The Adventures of Luna the Little Sea Snail, Heike Siewert [ebook offline reader .TXT] 📗

closely at Luna. “The time when I was young and was still able to migrate south,“ replied the lobster. “But why do your relatives migrate south?“ “You know, most of the time my relatives live happily in nooks and crannies between rocks. But at the time of the Winter storms they leave their homes and migrate to deeper waters.
It is calmer there than where they come from, and warmer, too.





Every year they have been passing by here, and I travelled with them for some distance, and it was always such good fun! We are only distantly related, but we always got along really well.“ Luna was about to ask, how he meant “only distantly related“ when she noticed that lobsters and crawfish indeed looked a bit different. To start with, the lobster had two large claws which the crawfish were missing. But apart from that they really looked very similar. “If you want,“ Luna offered, “I can climb down and ask the crawfish to stop and wait for you. “This is really kind of you,“ replied the lobster “but at almost a hundred years of age I would hold them up forever.“

“Up until a few years ago I would have outraced them all, even though the oldest crawfish is only fifteen years of age, but now my good old armour creaks and squeaks a bit too much.“ Luna looked again at the trail of crawfish, which had by then moved on quite a distance, indeed was hardly to be seen at the horizon. Sometimes she could still hear a low: “Left, right: straight ahead“ until they disappeared completely from sight. The lobster heaved a low, melancholy sigh and looked thoughtful.

“Soon here, too, the Winter storms will be felt. I should start and find myself a nice and cozy crevice.“

“How do I know that Winter is coming?“ Luna asked.





“The current gets cooler and the undertow gets stronger then. At those times be very careful not to crawl too far up into shallow water, that can be really dangerous then. A great many of your relatives climbed into the undertow, never to be seen again.“ With these words he bade farewell to Luna, turned very slowly and climbed down the coral in very, very, very slow motion. Luna stayed on the coral to enjoy the sight a bit longer.She realized that the sunlight was getting weaker and weaker and then there was a different light and a soft silver shimmer. Luna looked up and saw a full moon. White and majestic the moon stood in the sky. Around her, stars began to sparkle, and Luna noticed she was getting tired. After all the adventures of the day she decided it was now time to leave the coral and look for a safe shelter for the night. Hardly was she down from her coral she had found a cozy little crack in a rock. She climbed in and had retired into her shell for the night, fast asleep within the wink of an eye.



A Restless Night

Luna woke with a start an crawled out of her shell drowsily. She did not know how long she had slept, or what had woken her, but something had disrupted her sleep. “Psssst, psssst, hey you, can you hear me?“ Luna rubbed some sand out of her eyes and tried to find out where the voice had come from.

And saw nothing.

Only the dark shadows of corals and stones on the sand. She was about to resolve to herself that it must have been something she dramt, when she heard the voice again. “Psst, psst, hey you, can you hear me?“ Luna scratched her head with her feelers and said into the darkness: “Yes, I can hear you, but I can not see you at all.“ There was a rasping and grinding sound on her right. At that moment the full moon broke free from behind the clouds, and then Luna saw it. The large stone in front of her began to move, moving slowly towards her. A stone that moved! how could that be true? a stone that lived? Looking again, more carefully, she saw two telescope eyes protruding, pointed at her.

A living stone? with telescope eyes?

No, it was a goliath conch which had withdrawn almost completely into its unbelievably large shell. Luna had to tilt her head back as far as she could and she could still hardly see the end of the telescope eyes. Suddenly she was frightened and drew back into her shell quickly. But there was that voice again and she could still hear it. “Pssssst, no need to be afraid.“




That was easier said than done. That snail out there was at least a thousand times bigger than her, thought Luna. “Psst, pssssst, I only want to talk to you!“ Luna crept out of her house very slowly and carefully, always looking around.“

“What kind of a funny snail are you?“ said the goliath conch. That’s when Luna lost her temper. “Well, not only did you wake me, now you are being rude, too? I am not a funny snail at all.“ Luna fumed.

“Psst!“ said the large snail, “don’t get upset like that! everybody is going to hear and come for us!“ “Don’t you call me funny then.“ Luna really was furious. “Look, I am sorry, but all normal snails are night-active, and that means that you should be looking for food now, and not sleeping.“ “But I have eaten, in the morning, why not sleep now?“ Luna said in surprise.

“See, that is what I mean, you are a bit different,“ whispered the goliath conch.

