The Treasure Cave: sea tales of Tiptoes Lightly by Reg Down

sank
from sight. Below her the great rollers marched over the ocean deep, and she
could feel the strength and vastness of the sea. The wind blew—forever and
forever the wind blew. It told her of lands she had never seen; distant lands
soaked in the sun or covered in ice and snow.
    She looked
into the water; Tiptoes’ eyes could see deep into the water. She saw fish
swimming in schools: mackerel, sardines, salmon, tuna and swordfish with long
pointy noses. She spied a pod of playful dolphins sporting in the distance.
Then the waves began to churn. A power moved through the ocean, a great power
and Tiptoes could feel it. The schools of fish fled and scattered, and the
dolphins dived for the deep. Out of the waves the King of the Sea rose with a
crown of glittering gold and a spear with three points in his hand. He searched
the horizon from north to south, and from east to west. Suddenly his gaze fell
on Tiptoes. She felt very small.

    “Have you seen
her?” the King of the Sea boomed. His voice was like waves crashing on cliffs
and the wind sighing in the rocks.
    “Who?” asked
Tiptoes in a tiny voice.
    “The one I
seek—my loveliest daughter,” said the King of the Sea. “I have searched the
deeps and the shallow waters. I have searched the mountains miles below the
waves. I have searched the underwater caves and coral lagoons. I have searched
within forests of tangled weeds and amongst the seals and dolphins. Nowhere
have I seen her.”
    “I haven’t
seen her either,” said Tiptoes. “What does she look like?”
    The King of
the Sea glowered and raised his spear of three points. “She is beautiful like
the sea when the moon is rising; lovely as the ocean when the sun is glowing;
delicate as a breath of wind upon still waters. She must come home, home to her
palace under the waves.”
    “I’ll tell her
if I see her,” said Tiptoes. “But I don’t usually come this far out to sea. I
live in a tree beside a river.”
    “Tell my
daughter her father is calling,” cried the King of the Sea. “Tell her my home
is waiting. Tell her the Sea King commands her return,” and he turned and sank
beneath the waves.
    Then the ocean
churned no more, the fish stopped fleeing, and the dolphins came up and
breathed fresh air.

Chapter 28
    How
the Sea King found the Royal Pearls
    Tiptoes flew
back towards the land. The mountains rose into sight and so did Summer’s Fort.
She saw the lighthouse, slim and delicate, and the seal rocks and the beach.
She saw Farmer John walking with Lucy, and she flew low over Castle Ragged and
Castle Jagged. Tom and June were standing on top of Castle Ragged, waving their
swords and shouting at the top of their lungs.
    “I wonder what
those two are doing?” thought Tiptoes, but she didn’t stop to find out. She
flew on to the cave and went inside.
    “Obaro ...
Obaro,” called Tiptoes. “Are you home?”
    “I am always
and always at home, at home,” said Obaro appearing in the half light.
    “You have to
finish your story of the pearls,” said Tiptoes. “What happened after they were
seeded from the sand that fell from the Sea King’s daughter’s hair?”
    “Oh, yes. The
pearls, the pearls,” said Obaro, his colors changing as he dug deep into his
memory. “Yes, the pearls, the precious ones. I will tell you of the pearls.”
    Obaro became
still and his eyes turned inward. From far, far away he began the tale.

    “Time went on
and time went on and the pearls grew in beauty and size. The mermaid princess
never went back to the sandy beach, but in her heart she found herself longing
to see the other world again, the world of solid land and men. Often and often
she remembered sitting in the warm sun and how the breeze touched her face and
played with her hair.
    ‘Why does my
father despise the world of land and men?’ she thought. ‘It seemed fair to me,
and as beautiful as ours,’—but she hid these things away in her heart and never
told anyone, not even her sisters.
    One