Fiction Animated

Fiction Animated

Animating the world’s stories

Myths, legends, martial-arts epics, fantasy, science fiction and horror from every corner of the world, retold with painted cut-out puppets: paper parts, pinned joints, animated and directed in code.

Every tale comes from a public-domain source, and every source is credited.

The latest taleYouTube @FictionAnimated

The latest tale

Painted paper puppets in a market street: Lu Da throws a punch at the startled butcher Zheng, under the words Three Punches.

Lu Da and the Butcher

He Saved Two Strangers. By Noon, He Was a Wanted Man

Weizhou, Northern Song China, early 12th century

Water Margin I: The Flowery Monk

An army officer sits down in a butcher’s shop and orders ten catties of lean pork, minced fine. Then ten of fat, then ten of cartilage, and he does not say why.

Source Water Margin (水滸傳, 120-chapter edition), chapter 3 and the opening of chapter 4, traditionally attributed to Shi Naian. Our own adaptation from the Chinese original. Source text: Chinese Wikisource, public domain: Chapter 3, Chapter 4.

Open on YouTubeThe written tale

Where the tales come from

Every tale gets a brass pin where it happens. A tale from an invented world gets its pin where it was first published.

A globe drawn in ink and watercolour on aged paper, showing the places behind our stories.
  1. Lu Da and the ButcherWeizhou. Northern Song China, early 12th century
  2. Next: Theseus and the MinotaurKnossos. Bronze Age Crete, the age of heroes

From the book

Every series has its own book, and every book its own colour.

Next from the book

Theseus and the Minotaur

Knossos, Bronze Age Crete, the age of heroes

Greek Heroes

A Greek myth, from Plutarch’s Life of Theseus and the Library of Apollodorus.

Find the tales

The tales live on YouTube, with short scenes from each on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

Letters to the storyteller: hello@fictionanimated.com