A Story by Ugo Bardi
- Matriarch, Matriarch, where have you been?
- We were searching for you!
- Matriarch, are you there?
- Oh, children, where do you think I would go, as old as I am? I was just here, as I do all the time.
- Matriarch, we are glad that we found you
- Matriarch, we are coming from the edge of the great ocean.
- Matriarch, listen to us! Strange things are happening
- Matriarch, things never seen before!
- Children, children, I see that you are swimming so fast around me that you look like little fish. You make me feel confused. Calm down, children, what is that you want to tell me?
- Matriarch, the two-tails!...
- The two tails, matriarch! Something is happening to them....
- Children, calm down. What's happening to the two-tails? Tell me.
- Oh, children, where do you think I would go, as old as I am? I was just here, as I do all the time.
- Matriarch, we are glad that we found you
- Matriarch, we are coming from the edge of the great ocean.
- Matriarch, listen to us! Strange things are happening
- Matriarch, things never seen before!
- Children, children, I see that you are swimming so fast around me that you look like little fish. You make me feel confused. Calm down, children, what is that you want to tell me?
- Matriarch, the two-tails!...
- The two tails, matriarch! Something is happening to them....
- Children, calm down. What's happening to the two-tails? Tell me.
- They are dying matriarch!
- Many of them, they are all dying!
- Children, everything alive must die, sooner or later. But tell me more. What's happening?
- Matriarch, we were close to the edge of the water.
- Yes to the place where the great ocean fades.
- To the place where it becomes the-bottom-that's-out-of-the-water.
- You know you should not go there, children. It is dangerous!
- Matriarch, we know that.
- Matriarch, we are sorry, but.....
- You see, Matriarch, the black and white people told us about what was happening.
- The black and white people? What did they tell you?
- You know the black and white people, Matriarch. You know that they are strong.
- They can swim all the way to the edge of the water.
- And even climb out of the water, a little.
- I know, children. The black and white people are not so big as we are. But they are strong and powerful, and they can climb out of the water, a little. But that doesn't mean you should try to do that.
- Matriarch, we didn't try to do that.
- We didn't climb out of the water.
- There was no need to do that.
- We saw them in the water!
- Whom did you see, children?
- The Two-Tails, matriarch. So many of them!
- Were they swimming in the water?
- No, Matriarch, they were not swimming.
- They were still, they were not swimming.
- They were dead, matriarch. So many of them.
- So much blood, Matriarch, so much blood in the water.
- Matriarch, we had never seen anything like that.
- Is that true, children?
- Matriarch, it is true. So many of them!
- Yes. We had seen the two-tails swimming, sometimes.
- But never so many of them in the water!
- And, Matriarch, you can't believe, the big mouths.
- Yes, the big mouths, Matriarch, they were all there!
- What a feast for them, Matriarch!
- Oh, Children, what a sad story is this? The big mouths were eating the two-tails?
- Yes, Matriarch, you know that the big mouths eat everything.
- They eat fish and whales, and they even eat the two tails, when they can.
- The black and white people never do this.
- I know that, children. The black and white people say that they have a pact with the two-tails. That they don't eat them, and so the two tails don't chase them.
- Matriarch, this we know. We know that the two-tails are strange.
- And that they kill us, they have those strange teeth that they can throw at us.
- Yes, they throw teeth at us from their floats.
- Their floats are big. And they kill us.
- We were not sorry to see so many two-tails dead in the water. Eaten by the big mouths.
- Children, children, you should not be happy to see any creature die. That's not the way of the Goddess of the sea.
- We know, Matriarch, we know.
- Still, we couldn't feel sorry for the two-tails.
- But we felt worried. What we saw troubled us.
- The black and white people have big eyes. Good eyes. They told us that they could see even more two tails dead on the bottom-that's-out-of-the water.
- Matriarch, we are troubled, because we had never seen so much death in the water,
- Matriarch, you know many things. What could have happened to the two tails? Can you tell us?
