Can You Tell A Story In…

This week, can you tell a story in 49 words using the following words in it somewhere:

  • DIET
  • WASP
  • XYLOPHONE
  • CHIVALRY
  • U-TURN

The previous challenge was to write a story in 38 words using the following four words in it somewhere:

  • BREECHES
  • TITTLE-TATTLE
  • SPACESHIP
  • YOGA

Here are your fun stories:

Lou By The Sea:

The spaceship games night passed some time on Starship Enterprise. 19th century golf attire was traditional breeches while 21st century yoga attire required a more body sculpting legging. Day after tittle tattle revealed that Spock missed the memo.

Ruth Blogs Here:

Attention Earthlings!

If you believed local tittle-tattle, long ago aliens descended from their spaceship wearing a cross between riding breeches and yoga pants and declared – ‘Attention earthlings! From now on we wear the trousers around here’ – a likely story!

John D. Ottini:

Listening to you tittle-tattle about your friend Joe’s odd obsessing with being abducted by an alien spaceship during our yoga session turned out to be a bad idea. 

I stretched and laughed so hard that split my breeches.

Graeme Sandford:

“Yoga in Zero-gravity, breeches every space-corp directive.”

“Which tittle-tattle told tall tales?”

“Spaceship Safety Scenario Seventy-Six states: ‘Practicing Physical Poses Potentially Puts Participants in Perilous Positions’.

“How very alliterative we are being.”

“Indeed. Try Pilot Pilates next time.” 

Murray Clarke:

Some savvy people, especially established writers of science fiction, will tell you that breeches (or britches) are often worn by astronauts practicing their daily yoga positions in their spaceship. If you think that’s pure tittle-tattle, you’d be right.

Fandango:

Needing to clear his mind after an exhausting afternoon of mindless tittle-tattle with the alien ambassadors, Captain Vance changed from his tight leather breeches into his yoga pants and started his stretches right on the spaceship’s flight deck.

Crystal:

Like a good young I do my yoga early in the morning after getting out of bed then I automatically look up and see what looks like a spaceship in my backyard and then I go and tittle-tattle all of this to my cat and dog and stuffed animals because they’re the only ones who won’t think I’m crazy then to my surprise  the mayor of the town somehow breeches my locked bedroom and when she entered the spaceship took off all that was left was a humongous crater in the backyard.

Mark Fraidenburg:

The Latch

Dockworkers offered only tittle-tattle. A courier in leather breeches wouldn’t meet her eyes, just pointed: container nine, SPACESHIP stenciled on rusted steel. Years of yoga had taught her stillness. She forced her pulse quiet, and pulled the latch.

The Afterlove Voice:

Wearing purple breeches, Clara practised yoga aboard the spaceship while Earth disappeared behind her.

The crew whispered tittle-tattle about her unusual outfit, until zero gravity sent everyone tumbling.

Clara simply smiled, floating serenely upside down above them all.

Rall:

twas the usual tittle tat gossip

amongst the crew

the commander was back on the booze again

found doing yoga in the space shuttle

without his breeches

the press was going to have a field day

when this gets out

Rohini:

Houston, We Have A Wardrobe Malfunction

The astronaut’s breeches split mid-yoga pose aboard the spaceship. Tittle-tattle spread fast! Mission Control replayed the footage endlessly. Now every cadet learns downward dog before liftoff. NASA added “reinforced stretchy pants” to the dress code.

Michelle McCartney:

Margo pulled on her breeches, as Fred used call them. She’d joined yoga. And afterwards have coffee with tittle -tattle, her widowhood embarrassing. Eye contact avoided. Her crime? Her sentence – a spaceship of loneliness with no earthly docking.

Kim Smyth:

I prefer doing Tai chi to yoga, so I was doing that in my stretchy breeches when I got an alert on my phone. It said that the spaceship was launching tonight. I tittle-tattled that to my friend.

Pensitivity101:

The tittle-tattle of the yoga class went up a notch when their new male instructor arrived wearing tight breeches which had tiny spaceships on them! The girls started giggling and hoped for some close encounters of another kind.

Teleportingweena:

“Attention!” The spacecraft blared for all to hear. “Put on your big girl breeches and come aboard for a wild ride!” I jumped off my yoga mat, told a little tittle tattle lie and off I went. Yah-hoo!

