The Treasure Cave: sea tales of Tiptoes Lightly (16 page)

“Let’s play ‘I
spy’,” said Johnny Top. “I know my alphabet. My turn to guess first.”

“Okay,” said
Tiptoes, and she looked at the blanket wrapping him up. “I spy, with my little
eye, something starting with B.”

“Blanket,”
cried Johnny Top.

“Yes,” said
Tiptoes. “Now your turn.”

“I spy, with
my little eye, … um … something starting with … wings!” said Johnny Top.

Tiptoes
scrunched up her mouth and flapped her wings. “Ummmm … my dress?” she said.

“Nooo,” said
Johnny Top, grinning.

Tiptoes
flapped her wings again and looking around the room.

“Umm …
curtains,” she said.

“Nooooo,” said
Johnny Top bouncing up and down.

“Ummmm … my
wings?” said Tiptoes.

“Yea—you
guessed it!” cried Johnny Top. “Where’s the turkey?”

“In the
fridge,” said Tiptoes

Johnny Top
threw off his blanket and ran to the kitchen. He had to pull hard to open the
fridge door.

“There it is,”
said Johnny Top, giving the turkey a pat. “Where’s the stuffing?”

“At the back,”
said Tiptoes. “On the top shelf in the big bowl.”

“Where?” said
Johnny Top, standing as high as he could and wobbling on his toes.

Tiptoes flew
in and landed on the edge of the bowl.

“Here,” she
said.

“Oh,” said
Johnny Top, wobbling even more. “Oh-oh!” he said, and toppled backwards.

“The door!”
cried Tiptoes as the fridge door closed. Suddenly it was completely dark and
freezing cold. “Johnny Top! Johnny Top! Open the door!” shouted Tiptoes.

In a moment
the door shook. Johnny was trying to open it. Tiptoes pushed hard and it
opened.

“Oopsies,”
said Johnny Top, letting Tiptoes out. “Sorry.”

Tiptoes had
her hands full with Johnny Top until Gramma got up and took over. He helped her
prepare the pumpkin pies and pour in the filling. When they were ready, Gramma
opened the oven door. In an instant out flew Flicker and Flash.

“Fire
fairies,” cried Johnny Top. “They’re racing!”—and they were racing, round and
round the kitchen, bouncing off the walls and whizzing round the light.

“Back into the
oven,” said Gramma. “You two have a job to do,” and back into the oven they
flew.

Then Gramma
put the pies inside, closed the door, and washed her hands. “Now let’s stuff the
turkey and make the cranberry sauce,” she said, and they did.

The
Lantern Fish

Tiptoes left
Johnny Top in Gramma’s care. She flew through the morning mist towards the
beach. The mist was thin and rising—it was going to be another fine day. She
found the tide low, but turning, and the seagulls were out in force, flying
along the sea shore and feeding. She slipped into the Treasure Cave and called Obaro. She had questions that only he could answer.

“Obaro!
Obaro!” she called, her clear voice ringing in the cave.

“Here I am, I
am,” said Obaro, appearing. “So much coming and going, coming and going these
days.”

“What happened
to the Sea King’s daughter after she went into hiding?” asked Tiptoes.

“We are full
of questions and questions,” said Obaro, his voice echoing. “I think you know
more than you are telling me, telling me.”

Tiptoes
smiled. “Maybe,” she said, “but I could be wrong.”

Obaro closed
his deep, deep eyes. For a moment he almost faded away, but he was only
thinking and remembering deeply.

“Let me see,
let me see,” he said. “Oh, yes, yes,” and he continued his tale.

“The King of
the Sea was gloomy. For many a season he stayed in the deep waters where
darkness reigns. He missed his daughter, the beautiful sea maiden. He missed
her wonderful sea-green eyes, her golden hair, and her elegant tail bejeweled
with emerald scales. She had gone to the land of men—or so he thought—and would
never come back to the sea again.

One day, as he
sat in the gloom, two fish with lanterns hanging from their heads swam by.

‘I hear the
Sea King’s daughter has been seen in the shallows,’ said one.

‘So I heard
too,’ said the other. ‘I hear she lives by the shores of men. She fears the
deeps where the King sits in gloom.’

‘Why should
she fear her father?’ said the first. ‘He loves her dearly.’