“Why are you whispering?“ Luna asked. “That’s because our predators are out at night, too, and we have to be very careful of other snails and fish, or they may eat us!“ Luna shuddered. Other snails wanting to eat her? Oh my, that had to be a misunderstanding, Luna thought. Or was this a trap? As if she had read Luna’s mind, the goliath conch said to Luna softly: “No, don’t you worry, I am not a predator!“



Suddenly the light changed from the white moon glow to a silvery gleam. Luna and the goliath conch looked up and saw a seemingly endless shoal of barracudas just below the water‘s surface. There were at least a hundred of them. The white moonlight was reflected by their silvery bodies and covered the entire reef with a magical shine. Luna caught her breath. Not only was this a marvellously breathtaking sight, Luna also knew instinctively she had to be very careful of these animals. The goliath conch withdrew into her shell completely, at a snail‘s pace, but soon not even her telescope eyes were to be seen. Luna was torn between wanting to hide and wanting to see more, and decided she did not want to miss this spectacular sight. She knew she had to be veeeery quiet and very still in order not to attract the barracudas‘ attention. Now the barracudas were swimming in a circle, as if dancing around the moon - and now they were gone, as fast as they had come. Indeed Luna had been very lucky the barracudas had not discovered her. Slowly the goliath conches telescope eyes emerged, carefully scanning around for any signs of barracuda. Then it spoke again: “You had better withdrawn into your shell, curiosity kills, snails too.“ Suddenly Luna became aware of the fact that she just had been very lucky, and did not know what to say. After this new adventure she felt very sleepy again, took her leave from goliath conch and withdrew into her shell to sleep.



A New Day

Luna awoke late the next day and felt tired still. The night had just been too short and too full of excitement and interruptions. The thought of the barracudas still sent shivers down her little back. Carefully she climbed out of her shell and held her little feelers into the current. Oh, how wonderful it felt to stretch and wiggle, but then again there was a loud rumble from her stomach. Luna looked around and saw the luscious green of algae and seaweed close by. The rays of the sun breaking though the waters surface dipped the weed once more into a brilliant shade of green. Luckily, this morning seemed to start well, better than the last night had ended. Happily Luna headed for the seaweed which looked just like blades of grass swaying in a soft breeze, the water‘s current rocking it softly. Luna selected a tender, richly green stem and took a hearty bite. Yummy! Luna savoured the weed as it was melting on her tongue. “This is a little bit of all right,“ Luna thought and wanted to continue her breakfast with a tender light green leaf. She pulled and plucked, but was unable to take a bite. And at that moment someone protested “Ouch!“ All puzzled Luna let go of the leaf. The thought that seaweed could speak, now, that came as a surprise to her. And then she saw it! That weed had two eyes, at this very moment meeting Luna‘s with furious disbelief.

“Fancy that: bitten by a tiny snail, unbelievable!“





“I am so sorry, Mr. Seaweed! or Mrs.?“ Luna stammered. And then the weed began to laugh. “Seaweed, you honestly mistook me for seaweed! I really like that!“ At that moment part of a plant came loose and lo! and behold! it was a sea horse, in perfect camouflage, looking exactly like a stem and leaves floating about, these sea horses are called leafy sea dragons.

It was an impressively beautiful sight.

“Do you still think I look just like any common plant?“ the leafy sea dragon asked again.

“Not now,“ Luna had to admit, “but before I really was unable to tell you from weed, and this is why we had that accident ...“ “I am not someone to hold a grudge for long. And I do assume this appearance so that my predators won’t easily discover me. Actually, our encounter has been proof that my camouflage seems to be perfect,“ said the leafy sea dragon with a grin. “And I do not hurt anymore, either.“

Phew, Luna was glad the leafy sea dragon was no longer angry with her. In fact, now it positioned itself in front of Luna, made a bow and introduced himself: “My name is Ferdinand Lord Leafy Sea Dragon. There has been a small misunderstanding between us, nevertheless, I am glad to make your acquaintance...“

“My name is Luna, the little murex, and I don’t know about Lords...“




Suddenly Luna felt that Ferdinand became distracted. And indeed, a small water flea was bobbing up and down in front of him. First Ferdinand squinted a bit, pursed his lips and, exactly like a vacuum-cleaner, sucked the water flea in.

And gone it was.

“Yummy, this is the way I would advise anyone to start a day!“ Ferdinand said contentedly. “Ferdinand, please tell me, are you a fish? what type of creature are you?“ Luna needed to know. “Indeed I am a fish. And what is more, I am the only fish able to swim upright.“ Ferdinand replied, visibly proud of himself. Luna noticed that yet another water flea had caught Ferdinands attention, now it was paddling past, now it was gone, sucked in by Ferdinand.

Luna tilted her head,