Tale of the Week 300: Sparta! - Winners' Circle

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

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Sparta!


With thanks to Alwyn for the screenshot. Please rep Alwyn by clicking on the little green cross.

After the first week of voting, we had a three-way tie, with every submission supported equally. Following an extension of the vote, however, we do have a winner. Contestants choose to submit a poem less often than they submit prose, but poetry was a winning strategy on this occasion for ggggtotalwarrior. As this was a special competition, he earns 2 Writers' Study competition points, taking his total to 4! Congratulations on a well-deserved win! Congratulations also to Alwyn and Kilo11; the three-way tie in the first week of voting indicates the quality of their writing.

Here's the winning entry:

TotW 249: When the Hordes are at the Gates - WINNING SUBMISSION

The tale has been told a thousand times,
Of the day our martyrs brought peace
They fought in battle and gave their lives,
A sacrifice made to save Greece


Yet to you I will tell this tale once more,
For those brave souls deserve their story told
Of their valiant efforts in battle,
And their heroic deaths so bold:


“Once an army of thousands,
Only three-hundred remained
To ensure their people’s freedom,
To die as they were trained


Only three-hundred remained,
Yet their phalanx would not fall
For Spartans do not break;
Even in death they stand tall


Those Spartans are a people fierce,
To the Persian dogs they did now bow
Even as the horde descended,
To Xerxes’ might they do not cow


Standing at that pass in unison,
As an army of millions marched in malice
They defended us from the monster,
Who threatened us from his palace


And with each passing moment,
Yet another of that three-hundred fell,
From that unstoppable tide of Persians,
To the River Styx where lost souls dwell


Their stand stretched from hours to days,
While the others retreated to fight once more
Finally the last Spartan fell,
But in their sacrifice won us the war”


For Thermopylae was the struggle of legends:
As Leonidas’ spirit lives on in us to this day
And if the invaders ever return,
Just like Leonidas, us Greeks will stand tall,
Ever ready to drive them away

A big thank you to everyone who submitted an entry or voted in the poll - without all of you, these competitions couldn't take place.

TotW 300: Submissions thread | Voting thread

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If you've been inspired by this contest, why not enter the current Tale of the Week? The details about entering, including the keywords and rules, are all in this thread for TotW 301: Nighthawks.

[Alwyn]

Congratulations to our very talented winner, ggggtotalwarrior!

Thanks to Caillagh for hosting the competiton and to Kilo and all who voted.

Don't forget to check out TotW 301: Nighthawks.

[Kilo11]

Well done, Geg. Let's see if you can best me in the next one...