That was a long time ago. The sea was deeper then. The rocks are higher. Even the grass was greener. Only the poor lived poorly then, as now.
At that time, there lived a boy on one of the islands. The boy's name was Punia. He lived alone with his mother in a small hut. The hut stood on the seashore, not far from the reefs. Punia and his mother lived poorly. Taro roots and potatoes were their only food. Only on very rare days did they buy themselves some sugar cane or bananas.
Punia loved to sit on the seashore. There, in the caves between the reefs, lived lobsters. They were clearly visible through the clear water.
Punia was a good swimmer, but he had never dived for lobster. He was afraid of sharks. Sharks lived near the caves. There were nine of them. Each of them could swallow Punia whole. And in the mouth of the largest one - Kaemaena - an entire canoe could easily fit.
More than once little Punia wondered how he could outwit the sharks. And this is what he came up with.
At noon, when the sharks were sleeping at the bottom of the bay, Punia came to the sea. He sat down on the edge of the reef and began to dangle his legs in the water.
The splash of water woke up the sharks. Then Punia said loudly:
– I really want to catch lobsters. They are so delicious. The sharks are sleeping, and I have nothing to fear from them. And if they wake up, I know how to deceive them. That thinnest shark over there taught me this.
Punia took a large stone and threw it far into the sea with all his strength. The sharks rushed for the stone. They thought it was Punia who jumped.
While the sharks were looking for Punia in the place where the stone fell, he managed to dive and catch two lobsters.
When Kaemaena saw Punia on the shore with lobsters in her hands, she said:
“So it’s true that there is a traitor among us?”
And eight big sharks immediately ate the thinnest one, the ninth.
The next day Punia came to the sea again. He dangled his legs in the water and, when the sharks woke up, said loudly:
– The lobsters were very tasty. I'll catch two more today. The sharks are sleeping, and I have nothing to fear from them. And if they wake up, I know how to deceive them.
The biggest shark taught me this today.
Punia again took the stone and again threw it far into the sea. And while the sharks were looking for Punia where the stone fell, he managed to dive again and catch two more lobsters.
When Kaemaena saw Punia on the shore with lobsters in her hands, she flew into a terrible rage.
-Which of us is the biggest? – she asked in such a voice that the other seven sharks backed away.
Then the bravest, and perhaps the stupidest, of them said:
- Oh Kaemaena! You are the biggest!
Here the brave shark was so frightened by his own courage that he ran away. But it was too late: Kaemaena pounced on her and tore her in half.
On the third day Punia came to the sea again. He dangled his legs in the water and, when the sharks woke up, said loudly:
“I’ll catch two more lobsters today.” The sharks are sleeping, and I have nothing to fear from them. And if they wake up, I know how to deceive them. That shark over there with the broken fin taught me this today.
This time Punia didn't even have to throw a stone into the sea: as soon as Kaemaena heard Punia talking about a shark with a broken fin, she immediately pounced on it. And while the sharks were fighting among themselves, Punia managed to dive and catch two more lobsters.
Day after day Punia now came to the sea.
Every day he caught his lobsters, and every day the deceived Kaemaena ate one of the sharks.
And then the ninth day came.
Going to the sea this time, Punia took with him a large stick, pointed at both ends.
He dangled his feet in the water and, when Kaemaena woke up, said loudly:
“I’ll catch two more lobsters today.” Kaemaena is sleeping, and I have nothing to fear from her. And if she wakes up, I know how to deceive her. If only she didn't think of swallowing me whole. Then I won't be saved. But she's so stupid!
When Kaemaena heard Punia speak, she thought: “It’s good that this boy is such a talker! Now I know how to deal with him."
Then she opened her mouth as wide as possible and prepared to swallow Punia whole.
And that was all he needed! He clutched the stick tightly to himself and jumped from the reef straight into the large canoe-like mouth of Kaemaena.
And when Kaemaena tried to close her mouth, the sharp ends of the stick dug into her jaws. And Punia climbed over the high, reef-like teeth of Kaemaena and swam for the lobsters.
No matter how hard Kaemaena fought, she could not free herself from Punia’s stick. So she swam with her mouth open until she died of hunger.