- Children, it is a strange story that you are telling me. And I am sorry to hear that so many two-tails have died because I cannot rejoice at the death of living creatures. But perhaps I know more than others of the people of the sea about them, because I am an old whale and you call me the matriarch, and there has to be a reason for that. And maybe I can tell you a story about the two-tails and maybe we can learn something from this story, both you and me.
- And so, children, you know that long ago there were many more whales in the sea than now. And many more fish, and many more sea creatures of all kinds. And some old whales are so old that they remember that time, even though many of the old ones of those times are not anymore with us, they are with the old ghosts at the bottom of the sea, where all of us must go. There are old stories that say that, in the old, old times, nobody ever had seen a two-tails in the sea, or maybe yes, just a few of them, because they can't swim so well even though they have two tails. They move their two tails in a strange way, making a lot of noise and yet they don't move fast. But that was how things were long, long ago.
- And then things changed, and those things we call floats started to appear. And it took some time for us to understand that those floats carried the two tails on top of them. Then, the two-tails started throwing their teeth at us. They had those teeth that were long and sharp. And many of us died, oh, so many! But you know this story, children, you heard it many times.
- We know this story, Matriarch, but who are the two-tails?
- Why do they throw their teeth at us?
- Why do they kill us?
- This I cannot say for sure children, but maybe the two-tails eat us, and that would be according to the way things are in the world because it is the law of the sea that the big creatures eat the small creatures. But I can't understand how the two-tails killed so many of us and of other creatures of the sea that they nearly emptied the sea of living creatures. There are so few of us left and that's not a good thing, not even for the two-tails themselves. And maybe that the two-tails would never learn the ways of the Goddess of the sea.
- Children, what you told me made me think of something. And I have story about the two-tails to tell you, a story that I didn't tell many other whales and I think those whom I told it are now staying with the other ghosts at the bottom, and so I think you didn't hear it and you would like to hear it.
- Matriarch, you never told us this story.
- Yes, Matriarch, we would love to hear it.
- Matriarch tell us this story!
- Oh, it was some time ago, indeed. And, you see, I was young at that time, way younger than I am now and nobody called me Matriarch. And I was young enough that I liked to explore. And sometimes I went close to the end of the water. Maybe a little too close to be safe, but I was young and I loved to eat because I had to grow. So, I found a place where fish were truly abundant and it was at the end of a narrow body of water, a sort of a channel. Not so narrow that I couldn't swim in it, but I would wait at the end of it and wait for the fish to arrive. Plenty of fish for a young whale as I was.
- I went there often, and I learned when it was a good moment to find plenty of good fish. It had something to do with the Big White Circle in the sky, and the little fish would swim in an out of that channel when the Big White waxed. And so I knew when to go and I think the two-tails knew about me because some of them they would collect on the edge of the water and look at me. And I saluted them with my fin, and I splashed my tail. I thought it was a good thing to do, but maybe I shouldn't have done that.
- And that went on for some time, and I had a good time with those fish and I put up some fat. And then, I think I grew a little too bold. I kept following the fish and I found myself swimming inside the channel, following them. It was a little narrow, and didn't feel so comfortable, but I thought there was nothing wrong in doing that. But, you know, children, that sometimes it is easy to get confused with our sounds. And that happens when you are close to the bottom-that-has-no-water. I think I had gotten too close to there.
- So, I was hearing my sounds coming back to me, but I couldn't find any direction where I could go. I got confused, I started swimming in circles. And in whatever direction I went, I got my sounds back, telling me that I couldn't go in that direction.
- That must have been terrible Matriarch
- You couldn't find the way to the open sea anymore?
- You could have died on the bottom-that-has-no-water, Matriarch
- Yes, children, this is why you should never get too close to the bottom-that-has-no-water. You know that sometimes one of us gets too close and then they can't get back to where they can swim. And I think it must be terrible, because you die away from the bottom of the ocean and your ghost can't join the ghosts of the ancestors, there. But that didn't happen to me. Of course not, because I am here!
- Yes, Matriarch, but did you find your way out of that narrow channel?
- How did you do that?
- Tell us, Matriarch!
