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

and the voices became unbearably loud. She started to shiver with fear. Suddenly she was whisked away and up and all was quiet again. The silence seemed to linger and Luna dared to poke her little head out of her shell again. This was not the hot sand under her foot any more she felt, but a soft surface with deep trenches. She was able to see through one of these trenches that she was hovering far above the sandy beach. She did not know what she liked better: the hot sand or being this high up above ground. Curiously she lifted her head and immediately froze, as if carved in ice. She had never before seen such colossal creatures. And those big eyes. They could not be fish, as those only lived in the water. So, what kind of giants were they?



And then there were these loud voices again and Luna quick as a flash withdrew into her shell.
Oh Lord, would she be eaten now? Would they hurt her? Would she ever see the ocean again?
Luna believed herself about to depart forever into snail heaven. She could not understand what the giants were saying, they spoke a language unknown to her. Why, oh why had she not listened to the lobster in the first place??
Of course Luna did not understand human speech, the language Saskia and her dad were speaking. Saska had found Luna on the beach in the sand and picked her up. She was holding Luna in her hand to find out if the shell was still inhabited. And it was. There was a small snail inside, looking out very shyly. “Daddy, look! there is a tiny snail in here! We have to save it!“ Saskia screamed as her father hurried towards her. “Hmm,“ he said, “yes, we really need to help here.“ “Shall we carry it back to the sea?“ Saskia suggested. “Only carrying it back to the water may not be enough, the waves may return it back to the shore again soon.“ her dad replied. “The further out into the sea we take it, the better the chances that the waves will not bring it back.“ “But how? We don’t have a boat!“ Saskia remarked with a serious face. “Well, then we will have to throw it as far out as we can.“ Her dad suggested. Not completely convinced, Saskia agreed with a nod. Carefully she carried Luna back to the sea and handed her to her father. He took her, took careful aim and and threw her as far as he could out into the ocean. Saskia closed her eyes and implored the guardian angel in charge of tiny snails to assist this little snail‘s safe return to sea. As Saskia opened her eyes again, she saw the shell disappear in the sea.

A New Friend

Luna felt a hard impact accompanied by a loud splashing sound. Soon after she felt herself descending very softly. Luna felt she had landed in cotton wool. All pillowy and soft. She crawled out of her shell and, lo and behold, all around was water again. She tested the ground with her foot, looking forward to the wonderful sensation of wet sand.

But another surprise!

What she felt was not sand, or coral, but something entirely new. Somehow the surface felt rough and dry. She looked down and saw that she had landed on something like a flat stone, a kind of slab. “Who’s that? tickling my back?“ she heard from below. Wow, I have never before met a stone that can talk, thought Luna. But when the stone began to turn she understood – it was no stone after all. And again said the voice from below. “Hello, hello, little snail, where have you come from?“ Luna looked down – into two eyes protruding from the stone, watching her.

“I came flying,“ said Luna.

The two eyes widened. “A flying snail, never before have I met a snail that can fly,“ said the mysterious creature. “No, no, no! I can‘t fly, I was thrown.“ Luna explained. “Unheard of.“ Said the creature and asked Luna for her name. Luna introduced herself and and gave a brief summary of her adventure in the undertow, and how she had been washed ashore, of course she also mentioned the giants that had returned her to sea.





“Wow, you have been really lucky! only few creatures of the sea ever returned from land.“ the creature was impressed. “And who are you?“ asked Luna. “Oh, I am Kurt the blue-spotted ribbontail ray. I just wanted to have a bit of a break when you landed on me.“ replied Kurt. Luna looked down, and indeed, Kurt had spots all over his body. Luna‘s curiosity became mixed with a bit of fear when she also discovered that Kurt possessed a long sting. Maybe he was not all that nice after all??? When Kurt noticed Luna‘s sceptical glance he said in a calming voice. “Yes, yes, I know, that sting is quite large, but I only need it for self-defence.“ Phew, Luna was relieved. “Kurt, is it because of me that your body is so flat.“ Luna was a bit worried. She felt Kurt starting to shake below her foot.“Hey, I loved that!!! nonono, I have been that flat before you landed on me. Wow again, this is hilarious! Wow, wow, wow, all my cartilage skeleton is convulsed with laughter, how rare a treat!“
“You know, I am this flat, because it is better for hiding in the sand.“ “But, are you a fish?“ Luna asked Kurt “Yes, I belong to the cartilaginous fishes, like sharks, you know.“ “Me too, I don’t have bones either.“ Luna remarked. “Well, I do have bones, of sorts, but their make is are a bit different from the one of most other fishes. With sharks, and us, it is cartilage, not bone.“ Kurt explained.




They fell silent for a moment.

“What now?“ Kurt asked Luna. Luna noticed what she most desired in her heart was to return home, and asked Kurt if they were very far from her coral reef. Kurt calculated for a moment and explained that it would be about a two to three day‘s journey for a snail. Kurt saw that Luna felt all sad. She had not believed herself that far away from home.

“You know, Luna, I am going to take you there. ‘Flying‘ with me it will be not more than half a day‘s journey – for this snail.“
Luna beamed with joy – up to the tips of her little feelers. Kurt asked her to buckle up – or down - to make herself comfortable for the journey and took off.

Now Kurt and Luna flew over sanddrifts and coral reefs - and now they crossed a garden of garden eels, which looked like giant earthworms, flabbergasted they gaped at the flying snail, never before had they seen such a thing.





When they were heading for a school of featherfin coralfish, Kurt dipped down steeply to avoid a clash, and whipped past under them.

There can be nothing better than gliding like this, Luna was overwhelmed with joy.



The Return Home

Luna saw so many breathtaking sights during her ‘flight‘ and the speed and the dashing was so much fun that she now wished the journey would take a bit longer, forever really.

But as all good things, their trip, too, had to come to an end at some point, and Kurt soon started to descend. Just before they had dived right through a yellow cloud of little fish and Luna just had to cheer loudly. Very softly Kurt touched down in the sand just before the reef. “Little Luna, you are home again,“ said Kurt “I hope you enjoyed your flight!“ “Kurt, it was so wonderful, I would so love to continue.“ Luna sighed. At this moment Luna heard someone shout her name, loudly.

When she turned she saw Pauli and Paula dashing towards her. They both looked a bit pale around their beaks.

“Luna, Luna, you are back!!“ “We missed you sooo much!“ “Suddenly you were gone!“ “We tried to warn you, but somehow you did not hear us!“ Pauli and Paula were reeling with excitment. Kurt cleared his throat to attract Luna‘s attention.

“Dear little Luna, I now must be returning to my sand bar. Please do take very good care of yourself. I very much hope we will meet again, flying together is so much more fun.“ “Thanks a million! for your great help and the wonderful, wonderful flight.“ Luna replied, a bit saddened. Kurt took off and waved farewell to Luna again with his sting.




Pauli and Paula gaped at him and Luna and him with open beaks, and watched Kurt gliding off elegantly.

Pauli bombarded Luna with questions and more questions. Who that had been just now, where she had been all that time, what had happened to her.

And Luna told her friends all about her dangerous adventure. At nightfall they found themselves a cozy safe crack in a rock to hide – and the stories continued there.

When their little eyes became heavy they cuddled together for the night and together they dreamt of more adventures to come.

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Imprint

Text: Illustration Angelika Zobel Text and picture editing Heike Siewert All copyrights by Heike Siewert Translated from the German by Eva Schätz
Publication Date: 11-06-2008

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Every day is an exciting experience!