‘And she loves
him dearly too,’ said the second. ‘But her necklace was stolen. She fears he’ll
see her without it.’

Then the fish
turned off their lanterns and went hunting in the dark.

The King of
the Sea rose from the deep. Terrible was his face, terrible were his eyes and
the water churned about him. He called his sons and daughters, the mermen and
maids, and asked: ‘Who stole the pearls from my fair daughter’s neck?’

‘Not I,’ said
they, one by one by one. All but the last three said, ‘Not I.’ These last three
hung their heads and dared not look their father in the eye.

The Sea King
knew then that the lantern fish had spoken true. He bound the guilty ones to
three rocky islands in the Mediterranean Sea, there to sing to men with
beguiling songs of promise and praise until they drive their ships upon the
craggy rocks and are drowned.”

“And what
happened then” asked Tiptoes.

“He searched,”
said Obaro, “the Sea King searched for his lovely daughter, but what happened
is not known to me.”

“I saw him out
at sea,” said Tiptoes. “He is still looking for her.”

“He is, is
he?” said Obaro. “After all these many years he searches for her still. Oh, oh,
this cave has been so busy, so busy! And now the pearls are found too. What is
going on? What is going on?”

Cillie
and Conn

The turkey was
roasting in the oven, the sun was shining, and everyone was hiking along the
top of the bluff to the trestle over Pudding Creek. June Berry and Veronica
were taking turns to wear the necklace. They skipped ahead holding hands. Tom
had Lucy on a leash. He walked with Uncle Finn and talked about racing cars.
The tide was coming in, and all along the bluff and on the beach families and
couples were out walking for Thanksgiving.

They got about
half way there when Johnny Top didn’t want to go any further. For his little
legs the trestle was far, far away, so Gramma stayed with him while everybody
else went ahead. They found a place to climb down the bluff and play on the
beach. Johnny Top wanted to build a sandcastle, so they chose a spot and he and
Gramma started digging. Suddenly two gnomes appeared.

“Look, Johnny
Top,” said Gramma. “Sand gnomes.”

They had bare
feet and wore speckled, sandy colored pants and shirts. Their faces had sandy
freckles by the thousand. They looked at Johnny Top with great interest. Gnomes
are puzzled by human babies and little ones—they can’t understand how such
vast, cosmic beings can be so helpless. It doesn’t make sense to them.

Johnny Top
stared back at them and laughed. “Who are you?” he asked. They looked funny to
him.

“I’m Cillie,”
said one with a huge big grin.

“And I’m
Conn,” said the other, winking an eye. “What are you doing?”

“Building a
sandcastle,” said Johnny Top. “Come play.”

“Okay,” said
Cillie and Conn and joined in straight away. They ran around and helped Johnny
Top build the castle.

“We can put a
wall here,” said Cillie, showing how to shape the sand.

“And a tower
there,” said Conn, and they built a tower.

“You can make
a gateway over here,” said Cillie, pointing. “You dig it out with your
fingers.”

“Now we need a
bridge over the moat,” said Conn. “Let’s look for a piece of wood.”

Johnny Top and
the gnomes searched the shore and found a piece of wood beside a clump of
seaweed. It became the bridge that spanned the moat. Then they put in pebble
windows and planted seaweed trees. Soon they had a real castle. All they needed
was a prince and princess standing on a tower. Everyone searched up and down
the beach for the prince and princess. Finally Gramma found two twirly
seashells.

“Here they
are,” said Gramma, and she put them side by side on top of two twigs on the
tower. Cillie and Conn touched them and they turned into a handsome prince and
princess. Johnny Top was delighted.

“Watch out!”
cried Gramma suddenly. “A wave’s coming.”

The wave shot
up the sand and everyone had to jump up and run away. It flooded the moat but
didn’t touch the castle.

“Deepen the
moat,” cried Cillie, and Johnny Top and Gramma dug furiously.

“Build a sea
wall,” shouted Conn. “The King of Tides is rising!”

They dug and
built the sea wall as fast as they could. They were just in time, for another
wave came washing up the beach. It hit the sea wall with a splash, but still
didn’t touch the castle.

“Yea, we saved
the castle,” cried Johnny Top, dancing around.

But the King
of Tides was coming in and coming in. Bit by bit the sea wall crumbled and
washed away.

“Save the
prince and princess,” said Gramma.