- Children, I told you that this story has to do with the two-tails, so let me keep going. And I told you that I was swimming in circles. And, I prayed the Goddess that she could help me and, at that moment I heard the sound of a float coming. Yes, one of the floats that carries the two-tails.
- I had always been careful to stay away from those floats as much as I could but it was coming straight toward me and I had no place to escape. And the float was coming. Then, children, the float got so close to me that I could see the head of a two-tails looking down at me. You know, they have those small heads that they can move in different directions. And they have those big eyes, looking forward all the time. I wonder how they can understand what happens around them if they can look only forward, but that's not for me to say.
- I had never seen a two-tails so close. They have a strange mouth, and this two-tails opened it up a little to show me her teeth. And I say her because I had this distinct sensation that this two-tails was female. Yes, a female two-tails - I am not sure of how I could say that, but I was sure of that. I didn't know what they mean when they show their teeth just a little, but it didn't seem to me that she wanted to bite me. Surely they are not like the big-mouths that eat anything. I wonder how the two-tails can eat enough to survive: one of us won't last a day with such a small mouth. But it seemed to me that the teeth she was showing to me was a friendly gesture. In some way, she wanted to tell me that she was not going to bite me, you see? It is like what we do something among friends when we pretend to hit them full force with the tail.
- Matriarch, we were close to the edge of the water.
- Yes to the place where the great ocean fades.
- To the place where it becomes the-bottom-that's-out-of-the-water.
- You know you should not go there, children. It is dangerous!
- Matriarch, we know that.
- Matriarch, we are sorry, but.....
- You see, Matriarch, the black and white people told us about what was happening.
- The black and white people? What did they tell you?
- You know the black and white people, Matriarch. You know that they are strong.
- They can swim all the way to the edge of the water.
- And even climb out of the water, a little.
- I know, children. The black and white people are not so big as we are. But they are strong and powerful, and they can climb out of the water, a little. But that doesn't mean you should try to do that.
- Matriarch, we didn't try to do that.
- We didn't climb out of the water.
- There was no need to do that.
- We saw them in the water!
- Whom did you see, children?
- The Two-Tails, matriarch. So many of them!
- Were they swimming in the water?
- No, Matriarch, they were not swimming.
- They were still, they were not swimming.
- They were dead, matriarch. So many of them.
- So much blood, Matriarch, so much blood in the water.
- Matriarch, we had never seen anything like that.
- Is that true, children?
- Matriarch, it is true. So many of them!
- Yes. We had seen the two-tails swimming, sometimes.
- But never so many of them in the water!
- And, Matriarch, you can't believe, the big mouths.
- Yes, the big mouths, Matriarch, they were all there!
- What a feast for them, Matriarch!
- Oh, Children, what a sad story is this? The big mouths were eating the two-tails?
- Yes, Matriarch, you know that the big mouths eat everything.
- They eat fish and whales, and they even eat the two tails, when they can.
- The black and white people never do this.
- I know that, children. The black and white people say that they have a pact with the two-tails. That they don't eat them, and so the two tails don't chase them.
- Matriarch, this we know. We know that the two-tails are strange.
- And that they kill us, they have those strange teeth that they can throw at us.
- Yes, they throw teeth at us from their floats.
- Their floats are big. And they kill us.
- We were not sorry to see so many two-tails dead in the water. Eaten by the big mouths.
- Children, children, you should not be happy to see any creature die. That's not the way of the Goddess of the sea.
- We know, Matriarch, we know.
- Still, we couldn't feel sorry for the two-tails.
- But we felt worried. What we saw troubled us.
- The black and white people have big eyes. Good eyes. They told us that they could see even more two tails dead on the bottom-that's-out-of-the water.
- Matriarch, we are troubled, because we had never seen so much death in the water,
- Matriarch, you know many things. What could have happened to the two tails? Can you tell us?
- Children, it is a strange story that you are telling me. And I am sorry to hear that so many two-tails have died because I cannot rejoice at the death of living creatures. But perhaps I know more than others of the people of the sea about them, because I am an old whale and you call me the matriarch, and there has to be a reason for that. And maybe I can tell you a story about the two-tails and maybe we can learn something from this story, both you and me.