Susan Batten:

We clustered round the spaceship porthole, wings chattering, trying to spot the humankinds in their rituals, wearing ceremonial breeches and cute sunhats to propitiate the great god, Yoga – I told the Leader it wasn’t idle tittle-tattle, after all.

John W. Howell:

There have been so many security breeches on the spaceship that risking being called a tattle tale, Ensign Jones skipped morning yoga and wrote the Captain a tittle-tattle note naming names. He signed it John Paul Jones.

A Jeanne in the Kitchen:

The yoga instructor split her breeches while reaching for the spaceship on the ceiling. Her yoga studio filled with idle tittle-tattle as she tried to quickly exit the room.

Richmond Road:

A morning slip
Now aching hip
Oh! for some yoga.
Children’s screeches
Into breeches
Get them in the car
Noisy trip
It’s no spaceship
It rattles on the tar
What a battle
Tittle-tattle
That’s my day so far

iMartist:

Housewives:

…”And then I saw Melinda, you remember her from yoga class”…

“The one who wore riding breeches to class ?”

“Yeah. She was abducted by the alien spaceship…”

“Never liked her, she was all about the tittle-tattle….”

“GOOD RIDDENCE !!!”

Lily’s Corner:

Working In Space

Etched onto the side of our spaceship was our slogan, Evasive Maneuvers.

Tittle-tattle ran rampant that Yoda was on board, but it was actually a crew member named Yoga that wore beige breeches with a matching bicorne hat.

Pictures Imperfect Blog:

Males Gossiping

“Did you see Maja doing yoga in her pollen breeches?” The drones were sniggering, spread-eagled on passionflowers that looked like spaceships. Unable to feed themselves without the help of worker bees but engaging in tittle-tattle about them nevertheless.

Aptivi’s Joy:

Yoga in Spaceship

Inside a spaceship, there was a man wearing his breeches who couldn’t bear the tittle-tattle of other people, so he decided to waddle to the other room, which was a quiet room, to do his yoga exercises peacefully.

Ann Edall-Robson:

It was yoga class day, aka the gossip girls gathering. Their voices stopped when the detective, dressed in breeches and a polo shirt, entered the room.

“Ladies! ALL need to stop this spaceship tittle-tattle.”

He turned and left.

Blind Wilderness:

Farmer Bill hated tittle-tattle. Standing there in his breeches he ignored gossip about his wife’s yoga classes. He walked into his lounge and found his son pretending to be in his spaceship. Oh to be a child again.

The Bag Lady:

There was a bit of tittle-tattle going on after Joe left the yoga class. Everyone knew he loved space, planets, spaceship travels, etc, but to wear them on his breeches? In a public place? Pjs maybe, but here?

The Elephant’s Trunk:

Rear Admiral

Hunky Commander Chris practiced yoga inside the spaceship when his skin-tight breeches split in the rear, igniting epic tittle-tattle across the galaxy. The delighted crew dubbed him “Major Mooncheeks”, ensuring his revealing morning stretch would become universally legendary.

Dan Ince:

He figured group yoga sessions on a spaceship weren’t ideal. After splitting his breeches right down the middle after executing a perfect Downward Dog pose, the captain knew he’d soon become the target for some intergalactic tittle-tattle.

Boomcha:

The Light Above The Birch

The yard was still when the spaceship appeared, settling above the birch with a soft pulse. I’d just finished yoga. My breeches were still warm from the sun. I silenced the tittle‑tattle in my mind and stepped forward, wanting the truth more than safety.

***

Image credit: Pinterest

40 responses to “Can You Tell A Story In…”

  1. we eat

    the diet

    so wasp

    but me being white

    only of that equation

    xlyphone play the marimba

    sound steel

    how i feel hot to trot

    used up sick spent

    nice crisp

    think kind

    came to mind

    tho chivalry is indeed dead

    Liked by 2 people

  2. I was playing my Xylophone on my front porch when all of a sudden a swarm of Wasp came flying at me and I quickly did a U-Turn when I saw the swarm of Wasp to try to get away but unfortunately I didn’t get away in time because I got stung like crazy and some guy was walking buy my house and he actually stopped to help me so Chivalry isn’t dead and from then on my Diet was gone because ever since I got stung with a swarm of Wasp I’ve been eating everything in site especially most of the chocolate.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Thanks so much, Crystal!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. You’re Welcome Esther

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Loubythesea61 Avatar
    Loubythesea61

    BUZZ

    Jam sandwiches: not on my diet sheet but convenient for the xylophone society picnic. A wasp, buzzed past, took a u-turn, then sat on the end of my nose. A man, attempting a newspaper swipe, gave me a nosebleed instead. “The age of chivalry is definitely dead,” I shouted.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. It certainly isn’t! Very entertaining.

