by Down, Reg
Under the water Tiptoes could fly and swim at the same time. She called it flimming. She waved her wings and swam with her arms and legs, but she wasn’t nearly as fast as a fish. Tiptoes flimmed to the starfish and reached out and touched its skin. It was rough and bumpy.
“Good day, Madam Starfish,” said Tiptoes politely. “My name is Tiptoes Lightly. I’ve come for a visit.”
“Good day, Madam Four Arms Lightly,” replied the starfish. “I’m sorry to see that you lost one of your arms and only have a bump instead.”
“But Madam Starfish,” said Tiptoes, “I have two arms and two legs. The bump is my head.”
“Two arms and two legs and a head!” exclaimed the starfish. “I never heard of such a thing. By my suction pads, you are a strange creature!”
“I suppose,” said Tiptoes. “I never thought about how I look to a starfish.”
“You do look strange,” said the starfish. “Very strange. Thank goodness I am a normal person with five arms and no head. But, of course, we are special.”
“Why’s that?” asked Tiptoes.
“Because we come from the stars, of course,” said the starfish proudly.
“You do?” said Tiptoes, surprised.
“Of course,” said the starfish. “Why do you think we are called starfish? Everyone knows that falling stars are baby starfish falling from heaven. We fall into the sea and that’s how we’re born. My mother told me when I was little, so it must be true.”
“By my wings,” said Tiptoes, impressed. “I never knew how special starfish were until now.”
“Oh, yes,” said the Starfish. “We are special in many ways. Did you know that we are the ones that make the waves? The waves come from all the splashing the shooting stars make when we land in the water.”
“That’s not true,” interrupted a small fish, swimming up to them. He was odd looking, with a tiny tail, a tubby body, and a pointy nose. He had long, bony side fins that he used to walk on the rocks when he wasn’t swimming, and he had squiggly patterns on his skin.
“Who are you?” asked Tiptoes.
“Grunt,” said the little fish. “Grunt Sculpin. Pleased to meet you. My mother told me the waves are made by all the fish in the sea waving their tails. That makes much more sense than starfish splashing.”
“It’s starfish falling from heaven,” said the starfish. “Definitely. We make big splashes.”
“It’s fish waving their tails,” said Grunt Sculpin, spiking up his spiny back. “It has to be fish.”
Tiptoes held up her hands to stop them arguing. “And I’m sure the waves are made by the wind fairies, but perhaps all of us are right. Maybe the waves are made by wind fairies and falling starfish and all the fish in the sea waving their tails. All of them make waves so why can’t they work together.”
“Well, I suppose,” said Grunt Sculpin, sending a bubble out of his mouth. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“Me neither,” said the starfish. “Perhaps you are right, but my mum’s not going to be happy.”
“Nor my mum,” said the Grunt Sculpin.
“Then mum’s the word,” said Tiptoes, and flammed out of the pool before they could start arguing again.
Chapter 20
Tiptoes meets Obaro again
It was late in the afternoon. The rain had stopped and Tiptoes had finished exploring the rock pools. She entered the cave and the sound of the surf fell away. She flew through the passage that Tom and June had dug and stood in the almost dark. Only a faint glimmer came from the opening—not enough to light the cavern. She picked up a few grains of sand and sang:
“Golden sand,
Full of light,
Shine for me
And fill the night.”
She tossed the sand into the air and the grains burst into golden light and lit the cave.
“Now stay!” she commanded and the grains of sand stayed floating in the air.
“That’s a nice trick, nice trick,” said an echoing voice.
It was Obaro.
“Thank you,” said Tiptoes. “It’s just a little spell.”
“If I could do it,” said Obaro, “I would have had some light now and then, now and then—me being here for such long ages and all, and all.”
“I suppose,” said Tiptoes, looking around. She wanted to explore the cave.
“Go ahead! Go ahead! Don’t mind me,” said Obaro.
Tiptoes blushed. She’d forgotten that Obaro could read her mind.
