by Down, Reg
“I’m starving,” said June Berry.
“I’m starving,” said Tom.
“I’m starving,” said Farmer John.
“Woof-woof,” barked Lucy and he pawed at his food bowl.
So they fed Lucy, got back into the car and had supper at a pizza place in Summer’s Fort. By the time they returned the mist was heavy and wet and the moon shone pale and faint overhead. Farmer John lit the fire while Tom and June put on their pjs and brushed their teeth.
When they got to the living room Tiptoes was waiting for them. They snuggled up to their dad and she asked what they wanted to hear about.
“Cowboys,” said Tom. He was still excited about galloping on the beach with Jo.
“No,” said June. “You’ve already had your turn. I want to hear more about Asherah and the sun-seeds.”
“Okay,” said Tiptoes. “There are thousands of tales I could tell, but since I have told you about the trees I will tell you about the other kingdoms too,”—but hardly had she opened her mouth when Farmer John’s head slowly sank to his chest as he fell asleep.
“On the sun lived Kalor the Hot, Vallor the Light, and Sister Vive the Living. Sister Vive had a garden, and in the garden was the Tree of Life. It was like a pomegranate tree, with slim branches, delicate leaves and large round fruit. But it was not like any tree on earth for it was made of golden light. And not only that, this tree had one, and only one, fruit in a season.
Sister Vive sat in her garden underneath the pomegranate tree. She was waiting for the pomegranate to ripen. It was taking a long time. She sighed and thought about the pomegranates before it. The first had been the biggest when the baby earth was nothing but a big ball of Kalor’s hotness. When she cast the pomegranate seeds down to the earth they became the rocks of many kinds.
The second pomegranate was a bit smaller. Sister Vive cast its seeds down on the earth after Kalor and Vallor complained that the world looked too bald. These seeds become the plants and trees.
In the third season the pomegranate was even smaller. When Sister Vive cast the seeds upon the earth they became the animals. If a seed landed on the plains it became a buffalo or a giraffe or a lion. If it landed in the sea it became a fish or a dolphin or a whale. If it sank into the ground it became a mole or a gopher or a worm. And if it didn’t land at all it became a bird flying in the air.
That is what had become of the pomegranate seeds in the other seasons, and they had all ripened properly. This time Sister Vive waited and waited. She got impatient and danced around the tree—but this made no difference. She sang songs and told tales—but this made no difference. She made music with her wonderful lyre—but even this did not make any difference. The fruit stayed small and grew slowly.
Finally Asherah the Earth Mother called up from the earth: ‘Sister Vive, Sister Vive, the season is passing! Where are the seeds?’
‘The fruit is slow and small,’ Sister Vive called back. ‘It doesn’t look ripe.’
‘If you wait any longer the season will pass and it will be too late,’ said Sister Asherah. ‘Cast them now or they will be lost.’
So Sister Vive plucked the pomegranate and opened it.
‘These are strange seeds,’ she declared when she saw them.
‘What are they like?’ called Asherah from the earth. ‘What do you see?’
‘Oh, they are strange indeed,’ said Vive. ‘Each seed is different: some are tiny, some are big, some are bright and some are only sparks. This fruit didn’t ripen properly.’
But it was too late. She couldn’t close the pomegranate and hang it on the tree again. So she scooped out the seeds and cast them down upon the earth in the dark of night. Oh, what a night of falling stars that was, with big stars and little stars shooting through the sky! Some were so bright they lit the world about them. Others only glowed like fireflies. Down, down they fell through the night sky—but they never touched the earth. In the air they floated, over water, over land, and over ice.”
“What were they?” asked Tom.
“Those were the first human beings,” said Tiptoes, “or at least most of them. Some were too big and too ripe to become human beings, and others were too small and unripe.
Asherah the Earth Mother looked at her new children. She didn’t know whether to smile or frown. ‘What is this that Sister Vive has sent me?’ she said, scratching her head and wondering. But it was too late and Asherah knew it. She knew she had no choice but to love all of them, big and small, bright and dim, slow or fast, for they were now her children.”