- And so, children, you know that long ago there were many more whales in the sea than now. And many more fish, and many more sea creatures of all kinds. And some old whales are so old that they remember that time, even though many of the old ones of those times are not anymore with us, they are with the old ghosts at the bottom of the sea, where all of us must go. There are old stories that say that, in the old, old times, nobody ever had seen a two-tails in the sea, or maybe yes, just a few of them, because they can't swim so well even though they have two tails. They move their two tails in a strange way, making a lot of noise and yet they don't move fast. But that was how things were long, long ago.
- And then things changed, and those things we call floats started to appear. And it took some time for us to understand that those floats carried the two tails on top of them. Then, the two-tails started throwing their teeth at us. They had those teeth that were long and sharp. And many of us died, oh, so many! But you know this story, children, you heard it many times.
- We know this story, Matriarch, but who are the two-tails?
- Why do they throw their teeth at us?
- Why do they kill us?
- This I cannot say for sure children, but maybe the two-tails eat us, and that would be according to the way things are in the world because it is the law of the sea that the big creatures eat the small creatures. But I can't understand how the two-tails killed so many of us and of other creatures of the sea that they nearly emptied the sea of living creatures. There are so few of us left and that's not a good thing, not even for the two-tails themselves. And maybe that the two-tails would never learn the ways of the Goddess of the sea.
- Children, what you told me made me think of something. And I have story about the two-tails to tell you, a story that I didn't tell many other whales and I think those whom I told it are now staying with the other ghosts at the bottom, and so I think you didn't hear it and you would like to hear it.
- Matriarch, you never told us this story.
- Yes, Matriarch, we would love to hear it.
- Matriarch tell us this story!
- Oh, it was some time ago, indeed. And, you see, I was young at that time, way younger than I am now and nobody called me Matriarch. And I was young enough that I liked to explore. And sometimes I went close to the end of the water. Maybe a little too close to be safe, but I was young and I loved to eat because I had to grow. So, I found a place where fish were truly abundant and it was at the end of a narrow body of water, a sort of a channel. Not so narrow that I couldn't swim in it, but I would wait at the end of it and wait for the fish to arrive. Plenty of fish for a young whale as I was.
- I went there often, and I learned when it was a good moment to find plenty of good fish. It had something to do with the Big White Circle in the sky, and the little fish would swim in an out of that channel when the Big White waxed. And so I knew when to go and I think the two-tails knew about me because some of them they would collect on the edge of the water and look at me. And I saluted them with my fin, and I splashed my tail. I thought it was a good thing to do, but maybe I shouldn't have done that.
- And that went on for some time, and I had a good time with those fish and I put up some fat. And then, I think I grew a little too bold. I kept following the fish and I found myself swimming inside the channel, following them. It was a little narrow, and didn't feel so comfortable, but I thought there was nothing wrong in doing that. But, you know, children, that sometimes it is easy to get confused with our sounds. And that happens when you are close to the bottom-that-has-no-water. I think I had gotten too close to there.
- So, I was hearing my sounds coming back to me, but I couldn't find any direction where I could go. I got confused, I started swimming in circles. And in whatever direction I went, I got my sounds back, telling me that I couldn't go in that direction.
- That must have been terrible Matriarch
- You couldn't find the way to the open sea anymore?
- You could have died on the bottom-that-has-no-water, Matriarch
- Yes, children, this is why you should never get too close to the bottom-that-has-no-water. You know that sometimes one of us gets too close and then they can't get back to where they can swim. And I think it must be terrible, because you die away from the bottom of the ocean and your ghost can't join the ghosts of the ancestors, there. But that didn't happen to me. Of course not, because I am here!
- Yes, Matriarch, but did you find your way out of that narrow channel?
- How did you do that?
- Tell us, Matriarch!
- Children, I told you that this story has to do with the two-tails, so let me keep going. And I told you that I was swimming in circles. And, I prayed the Goddess that she could help me and, at that moment I heard the sound of a float coming. Yes, one of the floats that carries the two-tails.