“It’s just that Tom found a pearl in here,” said Tiptoes. “I want to see what else there might be.”
“Lots if you could see it,” said Obaro, “and more if you could find it, find it.”
Tiptoes walked around. This chamber was bigger than the first; it too had a flat, sandy floor and smooth, water-worn walls. From the footprints she saw where Tom had explored by following the walls. In one place the sand was messy. That must have been where the pearl was.
“Yes,” said Obaro. “It was, it was.”
Tiptoes looked further but didn’t see anything. Perhaps that was all there was.
“No,” said Obaro. “It’s not, it’s not.”
Tiptoes searched some more but still didn’t find anything. It must be buried.
“Yes, it is, it is,” said Obaro.
“Where did the pearl come from?” asked Tiptoes.
“Oh, that’s a tale, a tale,” said Obaro in his echoey voice. “It was a long, long time ago. I told you I have been here a long, long time. Oh, the King of the Sea was mad about that necklace of royal pearls, royal pearls.”
Tiptoes opened her mouth.
“Yes, I will,” said Obaro. “I will,” and this is the tale he told.
Chapter 21
The Sea King’s fairest Daughter and how she broke the Law
Long, long ago,” said Obaro, “in the days when this cave was young, the Sea King had a daughter. She was the loveliest of all his daughters, and his favorite. Her hair was golden, but gleamed with an emerald sheen, and her eyes were deep, deep aqua-green, like the sea-green of the coral lagoons. She played in the waves and swam where she pleased, for the King hardly ever told her not to do something, and if he did she didn’t listen anyway and he never scolded her afterwards.
One day the Sea King’s daughter came home with sand in her hair. She had left the sea and played on a beach. This she was not meant to do. ‘Never leave the sea,’ the King had commanded his daughters, and all his daughters obeyed, except her. For the daughters of the King of the Sea are mermaids, and if they leave the sea they lose their tails while on the land. And even if they only leave the sea for a short time, they will long ever more to be human.
But the King’s fairest daughter did not listen to her father. She went to the beach and played on the sand and breathed the sea air. Then she returned to her cave at the bottom of the sea and sat and combed her golden hair. As she combed she never noticed the sand falling out of her hair and sinking to the floor.
The cave of the Sea King’s daughter was a royal cave and lined with oysters. Royal oysters they were, large and beautiful, with their shells wide open and glittering with mother-of-pearl to delight the eyes. O, how they gleamed silvery-white and all the colors of the rainbow. One by one each grain of sand sank into a royal oyster, and when it did the oyster closed. Then, from that grain, a pearl was made, a royal pearl, large and silvery and white and full of the colors of the rainbow.”
Suddenly Lucy barked and came into the cave. Behind him were Tom Nutcracker and June Berry. Quickly Tiptoes clapped her hands and the sand lights winked out. She looked back to Obaro but he had disappeared. So she stood to one side and waited.
Chapter 22
Pearls
Tom Nutcracker and June Berry crawled into the cave after Lucy. Their dad had let them come down to the beach as long as they were back by dusk.
“Stay here, Lucy. Sit!” said Tom, and Lucy lay down on the ground. He whined because he wanted to run about, b
ut he stayed where he was.
Tom and June squirmed into the second chamber.
“It’s so dark,” said June Berry. She was a bit afraid.
“Give me the candle,” said Tom.
June took the candle from her pocket and held it upright. Tom struck a match and lit it. She held it high. This room was twice the size of the first one. At the back it seemed to go on, but there the rocks were broken and they couldn’t go further. Carefully Tom and June walked about searching the floor.
“This is where I found the pearl,” said Tom. “It was half buried in the sand,” and he began to carefully sweep the sand away.
June Berry held the candle for him and watched. “How did a pearl get in here?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” said Tom, “but here’s another one!”
“Let’s see,” said June, taking it from his hand and wiping away the sand.
This pearl was as lovely as the first, though a little smaller. It had a delicate hole drilled through it, filled with fine sand.