“And this is what she did,” said Tiptoes, “and still does—though sometimes she gets impatient with human beings when they destroy nature without reason.”
Farmer John’s head lifted and he woke up. “I dreamed I was a light,” he said. “Long, long ago I was a light. I came from the sun and I was clothed in gold.”
“You were dreaming the story,” said Tom, patting his arm. “You fell asleep again.”
“So I did, so I did,” said Farmer John, stretching. He sat thinking about his dream. Then he stood up, lifting Tom and June with him. “Now it’s your turn to sleep and dream that you are made of light and clothed in gold,” he said, and took them to their room.
Chapter 32
How the Pearls came to the Treasure Cave
After the children had gone to sleep Tiptoes went out into the sea mist and down to the shore. The tide was in and swirling around the sea stacks, and the almost full moon had risen higher in the sky. A loon cried its lonely cry in the darkness as Tiptoes slipped into the cave and called Obaro.
“Obaro, Obaro,” she called, and he appeared, glimmering faintly in yellows and browns in the dark.
“Yes, my little Fairy-Full-Of-Questions-and-Questions,” said Obaro.
“Tell me about the necklace of pearls,” said Tiptoes. “How did they come to be here?”
“Oh, you are curious,” said Obaro, “so, so curious—but I will tell you. All this happened long, long ages ago. Remember, little fairy, the King of the Sea is as old as the oceans and seas and will remain with us until they are gone. Time passed and time passed and the King’s fairest daughter must always wear the necklace. She became known as the Mermaid with the Pearl Necklace. She grew to be a young woman—for she was hardly out of willful childhood when she first went to the beach. She grew more lovely every year and the necklace made her lovelier still.
The Sea King’s daughter never went back to the beach or the land of men. And even though, often and often, she longed to feel the sun on her face and the wind in her hair, the necklace reminded her of her shame and she put the thought out of her mind.
As time went by the Sea King’s daughter grew so lovely that she outshone all her sisters, both younger and older. Many had no envy and loved her. They said the necklace was her shame and took away from her beauty. They treated her kindly.
But others grew jealous of her beauty and the pearl necklace she wore. ‘Let us ask to wear the necklace for a moment,’ they said to each other. ‘Once we have it we will flee and hide it away.’
So they went to the Sea King’s favorite daughter. They flattered her, and told her how beautiful she looked, and asked would she share, just for a moment, some of her beauty by letting them try on her necklace. They spoke so sweetly and with such innocence that the King’s daughter slipped the necklace from her neck and gave it to them. In an instant they swam away. They took the necklace to an underground river which flowed into the sea deep beneath the waves. Up the river they swam, and there in a dark cave they hid the necklace.
The Sea King’s daughter lived in fear. She dreaded meeting her father and stayed hidden and out of sight.
‘Where is my beautiful daughter?’ asked the Sea King after a while. ‘I have not seen her for many tides.’
‘We have not seen her,’ said all her sisters—and this was true, for she had told no one where she was hiding.
More tides passed and still the King’s daughter hid herself
away for fear of meeting her father.
‘Where is my daughter, my beautiful one?’ the restless King asked again, and again he received the same reply.
But one of the jealous sisters whispered in his ear: ‘Perhaps she has taken off her royal necklace and loves you no more. Perhaps she has gone to the land of men.’
The King became furious. He raged and raised his voice: ‘May the necklace round her neck find a deep place, a hidden place in the land of men.’
The earth shook and shuddered. Mountains fell, mountains rose, and the river cave was raised above the salty waters and lay buried deep inside a mountain.
“That’s how this cave got here,” exclaimed Tiptoes. “I couldn’t understand why it was so water-worn when there is no river near by.”
“Yes, yes,” said Obaro. “Long ago this cave was under the sea, and then under the inland mountains—but the sea is always hungry for its own and it eats at the coast. Now at last the cave is uncovered and the pearls see the light of day, of day.”
