Here I have illustrated the shortest of stories, or a poem, by the writer Aniqah Choudhri. 

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‘The Fox and the Woman’ by Aniqah Choudhri ~ Illustrated by Blanche Ellis

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On the road one summer‘s evening

A fox met the woman he would marry.

She smelt like otter blood and barley

With top notes of sage and honey.

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He followed her all the way back

To a sleeping village where men spat

Whiskey on cobbled streets and

Cats urinated to mark their territory.

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Go away they hissed to the fox

But the fox slept behind the rubbish bins

That his bride threw orange peel

and chicken bones in.

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He killed a rat to woo her

and laid it on the kitchen floor,

And heard her scream of delight

 when she opened the door.

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His bride threw a butter knife,

A wine glass and an apple core.

Dragging his loot behind the bins

He knew their love was for evermore.

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Fin

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A wonderful mix of the mundane and the imaginative, a folk-tale of subtle simplicity. I hope to collaborate more with Aniqah on her writing and poetry in both illustration and song.