Some children are just like the penguin in this story. They seem to know about family and where everyone belongs. They are remarkable children and make for loyal and faithful friends.
Penguin was a very clever fellow. In particular, Penguin was a brilliant navigator. He could journey across both land and sea. He knew where everything was in Sky, and that is how he found his way around. Penguin understood where everyone belonged and was always able to find anyone who was lost.
One morning Penguin looked up at Sky and noticed emptiness was showing through in big patches. Everything had moved about and Penguin felt confused.
‘Sky, why are you losing your colour?’ asked Penguin. ‘And why is everything in the wrong places?’
‘I am worried,’ Sky confided to Penguin, ‘I don’t know what is happening and it seems to be getting worse. If it keeps spreading, we will all disappear into the emptiness!’
‘This is serious,’ said Penguin.
Penguin set off to look for the blue by following where the emptiness was at its strongest. He climbed up to the top of a huge iceberg and looked out to sea. Suddenly, he heard a big splash and looked around to see an enormous whale leaping into Sky. Each time the whale came out of the water it spun around and wrapped itself in Sky, taking with it some of the blue.
‘Whale,’ Penguin called out, ‘what are you doing?’
Whale was startled and hid under the water. Penguin waited and waited for Whale to re-surface. Finally, Whale lay on his side close to the water’s edge so he could see if Penguin was still there.
‘I can see you, Whale,’ said Penguin. ‘Don’t be scared, come and talk to me and I will help you.’
Whale came up alongside Penguin. He was the strangest looking whale Penguin had ever seen. He had blotches of blue all over his large grey body.
Whale began to tell Penguin his story. Whale had been alone for a very long time. When he was a young whale, he had often gotten lost because he went off exploring on his own. He would miss the big whale journeys across the seas and his family would have to go searching for him. One day however, he ventured too far and was lost completely. Ever since, he had been searching the oceans for his family. The big grey whales had disappeared and Whale thought he was the only one left. He had almost given up all hope when he had an idea.
‘I haven’t been able to find my own family,’ Whale explained to Penguin. ‘I thought if I turned myself into a blue whale instead, I might be able to have a new family. I have seen some blue whales swimming past and I thought I could join them.’
Penguin felt so sorry for Whale. ‘I will help you find your family,’ said Penguin, ‘but you must stop taking the blue from Sky. Look up, Whale. The holes in Sky are getting bigger and soon the emptiness will take over and we will all be lost forever!’
‘I am so sorry,’ said Whale, ‘I didn’t realise I was destroying Sky. I thought there was so much blue that Sky wouldn’t notice.’ Whale started to cry.
‘It’s all right, Whale. I understand. But we will have to find a way to put the blue back,’ said Penguin. ‘If I am going to find your family, all the things in Sky must be in their rightful place.’
‘I have an idea,’ said Whale.
Whale told Penguin what to do. Penguin climbed onto Whale’s back and started scraping the blue off his skin. Penguin put the blue carefully into the breathing hole on top of Whale’s head.
‘Let’s see if this works,’ said Whale. ‘Stand back, Penguin!’
Whale took a big gulp of water and a deep breath. With all his might he blew the blue out of the blowhole up into Sky.
‘Wow,’ said Penguin, ‘that was amazing!’ They continued painting Sky until all the emptiness was gone. Sky looked beautiful and everything returned to its rightful place.
Sky was so relieved and happy. ‘I am glad everything is back to normal,’ Sky said with a big sigh.
‘Not quite,’ said Penguin. ‘Now we have to find Whale a family.’
‘I can swim long distances and am quite fast,’ said Whale. ‘I can help.
‘Of course you can. We will find them together. We are family now too, you know!’ said Penguin.
‘I seem to remember watching a small grey whale swimming around in the Southern Ocean just a few days ago,’ said Sky.
‘Let’s hurry,’ said Whale, getting quite excited.
‘Now everything is back in its place, I can easily navigate our way across the ocean,’ said Penguin.
Penguin and Whale set off across the ocean as fast as they could, but they had a long way to go.
Whale started singing his beautiful whale song full of hope and love. Sky had an idea. He sent a gentle breeze to cradle the whale song and lift it up into the heavens. The fastest winds of all lived up there and they agreed to carry the song ahead of Penguin and Whale. This was much faster than leaving the song to travel through the water.
Sure enough, there was a small grey whale gently lolling about in the Southern Ocean. Small Grey Whale had been feeding and was preparing to swim the long voyage north. She was just about to set off when Sky sent the breeze down from the heavens to swirl around her.
She stopped and looked around. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing! She, too, had thought she was the only whale left. She was almost too scared to hope there was another.
‘Maybe I am dreaming,’ she thought to herself. She dived deep into the water but when she surfaced she could still hear the song.
‘It must be real,’ she thought. She frantically searched nearby but could not find another whale.
She was just about to give up hope when she felt the vibrations of the whale song through the water. She looked up and saw the strangest sight. A penguin was sailing across the water at great speed on the back of a big grey whale! Over the next few days there was great rejoicing and celebration.
‘I will never stray again,’ said Whale.
‘No, you won’t, because you will have me by your side,’ said Small Grey Whale.
‘And if you do,’ said Penguin, ‘you will always have me and Sky to find you.’