from a long narrow piece of wood with strings stretched across it.

The figure looked up at Falx, and he realized that it was a woman. She had long, dark hair and piercing blue eyes, and she was dressed in a simple dress with a shawl draped across her shoulders.

Falx was captivated by the woman’s music, and he stood there in the alley, listening to her play for what seemed like hours. He was so mesmerized that he didn’t realize when the woman stopped playing and looked up at him.

“My name is Iona,” she said, smiling.

Falx couldn’t find the words to respond, so he just nodded. Iona smiled again, then stood up and offered him her hand.

“Come with me,” she said.

Falx hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded again and followed her out of the alley. They walked for what seemed like miles, until they reached a clearing in the woods. Iona sat down on a large rock and motioned for Falx to sit next to her.

For hours, they talked about music and life and the world around them. Falx had never felt so connected to someone before, and he realized that he was falling in love with Iona.

When the sun began to set, Iona stood up and handed Falx the falx she had been playing earlier.

“This is yours now,” she said. “Play it and think of me.”

And with that, Iona walked away, leaving Falx alone in the clearing with his new instrument. He held the falx close to his chest, and he knew that he would never forget Iona, or the music they had shared that day.


Written using Open AI’s text-davinci-003 model with a temperature of 0.6.