“We’ll have to wash it clean,” said Tom, beginning to search again.
June Berry placed the candle in the sand and helped Tom look. They found six more pearls, all beautiful and of different sizes. June lined them up. The first they’d found was the largest; she put it in the middle. Then came three on either side, each one smaller than the one before. All of them had holes drilled through them.
“It’s a necklace,” said June. “I wonder who it belonged to?”
“I don’t know,” said Tom. “How could someone lose a necklace in here? This cave has been underground for ages.”
“They used to be on a string or chain,” said June Berry. “Let’s look for it.”
They searched until the candle went out, but couldn’t find it.
Chapter 23
Hide-and-Seek
After supper the Nutcracker family played a game of hide-and-seek. They decided, because the cottage was small, that the seeker had to wear a blindfold. That way the hiders could hide in the middle of a room as long as they stood still and were quiet. But when it was Farmer John’s turn he didn’t have an easy time. He searched and searched, but couldn’t find Tom and June anywhere. They’d curled up on the shelves in the linen closet and covered themselves with sheets.
Farmer John had even opened the door and felt around, but they’d stayed so still he hadn’t found them. At last he went to the kitchen and called out: “Who wants ice cream?” and before Tom and June could stop themselves, they cried “Me!” That’s how he’d found them.
“Not fair,” said June Berry, climbing off the closet shelf.
“I think so too,” said Tom. “You owe us an ice cream for sure.”
Farmer John laughed. “You guys love ice cream too much! That’s why you were found. What kind do you want?”
“Maple syrup!” they shouted, and Farmer John gave them a big scoop each.
Then they sat by the fire waiting for Tiptoes to show up.
“Dad, you’d better not fall asleep when Tiptoes tells the tale,” said Tom.
“I know,” said Farmer John. “I keep nodding off. But where is she?’
“Sometimes we have to call her,” said June Berry, and she sang out:
“Tiptoes Lightly,
Small as can be,
Won’t you come back
From the waves and the sea?”
“Here I am,” said Tiptoes, appearing out of nowhere. “But I wasn’t at the sea. I was visiting the ground squirrels along the bluff. They have so many tunnels I almost got lost.”
Farmer John and the children were on the sofa and Lucy lay on the rug beside the fire, so Tiptoes settled herself on the armchair again.
“You were going to tell us about the fire fairies,” said Tom.
“That’s right,” said Tiptoes, and Farmer John’s eyes slowly closed, but the children didn’t notice.
Chapter 24
Asherah’s Dance
Asherah the Earth Mother wandered amongst the trees,” said Tiptoes. “Kradak the Weighty had changed them forever. Now they were mixed with the soil of the earth: their trunks were brown, their limbs were brown, and so were their branches and twigs. They were bare and stark, like trees in winter, or after fire has swept through a forest.
Asherah wept and cried to the sun: ‘Oh, Brothers and Sisters of the Sun, what am I to do?’
Sister Vive replied: ‘The trees are still alive, Asherah. The life I gave them lives on. But you must hurry or they will die under Kradak’s heavy spell.’
Asherah wiped away her tears and put her ear to a tree. She heard, faintly, as if from far away, the rising waters in the wood, and felt the light and warmth still living in its limbs.
‘Oh, Star Father, Star Father, what am I to do?’ cried Asherah, to the Great Father amongst the stars.
‘Look about you,’ said the Star Father.
Asherah looked about.
‘All I see are trees as if dead,’ said Asherah.
‘Look further and see the living hues of the heavens,’ said the Star Father.
Asherah looked beyond the stark trees and saw the heavenly blue sky. She saw the sun shining so brightly. She reached up and took blue sky in her heart-hand. She reached up and grasped yellow sun rays with her hand-of-might. She held them in her hands—one blue, one yellow—and clapped.
Clap—clap—clap!
Out flew green leaves with her clapping.
Clap—clap—clap!
Out flew the leaves to the trees—hundreds and thousands of leaves flew to the trees from the clapping of her yellow and blue hands.