That was a long time ago. But they say that even now sharks are afraid to swim to the shores of the island where little Punia once lived.
Translated and edited by L. Yuriev.
Drawing by O. Zotov.
Surprisingly, I myself didn’t notice how the word friend on the forum appeared in my vocabulary, maybe this is certainly not an ordinary or familiar friendship, but nevertheless it’s wonderful.
So, on one such forum there lives a beautiful girl, Lena, who writes fairy tales for her daughter. Although I don’t have children yet, the fairy tales seemed extraordinary even to me. What can I say, now you can see for yourself :)
Little tales of the big ocean.
A fairy tale about a little octopus, a grumpy cuttlefish and soap bubbles
Once upon a time there lived an octopus who loved to blow bubbles more than anything else. He collected sea foam, permeated with sunlight, filled the bubbles with sea air and the mysterious flickering of moonlight. The bubbles were unusual in size; from within they emitted a gentle, warm light.
All the inhabitants of the vast ocean loved the octopus for her kindness and ability to make everything around her beautiful and kind. Everyone loved him except the grumpy old cuttlefish. “What good are these meaningless balloons? Why are they having fun? There is nothing like a dark cave in the depths of the ocean. But as soon as you want to relax, you crawl there... And then there is laughter, glowing bubbles... Ugh!” - this is how the cuttlefish reasoned.
And then one day the cuttlefish decided to harm the little octopus. She quietly made her way to the place where he was making bubbles and blew ink into the sea foam. From then on, the bubbles that came out of the octopus were small and dull and did not glow. The little octopus got sick from grief.
There was no more fun and smiles in the big ocean. The ocean became silent and frozen. And the grumpy cuttlefish climbed into a dark cave and rested in the darkness. And then the friends decided to help the octopus. They sailed to where the sun sets. There was pink sea foam, gilded by the last glow of the setting sun. Then they sailed to where the moon silvered the surface of the ocean and filled the sea air with moonlight. They brought all this to the octopus. But when they tried to blow out the first bubble, it burst. Everyone is depressed...
Meanwhile, the grumpy cuttlefish rested and crawled out of the cave. "What's happened? Has something happened? Why is there silence? She decided to see what happened, swam closer and saw many inhabitants of the ocean. "What's going on here?" she asked.
When they told about the octopus, the cuttlefish felt ashamed and decided to help. She added colored ink to the sea foam and tried to blow a soap bubble... Everyone around froze, and... Oh miracle! The bubble turned out to be huge, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, glowing from the inside with a warm light. Everyone around was noisy and loud. The octopus opened its eyes to the noise, saw a large soap bubble and smiled.
From then on, the octopus and the grumpy cuttlefish became best friends. Together they collected sea foam, air and made beautiful soap bubbles. And again, laughter, fun, smiles and kindness settled in the big ocean.
A tale about a shark, a doctor turtle and delicious and healthy food
Everyone knows that sharks live in the ocean: big and small, very scary and not so scary. And then one day one of the sharks got sick. Her teeth hurt, her stomach hurt, and her temperature rose so high that the water around her was simply boiling. There was nothing to do, and no matter how afraid she was, she had to swim to the turtle doctor.
Well, my dear, what hurts us? – asked the turtle doctor, looking sternly at the shark from under her glasses.
- Oh-oh-oh, doctor, help! “Everything hurts, my teeth, my stomach, and I’m hot,” the shark muttered quickly.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” said the turtle. She took a tube from a mollusk shell from under her shell, applied it to the shark and began to command: “Breathe - don’t breathe, breathe - don’t breathe, breathe deeper, and now with your mouth... And now with the gills.”
The shark diligently followed all the doctor’s instructions. - What did you eat, my dear? - asked the turtle doctor.
“I don’t remember,” said the shark, blushing.
- Like this? “Come on, open your mouth wider,” exclaimed the turtle.
The shark diligently opened its mouth, and the turtle, armed with an old trash can, began to examine the shark's mouth.
Oh no no no! My teeth haven't been brushed for a year. What are you saying, my dear? What is it! A warehouse and nothing more! - said the turtle, taking out from the shark’s mouth an old shoe, several bottles, a couple of cans, several stones, remnants of algae, a net for catching butterflies that had come from nowhere, and a bunch of other necessary and not very useful things.