      Like

  4. […] Go here for Esther’s Challenging Challenges! […]

    Liked by 1 person

  5. […] Can You Tell a Story in … 49 words including wasp, chivalry, xylophone, diet, and u-turn […]

    Liked by 1 person

  6. https://picturesimperfectblog.com/2026/08/27/taking-her-out-to-dinner/

    The wasp’s diet consisted mainly of cakes, and chivalry meant I placed a small piece out for her. She immediately made a – pardon the pun – beeline for it, making a sharp u-turn pivoting her yellow and black gaster around. It looked like the bars of a two-tone xylophone.

    Liked by 3 people

  7. Aaaaaand I forgot to mention that I am not overweight. I’m undertall.

    (kudos to Garfield for the quote which has served me well over the years)

    Liked by 1 person

  8. the advertising agency presented a creative concept for our new diet cola. The video was backed with strange xylophone music and a new name. They called it Chivalry with a wasp as the spokesperson. We took a u-turn and fired them.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Excellent story with those difficult words, John.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you, Esther.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. […] Can You Tell A Story In… – Esther Chilton […]

    Liked by 1 person

  10. […] for Esther’s Can You Tell A Story challenge where we are invited write a piece in 49 words, using the following: DIET, WASP, […]

    Liked by 1 person

  11. My diet is playing tricks on me. Did I just see a wasp playing a xylophone? I had to do a U-turn to see for sure. I turned around so quickly, and stumbled to the ground. A nice chivalrous young man helped me get back on my feet.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Nicely done, Jeanne 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  12. “Chivalry is dead,” said Jane. She sounded like a wasp on a lemon juice diet playing a child’s xylophone. “You might want to rethink that. Be like a politician and make a u-turn.” The man behind her held the door open, bowed and smiled. Jane scowled. “Whatever.”

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Great story, Liz. Thank you for joining in. Hope you feel better today.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. 🙏 I do! Just needed a good rest!

        Liked by 1 person

  13. “I’m not overweight, I’m under tall” is another one.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like that 😊

      Like

  14. […] Can You Tell A Story In… […]

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Here’s my entry Esther 💜

    Can you tell a story…

    Liked by 2 people

  16. dutifullydeer6ab803ea0e Avatar
    dutifullydeer6ab803ea0e

    Hello Esther,

    Here goes with “xylophone”:

    My Diet Coke nearly did a U-turn when they asked me to play the xylophone for the overture to F.O. Wasp’s famous work on medieval chivalry, The Languid Lover. After all, I was only the cleaner and had no more idea how to play it than you do.
    49

    Have a good weekend!

    Susan

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for your story – you have a good weekend too.

      Like

  17. Hi Esther!

    Apologies if this one brings the mood down a bit…

    The year was 2093 and we were all starving. With a daily diet of scraps, ribs could be played as you might a xylophone. No u-turn for humanity now. Acts of chivalry were classed as weakness. A man even killed another man over a dead wasp to eat.

    https://danince.com/2026/08/27/a-stinging-dystopia/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s certainly not upbeat but very clever!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you – I’ll try to bring a little more sunshine next time!

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Cressida de Nova Avatar
    Cressida de Nova

    no u turn

    back to the age of chivalry

    not even the w a s pscan return

    no more playing the dance

    of the sugar plum fairy

    on the xylophone for fun either

    we now live

    in a dog eat dog diet world

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Clever use of the words.

      Like

  19. Cressida de Nova Avatar
    Cressida de Nova

    no u turn

    to chivalry

    not even the wasps

    can manage this

    no more playing

    the dance of the sugar plum fairy

    on the xylophone for fun

    the world now survives on a

    dog eat dog diet

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Playing on her Xylophone
    She – looking kinda pretty
    I was hungry – on a diet
    Feeling kinda shitty
    Hunger playing mind games
    Like a wasp inside my head
    But in the name of chivalry
    Invited her to bed.
    *
    (But then took a u-turn
    Went to the fridge instead)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Those last lines made me laugh. Thank you.

      Like

Leave a comment

Discover more from Esther Chilton

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading