Menagerie Acquisition: Fantasy

The monkeys screeched and the monsters echoed their low, mournful hooting as he walked into the tent. He saw the cages stacked high against the sides, smelled the reek of unhappy animals, and his jaw clenched. He could not rescue them all, he reminded himself. He was allowed only one purchase for the royal menagerie, and even that was circumscribed by the nature of the creatures already living in it. It was permissible to have, at most, two of a particular kind of creature, but they must be a breeding pair. So he could not take the blue-eyed snowbirds that curled against each other in the corner, he could not take the alpaca monkey that hung from the ceiling of its cage, and he could not take the shimmer skirt that blurred and wavered--

Inspiration: Curious George postage stamps
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: Just not that unusual a set-up. Look, he brings home a rare and unusual creature, and either it a) is really a maiden in disguise, or b) has strange powers that he ends up using to become more powerful. It's an old, tired story, and there's nothing here to make it new again.