- Can I have fish? - the shark begged. - Well, if only fresh and in small quantities. And be sure to brush your teeth twice a day! – the turtle said sternly, “do you promise?”
- I promise! – the shark said solemnly. From that day on, she began to eat only tasty and healthy food. Her favorite dish was seaweed salad, famous in the Ocean for its healing properties. And she began to brush her teeth regularly. Now one can only envy her health, because since then she has never sneezed.
The tale of how a little whale became a great musician
In the deep blue ocean lived a baby whale. He dreamed that someday the day would come when he would come up with something extraordinary, and everyone would have fun. The little whale had no idea that very soon he would become famous.
One day, while walking on the ocean, he heard beautiful music. She seemed to be flying above him, spreading a good and kind mood to all ends of the ocean. The whale decided to swim closer. He swam to the sounds of music. Soon a ship appeared, and on its deck... The whale had never seen so many beautiful multi-colored lanterns before. And there was also an orchestra that played a wonderful song that the whale liked so much. He listened to music and looked at the flashing lights. “I know what I will do to make everyone happy,” the whale exclaimed and swam quickly, quickly, to quickly tell his friends about what he saw.
Soon the news of the underwater orchestra spread throughout the ocean. All the inhabitants of the ocean came to the concert. And then the seaweed curtain parted and a beautiful melody began to sound. Never before had there been an orchestra in the deep ocean. And here crabs played trumpets made of shells, turtles beat drums from old shells, and a baby whale acted as a harp. Small fish slipped between the whalebones, lightly brushing them, and a beautiful melody flowed. An electric stingray and goldfish lit up the stage, flickering here and there. Everything was very beautiful. Oh, and all the inhabitants of the ocean had a lot of fun on this day. The kitten became a famous musician. And if there is a holiday somewhere now, the naval orchestra is sure to be invited there, and it will definitely be fun. How else?!
Tale of a Shark
Tale of a SharkIn the blue, blue ocean, in its deepest depths, lived a shark. She was very black with a white belly. On the side of the shark there was a fish that stuck. This is a fish that sticks with its belly to a large predator and eats up all the pieces of prey and scraps that fall out of its mouth. At the same time, the sticky fish is completely safe, because a predatory fish cannot twist in such a way as to bite the sticky fish, and such a predator as a shark has no natural enemies. So she lives stuck to her owner until old age.
The shark was a completely lonely predator with no specific activities. She didn’t love anyone, wasn’t friends with anyone, didn’t build anything, didn’t care about anyone, and that made her very bored. Her only occupation was to swim and eat fish. Moreover, she swam without interruption all the time, because sharks are designed in such a way that they must swim all the time, even in their sleep, otherwise they will drown. And so the shark swam and swam in the warm water of the Atlantic Ocean, and soon she was very tired of this warm water. So when she somehow fell into a cold ocean current, she was happy and swam with pleasure along with the cold water of this current. But soon she got tired of this too, because the current carried her on its own, so she didn’t even need to swim. And then she turned and began to swim against the current. Overcoming the current was already at least some kind of entertainment. And the shark kept swimming and swimming against the current. However, it turned out that now she doesn’t need to hunt at all, because the ocean is full of plump, stupid fish that swim with the flow. It was enough for the shark to simply open his mouth towards him, and the current itself brought the shark a full belly of a beautiful fish. Feeding heavily and constantly overcoming the current, the shark grew to incredible sizes. The shark became the size of a good whale.
But even such a well-fed life became boring for the shark after a while. She was especially tired of the fish constantly falling into her mouth. She tried to close her mouth, but then, firstly, she remained hungry, and secondly, the fat fish, drawn by the current, slapped her unpleasantly on the nose. Once, having risen very close to the surface of the ocean, the shark saw a school of flying fish. These are fish that, when being chased by a predator, can jump out of the water and fly several meters above the water. “An interesting problem...”, the shark thought, and began to chase the flying fish. This activity fascinated her, she quickly learned to jump out of the water no worse than fish, and for some time she ate exclusively flying fish. Until one day during the flight I got into a conversation with one particularly talkative fish, and she told her that polar bears live in the Arctic, beyond the Arctic Circle. The fish told her: “You are a shark of such amazing size and abilities that you could easily feed not on bony fish, but on fat, huge bears.” The shark liked this idea, and besides, she loved cold water, and she set off.