“What happened to the King’s daughter?” asked Tiptoes.
“That is a different tale, a different tale entirely,” said Obaro. “And I, even I who have been here so long, so long, don’t know the end of it, the end of it,” and he closed his eyes and left the cave empty and dark.
Chapter 33
~ Wednesday ~
The Landwife, the Seals, and the Golden Chain
The next morning the sea mist clung to the shoreline and mountains. The wind was gone and the sound of the surf had fallen to a gentle hush.
“Why don’t you check to see if there are any seals hauled out on the rocks,” said Farmer John looking out the kitchen window. He was at the sink, cleaning a huge pile of vegetables. “The mist is hanging about, but it should be sunny later on and we can go to the beach.”
Tom and June were eating granola in the living room where Farmer John had lit a fire to take the chill off the air.
“Can we bring Lucy?” asked Tom.
As soon as Tom spoke Lucy came rushing in from the kitchen wagging his tail. He knew what ‘bring Lucy’ meant.
“He’ll love to be out,” said Farmer John. “Just don’t let him off the leash; he could run onto the rocks and chase the seals. Even worse, he might bite a yearling, they’re still quite small.”
Tom and June hiked along the trail that followed the bluffs. Mostly the land was flat and covered with wild meadow grass and weeds. Here and there carpets of ice plants dotted with late yellow or magenta flowers blanketed a sandy slope or spilled over the bluff. Further from the bluff’s edge clumps of blackberry thickets huddled bare and leafless. Beyond them grew windswept evergreen trees leaning away from the shore. Lucy strained on his leash and Tom had to hold on tight. When Lucy was excited, June Berry wasn’t strong enough to hold him back. He sniffed at everything and whined and tugged when he saw the ground squirrels poking their heads out of their burrows.
“Where are you going?” asked Tiptoes, suddenly appearing.
“To see the seals—and sea lions if we’re lucky,” said Tom.
“Oh, good. I’ll come too,” said Tiptoes. “The tide is out and I bet we’ll be lucky. Maybe we’ll see the merman’s landwife too—even the merman himself.”
“What’s a merman?” asked June Berry.
“He’s like a mermaid—except he’s a man,” said Tom.
“He’s a merguy,” laughed June Berry. “Or a merbloke.”
“Or a merchap,” said Tom.
“Even a merfellow,” said Tiptoes.
“But what’s a landwife?” asked Tom. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“That’s when a merman marries a human woman,” said Tiptoes. “That’s where seals come from.”
“Huh?” said Tom, frowning. “I don’t get it.”
“I just heard the tale myself,” said Tiptoes. “I met a seal out at sea and she told me. She said that right around here, in the days when the Pomo Indians lived on this shore, a young woman was fishing off the rocks with her two dogs. She fell in love with a merman and followed him into the water. Her dogs whined and ran about the shore. They barked and howled pitifully, but the woman never came out of the ocean. The tribe called the dogs away from the water, but they wouldn’t come. They tied them up in the village, but they chewed through the rope and ran back to the shore. They kept plunging into the sea and swimming under the water, trying to find their mistress. Slowly they changed shape and became seals. Now they can swim far from land and dive deep under the waves, but they must always come back and rest on the shore. And when you hear them bark, they are barking for the landwife that followed the merman into the sea.”
“Perhaps we’ll hear them barking today,” said Tom. “The rocks are at the end of this meadow.”
They were crossing a large, flat meadow that jutted into the sea. At the point were the flat rocks where the seals and sea lions hauled out. Here the bluff was low, but signs asked that everyone stay off the rocks, and all dogs had to be on a leash. They stopped and looked down.
“There’s one,” said June. “Far out, close to the crashing waves.”
Tom looked. It took a while to see it because its fur was dappled.
“That’s a harbor seal,” said Tom. “And there’s another just below him.”