Asherah smiled and began to dance to her clapping. Clap-clap-clap! She moved her feet upon the ground. She moved them slowly and heavily, quickly and lightly, and from her dancing feet the earth spirits were born. They raced to the roots of the trees for they liked to be in the holy ground of the Earth Mother.
Asherah danced again. Clap-clap-clap! Her dress flowed like waves. Her arms flowed like water. Her body moved as lithe as liquid, and from her dance the water spirits were born. They poured out of Asherah’s dance into the trees and guided the waters of life that Vive gave to them.
Asherah danced again. Clap-clap-clap! She spun like a storm, her dress whirled like the wind and her hair flew. She sang, and the air spirits were born on the wings of her song. They flew to the trees and leaves and lifted them to Vallor’s light and let them breathe.
Asherah danced again. Clap-clap-clap she clapped fiercely and danced a fiery dance. Kalor surged in her blood, fire flew from her eyes, her feet shed sparks, and her dress flickered with red and orange flames.
‘Fly from my fire-word!’ cried Asherah, and the fire spirits flew from her words. They brought Kalor’s sun-warmth into the trees, they ripened the fruit and cooked the seeds, they painted the autumn leaves red and stored living fire inside the wood.
Asherah stopped dancing. O, when Asherah stopped dancing the world was changed forever. She looked. She saw beauty. All around was beauty—beauty before her, beauty behind her, beauty all round her. And there were trees with leaves, trees with flowers, trees with fruit abundant, and trees with warmth and strength in their wood.
The Star Father smiled. Kalor and Vallor and Sister Vive smiled. Asherah smiled and was pleased. Kradak’s rage had been transformed.”
“That’s how the fire fairies were born,” said Tiptoes to Tom. “That’s why there is so much fire and light inside the wood we burn on misty nights beside the restless ocean.”
Farmer John leaped up. His eyes were wild. “I saw a woman dancing,” he cried. “She was beautiful and the whole world danced with her.”
“You were dreaming the story,” laughed June Berry, hugging him. “You fell asleep again.”
“I did?” said Farmer John. “But it seemed so real!”
Chapter 25
The Lighthouse Keeper
That evening Tiptoes left Farmer John sitting by the fire after the children had gone to bed. She flew
northwards up the coast through a gentle rain. The waxing moon was hidden by the clouds and the night was almost pitch black. Far away, out beyond where the seals rested on the rocks, the lighthouse lamp turned round and round. Over the salty waves Tiptoes flew, spray splashing in her face.
She reached the island and circled the lighthouse. The island was not much more than a rock sticking out of the sea and washed by the waves forever pounding against it. The windows were lit, and by the light over the door she saw a patch of sea grass blowing in the wind. Further away she saw a small boat by the landing. Tiptoes wondered why anyone would want to live in such a place. It must be lonely, with never a soul to visit or pass the time of day.
She flew to the door and knocked. Knock-knock-knock! Knock-knock-knock!
Nobody answered.
She knocked again—knock-knock-knock! … and still nobody answered.
She was about to fly in the keyhole when the door opened.
“Who’s there?” asked the light-house keeper.
“It’s me,” said Tiptoes. “I’ve come to pay a visit.”
The keeper peered around, trying to see where the voice was coming from, but couldn’t find anybody. He scratched his head.
“I could have sworn I heard a voice,” he muttered.
“You did!” said Tiptoes, flying in front of his face. “Here I am! Here I am!”
The lighthouse keeper’s jaw dropped open. “A talking butterfly!” he gasped.
“No, you silly,” said Tiptoes. “I’m a fairy! Can’t you see?”
The keeper looked her up and down. “So you are!” he exclaimed. “I thought you were a butterfly.”
“Not me,” laughed Tiptoes. “May I come in for a visit?”
“Of course, little fairy,” said the keeper. “Please come in. I don’t normally have such tiny visitors. I’d give you tea, but I don’t have teacups small enough for you.”