When the shark sailed to the Arctic, one polar bear was actually sitting on an ice floe and was just about to devour a seal. The giant shark swam closer, took good aim, then swam to accelerate and jumped out of the water. She grabbed the polar bear and fell onto the ice, causing the ice to crack, and the shark and bear fell into the ocean. At the same time, the bear, seeing a fish of incredible size flying straight towards him, out of surprise released the seal, and it managed to escape. The miraculously saved seal, frantically flapping its flippers, rushed to its herd.
The whole herd knew perfectly well that the seal, when it was too daydreaming, warming its sides in the rays of the spring sun, was grabbed by a polar bear, and therefore everyone thought that the bear was already eating the seal. The appearance of the seal alive and unharmed greatly surprised his comrades, and they began to crawl from all over the rookery to listen to his story. No one here had ever seen such huge fish, which could also fly like birds and eat polar bears, but the rescued seal was there. The herd unanimously decided that the god of the ocean had sent them an avenger shark, which must take revenge for all the seals devoured by the bears. It was decided to erect a monument to her.
They called in a seal sculptor who was supposed to sculpt this monument out of snow, and the rescued seal was appointed as his consultant, because he was the only one who saw the avenger shark up close. While the monument was being built, rumors were heard from different parts of the Arctic about yet another bear being eaten by a giant flying avenger shark. And now, the day of the opening of the monument has arrived. The entire herd of seals gathered around a huge boulder, lightly dusted with fresh snow. All the seals took more air into their chests and, on command, blew on the block. The snowball flew away, and under it was an icy avenger shark in full height, with a smile from all over its face. The seals gasped and began to dance in a circle. And at this time, a bored shark, fed up with polar bears, swam past the ice floe on which the celebration was taking place. She saw on the surface an animal exactly like her, only white, and thought: “A worthy opponent. A good fight would probably entertain me right now.” The shark took aim, accelerated properly and flew out of the water. Flying over a herd of seals, she crashed head first into the mouth of the monument. From the impact, the fish stuck to its side and fell to the noses of the seals. The seals thought that it was a baby sacred fish, and with honors and chants they lowered the seal into the water. There she immediately stuck to the side of the hammerhead fish and began, as if nothing had happened, to eat the leftovers. And the giant shark, having received a concussion, froze and remained stuck out of its monument forever.
| Created 08 Apr 2007 | |||||||||
Although sharks are predators that eat everything that lives in the ocean, their actual number of attacks on people is much less than you think. There are so many types of sharks, such as the great white shark, hammerhead shark, tiger shark and mako, all of which are very different and have their own characteristics. Let's look at what interesting facts about sharks we can tell you.
- Sharks do not have a single bone in their body. Their spine is made of cartilage.
- Almost all sharks move throughout their lives. Movement is life for sharks; water passes through their gills, supplying oxygen to the blood. If the shark stops, it will suffocate and die.
- Sharks have very good hearing. They can hear the sound of fish 500 meters away.
- If a shark is placed in a large pool. Then she will smell even a drop of blood in this pool.
- Most sharks do not reach a meter in length, but there are exceptions, such as the tiger shark, they can reach up to 14 meters in length.
- Newborn sharks are already capable of taking care of themselves. The mother shark leaves the baby behind her so as not to eat him.
- Not all shark species are viviparous. Some lay eggs, and once hatched, the young take care of themselves.
- Great white sharks are the most dangerous sharks in the ocean. These predators can reach speeds in water of up to 30 km/h.
- Unlike other shark species, great white sharks are warm-blooded. Such sharks must eat a lot of meat to regulate their temperature.
- A shark always has a small row of teeth that develops behind a row of large teeth. Over time, small teeth move forward and the front teeth fall out.