They searched and spotted more. Sometimes they didn’t see one until it moved or Tiptoes pointed it out. Once in a while a seal would scoot into the waves or climb out of the sea. When they were on land they looked so awkward, rocking and shuffling about like fat sausages. The children looked for sea lions, but none were there.
Tiptoes left to go exploring and Tom and June walked further until they came to the wide bay where they galloped the day before. Here the tide was strong and swept along the shore. Far out was the lighthouse on its rocky island. It was barely visible through the mist.
“See, there’s a boat leaving the lighthouse,” said Tom shielding his eyes. “Someone must live there.”
The boat was small and open, but it moved quickly over the waves. It headed southward, disappearing and reappearing in the mist.
“I bet he’s headed to Summer’s Fort,” said June Berry. “Perhaps he’s going to get his Thanksgiving turkey.”
On the way back they stopped at the cave. This time they let Lucy crawl into the back chamber with them. Tom had found another candle stub in a drawer and they wanted to continue searching. As Tom struck a match and lit the candle Lucy sniffed around the spot where they’d found the pearls. Then he started to dig furiously.
“What are you after?” asked June Berry, holding the candle over him.
“Woof,” said Lucy, scratching with his paws.
June Berry knelt down and handed the candle to Tom. She peered into the hole.
“Stop, Lucy,” said June, pulling him back. She reached in and felt around. Then she pulled out a delicate golden chain.
Chapter 34
The Wave and the Cousins
Tiptoes left Tom and June and flew out to sea. The mist hung low over the water. There was no wind to blow it away and the sun was still freshly over the mountains. The sea was calm except for the huge swells forever marching across the ocean towards land. Tiptoes followed one for a while.
“Where are you going?” she asked the great wave.
“To make a splash,” said the swell. “The bigger the better.”
“Where did you come from?” asked Tiptoes.
“A hundred puffs of wind, three storms and the wiggle of a whale’s tail,” said the wave.
“How about a fishes’ tail?” asked Tiptoes.
“Thousands of those,” said the wave, “both big and small.”
“And what about falling stars?” asked Tiptoes.
“Oh no, not me,” said the wave, “but my brother behind me has the splash of a star.”
Tiptoes followed the wave as it came closer and closer to the shore. It rose. Bigger it became, its head crowned with white. It curled, it crashed, it bellowed like a b
ull and swirled foaming over the rocks and around the rocks and onto the rocky shore and that was the end of the sea wave.
A gentle sea wind picked up and began to blow the mist away. It carried Tiptoes along the rocky shore to the sandy beach. As soon as she saw the battleship Invincible she turned inland. In a moment she came to the cottage beside the wind blown pines. The lemon tree looked so festive with its bright green-yellow lemons. In the driveway sat Farmer John’s car. Another car she had never seen before was parked beside it.
Tiptoes heard chattering coming from an open window. She flew to the windowsill and looked in. On the living room floor were two children, one much younger than the other. The younger one was a boy, and the older one a girl—about June Berry’s age; she even looked a bit like June Berry. These were their cousins. They must have come for Thanksgiving—but it wasn’t until tomorrow. The children were playing with alphabet blocks made of wood and the girl was trying to teach the boy the alphabet. He was putting one block on top of the other and singing the alphabet song:
“A, D, C, P, E, F, B –”
“No! No! No!” laughed the girl, taking the blocks apart and rebuilding them. “It’s:
“A, B, C, D, E, F, G!”
“Okay,” said the boy, knocking the blocks down and rebuilding them.
“A, B, E, D, I, C, Fairy!”
“I, C, Fairy!” cried the girl. “There’s no letter called Fairy!”
“Not the alphabet,” said the boy. “On the windowsill—I see fairy!” and he pointed to Tiptoes.
The children jumped up and looked at Tiptoes.
“Hello,” said Tiptoes.
The children’s eyes turned big and round, then they turned and ran into the kitchen.
“Gramma! Gramma!” they cried. “There’s a fairy on the windowsill! She spoke to us!”
