Moobaloo, Horace and the Cave

One day Moobaloo, who was a mermaid, was swimming along with her friend Horace the fish and they saw a sea horse.

Now, a sea horse isn't quite like a regular horse. Instead, it is about the size of your foot. It has a very horse-like head, but then it curves down to a chubby belly, and curves around again to a pointy tail.

Sea horses come in so many shapes and sizes! This particular sea horse was very special. On its head were golden sparkles, and little fronds sprouted up around its cheeks and forehead. The fronds were like this: (hold your hands up beside your temples and wave your fingers). Its body was covered with purple stripes. On its tail was a deep red fading from its stem to its very tip.

Moobaloo said, "Horace! That sea horse is so special, I would like to catch it and take it home to show my parents."

Horace said, "OK, but sea horses are wild creatures, and it might not want to be caught."

Moobaloo and Horace swam toward the sea horse, whose name was Naylee. At first Naylee did not see them coming, but they made some noise. When Naylee saw them she was startled, and she ran away into a big cave.

Horace said, "We need to go into that cave." but Moobaloo said, "Caves can be dangerous. Sometimes they are safe, just filled with stalactites and stalagmites. But sometimes creatures can live inside a cave, so you have to be careful."

Moobaloo and Horace swam up very slowly to the cave. Inside, they could see a great big green eel. It was as long as Moobaloo, and it sat near the opening of the cave with its mouth gaping wide, like this: (open your mouth very wide, tilt your chin up a bit, and breath in and out about once a second. Stare. It should be just a little scary)

"We can't go in that way!" said Moobaloo, "That eel is scary."

"Maybe the cave has another opening." said Horace.

So they looked around to the left of the cave, but nothing was there except some rocks and the bottom of the ocean. Then they looked around to the right and about twenty feet away (which is about the length of two cars) they saw a little opening.

Horace said, "This entrance to the cave is too small for you, Moobaloo. I will swim in and see if I can find the sea horse."

So Horace carefully swam in the hole. It was dark, and he stopped near the entrance. His eyes were used to the bright light outside, and he waited for them to adjust. Sure enough, as he hovered in the darkness his eyes got more and more used to the darkness, until at last he could see pretty well.

He said to Moobaloo, "Watch the entrance. If I startle the sea horse, you can catch it as it swims out."

"OK." said Moobaloo.

Now that his eyes were adjusted Horace swam into the cave. It was still very dark, filled with stalctites hanging from the ceiling. The farther he swam the darker it got. Soon it was so dark that he stopped again, afraid that he might swim into a wall and bonk his noggin.

Just then Horace saw a faint light ahead in the darkness. It looked a little bit like the lights of a Christmas tree when you turn off all the other lights in your house, and they glow with many colors against the branches of the tree.

Horace wondered, 'what could that be?' and he swam towards it. As he got closer he started to see a shape.

Soon he saw that it was the sea horse, Naylee. The fronds on her head each gave off a little light from their very tip, like Christmas tree lights.

Horace thought she was very beautiful. He did not want to hurt her, but he still wanted to catch her.

First he said to her, "Sea horse, will you please come with me and my friend?"

But Naylee did not speak English. She only spoke Sea Horse, so she did not know what he wanted.

Horace swam slowly and carefully around to Naylee's other side and said, "Boo!". Naylee was startled again, and she swam quick as a wink out the little cave entrance, and right into Moobaloo's arms.

"I have the sea horse!" Moobaloo shouted into the cave.

Horace was glad, but just as he was about to leave he realized that something in the cave was different. The big green eel was behind him, with its mouth open, breathing like this: (do the open mouth, and the breathing)

Horace was very still, and he was very worried. He didn't know if the eel could see him in the dark, but he did not want to move and give himself away. The eel just hung there (do the breathing).

Moobaloo shouted in from the hole, "Horace, you can come out now."

But Horace did not reply. He was scared. He stayed very still and did not make a sound.

Outside, Moobaloo was curious. Why was Horace not coming out? First she peeked in the hole, but she couldn't see anything. It was too dark. So she thought about it, and she had an idea what might have happened.

Moobaloo swam around to the front of the cave. She held up Naylee the sea horse. Naylee's fronds glowed and blinked. When the eel noticed, it swam to investigate and Moobaloo backed away from the cave entrance.

Horace swam as fast as he could, like a rocket, away from the eel and out the little hole.

"Thank you Moobaloo! I was very worried."

So Horace and Moobaloo swam back to her parent's place to show them Naylee. They fed Naylee a great big meal of yummy sea horse snacks, and released her back into the wild.

And that is how Moobaloo and Horace had an adventure in a cave.

The End
(c) 2007 Ken Demarest