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Once upon a time there lived an old man. He had two daughters and three sons. He married off his daughters, and they scattered from their native nest. The old man and his sons remained to live. Only here’s the problem: he was completely blind and couldn’t do anything without the help of his sons. One day the brothers gathered in the field, and they said to the old man:
We’ll go plow, and you sit in the yard and guard the wheat so that the birds don’t eat it.
“I can’t do this kind of work,” the old man replies. “I won’t keep track of the birds.”
“Listen better,” the sons teach, “you’re not deaf:
Birds will fly in and beat the bags with their wings, and you will hear them.
They gave my father a long bamboo stick to drive away the birds, planted it in the middle of the yard and left.
They returned in the evening and saw an old man sitting, waving a stick in different directions, and the birds were still pecking at the wheat.
The sons got angry:
Why did we leave you to guard? What good are you? The old man began to cry, but did not answer his sons. And they began to hold advice among themselves.
Our father is nothing but losses! - says the eldest.
There is no benefit from it! - echoes the middle one.
Our father has lived in this world! - the younger one assents. “If only he had died,” the brothers began to dream, “we would have divided all his wealth among themselves and lived without any hassle.” So they were up to no good.
One morning the sons came to their father and said:
Today, father, we decided to go to a distant island and do a little fishing. Let's go with us. Fresh air and ears won't hurt you.
The old man rejoiced:
I have long wanted to eat fragrant ears!
They got into the boat and sailed to the rocky island. We caught fish there, and it turned out to be a great fish soup. And when it began to get dark, the sons said to their father:
Are you tired, perhaps? Go to bed, get some sleep, and when we get ready, we’ll wake you up.
The old man trusted his sons, lay down and fell asleep. And when I woke up the next morning, I started calling them. But no one answered him. The father realized that his children had been left on a wild island to wait for death by starvation. And then the sea began to boil, high waves rose, and a cold wind blew. The waves began to crash against the rocks, and one rose to the very top of the island and washed the old man into the sea.
And at this very time, the daughters of the old men came from the city to visit their father. They brought him all sorts of gifts, apparently and invisibly. They knocked on the house - no answer. The daughters were surprised and went to a neighbor.
Did something bad happen to our father? - they ask. “He promised to wait for us at home.”
The neighbor shrugged:
I don’t know, I don’t know what happened to your father. I just saw how yesterday he and his sons were getting ready to go fishing, and in the evening the children returned without their father. Maybe he fell ill on the way?
The daughters ran to the sea. They decided that their father had died in the depths of the waters. And if so, the sea will carry his body to the shore. They examined all the coastal rocks - they found nothing. They sat down by the water and cried. Suddenly they see a lonely rock sticking out in the sea not far from the island, and on that rock... the father is sitting, saddened.
Father, father! - the daughters shouted. - Alive! Alive! They hired a boat and brought my father home.
How did you end up on the rock? - the daughters began to ask. “What happened to you?”
The old man sighed and said:
I didn’t think that my sons would decide to destroy me. They lured me to a wild island and abandoned me, while they sailed home. A storm arose in the sea, a large wave washed me off the cliff, and I almost died.
How did you manage to escape? - the daughters were surprised.
“As soon as I fell into the sea and began to drown,” the old man said, “a large shark swam up to me, put me on its back and took me to a lonely rock.
Thank you, shark,” the daughters began to thank, “for saving our father.
They went ashore and saw that in the distance there was indeed a large shark swimming.
“We should thank her,” said the old man. The daughters brought a young bull to the shore. A shark swam up, took the goby and disappeared into the depths of the sea. And at that very moment the old man suddenly regained his sight and began to see no worse than before. There was no end to the joy! They took their father's daughters by the hands and led them home.
But their father’s sons didn’t even think about looking; they divided the old man’s wealth and decided to celebrate their unexpected luck. They loaded all sorts of treats into the boat and sailed out to sea for fish. They got out into the open sea, but as soon as they cast the net, it became dark all around and the wind rose. The boat rocked from side to side, and then completely turned over. The brothers are floundering in the water, calling for help, but who will hear them? And so the evil sons perished in the depths of the sea. And the old man’s daughters took them to live in the city. And they lived together happily ever after.
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