Just as Seal had said, the only animal in Whale Sea who got letters was Penguin. Most were from his girlfriend, but sometimes he got letters from his mother or father.
He had left his home on Penguin Island to live at Whale Point.
Whale Point was just a tiny bit of land that jutted out into Whale Sea.
Once, long ago, so many whales had lived in the sea that the water was black with them. Now, however, there was only one old whale left.
But he was no ordinary whale. He was Professor Whale of Whale Point School.
And Penguin was his student. There was no school on Penguin’s island, so he was studying abroad.
There were two reasons that Professor Whale was a teacher: because he was extraordinarily big and because he was extraordinarily old. In other words, because he was, quite simply, extraordinary.
And he was especially good at spouting. No one could spout like him.
Everyone clapped when he sent a magnificent spout high into the air. Privately, he had decided to retire from teaching when he could no longer spout like that.
But he did not need to worry yet. His spout was still stupendous.
Penguin was the only student in the school.
On this particular day, he was studying as usual. The topic was “the mysteries of the sea.”
“Describe the sea for me,” said Professor Whale.
“Why, it’s blue, sir,” Penguin answered.
“Blue? A good start! Bring me some seawater and show me.”
Penguin filled a bucket from the sea and took it to the Professor.
“Hmmm,” said the Professor. “What have we here? It doesn’t look blue at all.”
“What? That can’t be right.” But when Penguin looked into the bucket, it was true. In fact, the seawater was completely transparent. “That’s strange. Let me try again.”
But no matter how many times he tried, the water in the bucket was never blue. He looked first at the blue water in the sea, and then at the water in the bucket, and sighed. It just didn’t make sense.
At that very moment, Seal arrived. “Penguin, I have a letter for you.”
Penguin thought it must be from his girlfriend, but Seal said, “No, not today. This time it’s from someone new.”
“Really? Who?” Penguin asked.
“Someone whose name sounds a lot like yours. No, wait a minute. That was the delivery bird’s name… I don’t know who it’s from—but whoever it is, they want a reply. I’ll come back later to pick up your letter.”
And off he swam at great speed.
Penguin had never heard of Giraffe. And he had never heard of a neck either.
“Professor, do you know Giraffe, who lives in Africa?”
“Let me see. I think I’ve heard the name before.”
“Well then, do you know what a neck is? Giraffe says he has a long neck.”
“Hmmm, isn’t that the place under the head where it gets narrower?” The Professor did not seem too sure about this.
“Then where is your neck, Professor?”
“A brilliant question, Penguin! That’ll be your next lesson.”
In fact, the Professor did not know where his neck was either.
Penguin began examining the whale’s enormous body from head to tail. After some time he suddenly shouted, “Aha! I’ve found it!”
Penguin patted the narrow spot just before the Professor’s tail.
“Your neck must be here, sir, where it gets smaller. That means you have a VERY big head! In fact almost your whole body is head… Oh! Of course! That’s why you’re so smart!”
Penguin chattered away, very satisfied with his answer.
Although the Professor wasn’t sure that this was quite right, he was pleased to be called smart.
“Bravo! An excellent answer!” he cried, and blew a great spout into the air. He listened for applause, but there was only silence. Looking around, he saw that Penguin was staring into the sea with a thoughtful expression.
Penguin was gazing at his reflection in the water.
“Professor, where is my neck?”
But the Professor had no idea. “That’ll be your homework for today,” he announced. “School’s out!”
The sea turned from blue to orange. But Penguin was no longer thinking about the blue mystery of the sea. His neck was a much more important problem.
He turned his back to the setting sun and stared at his long shadow stretching out in front of him.
Just then, Seal swam up. “Hello there, Penguin! Did you write a reply?”
“A reply? Oh, I forgot. I wonder what I should write.” He must send something before the sun went down.
He wasn’t quite sure what to say, but he wrote a letter anyway, and Seal rushed back to give it to Pelican.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here’s your reply.” Seal showed him the letter.
But Pelican was busy eating.
“Mmmm. The fish here are pretty tasty…” Only after gulping down the last fish did he take the letter. Slowly, and a little clumsily, he flew up into the sky.
He had eaten a bit too much.
I’d like to come back here again, he thought as he left Whale Sea behind.
By the time he reached the savanna and the impatient Giraffe, he was exhausted. Then he saw Giraffe’s beaming face. It may have been a hard trip, he thought to himself, but it was worth it.