- I had always been careful to stay away from those floats as much as I could but it was coming straight toward me and I had no place to escape. And the float was coming. Then, children, the float got so close to me that I could see the head of a two-tails looking down at me. You know, they have those small heads that they can move in different directions. And they have those big eyes, looking forward all the time. I wonder how they can understand what happens around them if they can look only forward, but that's not for me to say.
- I had never seen a two-tails so close. They have a strange mouth, and this two-tails opened it up a little to show me her teeth. And I say her because I had this distinct sensation that this two-tails was female. Yes, a female two-tails - I am not sure of how I could say that, but I was sure of that. I didn't know what they mean when they show their teeth just a little, but it didn't seem to me that she wanted to bite me. Surely they are not like the big-mouths that eat anything. I wonder how the two-tails can eat enough to survive: one of us won't last a day with such a small mouth. But it seemed to me that the teeth she was showing to me was a friendly gesture. In some way, she wanted to tell me that she was not going to bite me, you see? It is like what we do something among friends when we pretend to hit them full force with the tail.
- So, this female two-tails spoke to me. Yes, I say that she spoke to me and we were so close that I could hear her, not so well, but I could hear her. Of course, none of us understands the language of the two-tails, but I was sure that whatever she was telling me, it was something said in kindness. And she leaned over the edge of her float and with one of her front fins, she touched me.
- Really, Matriarch?
- Did a two-tails speak to you?
- And a female two-tails?
- And she touched you?
- This is amazing, Matriarch!
- Yes, children, it was amazing. But what happened afterward was even more amazing. She went back inside her float and the float restarted making that throbbing noise, but slowly, and the float started moving. And she was moving her front fins in some ways as if she wanted to tell me something and I thought I understood what she was telling me. So, I started swimming close to the float, very close to it, and the female two-tails was looking at me and showing me her teeth. I think that the Goddess had really sent her.
- Oh, that I was afraid, but I kept going, and I never moved too far away from that small float. And, truly, at a certain moment we were so close to the bottom that I felt it scraping my belly and I was afraid that I would be stuck there, and die there, and never see the land of the ancestors, at the bottom of the ocean. But that didn't happen. The bottom receded from me and I kept following the float and I saw we were in another channel, different than the one I had entered before. And on we went, until we were in the open ocean and I could swim free! And I swam away, but before doing that, I saluted the two-tails with my front fin, and she did the same with her front fin. And also the float turned around and went back toward the bottom-that-has-no-water.
- So, this two-tails saved you, Matriarch!
- That's amazing, truly.
- The two-tails can be friends of the people of the sea?
- We can't believe that, Matriarch!
- Oh, children, there is more. There is more that you may not believe. I met again that female two-tails! Yes, I met her many more times. She would come out with her small float and I would find her and she would find me. We did it at night, usually, I think we both understood that if other two-tails were to see me, maybe they would try to kill me. It was strange, I never met a whale who would tell me having done something like that, becoming friend of a two-tails. But I would get close to the float, she would touch me with one of her front fins, and I would do the same with one of my front fins. I had to be careful, of course, she was so small! I didn't want to hurt her. Sometimes I was so happy to see her, that I splashed too close to her boat and I almost had it sinking. You know, when they sink the floats of the two-tails can't re-emerge. They go to the bottom and die.
- So, I got used to this two-tails, to that strange head of hers: those eyes always fixed forward, I have been always wondering how they see the world. They must miss so many things happening around them. With those small heads, how can they hear the sounds of the ocean? But that was how she was, and maybe she thought that I was strange, too. You see, we always tried to talk to each other, but we never could understand each other. All what we could do was to sing song for each other. Yes, singing. I don't think the two-tails can hear our songs when they are over the surface, but she would jump into the water close to me, and then she could hear my songs. I am sure about that because, she listened so intently. Funny, she could change her skin before jumping into the water! Before, her skin was soft and pink. But in water her skin was darker and harder, a little like our skin. And also her face, she changed her eyes from two into one, but it was still pointed forward. But, can you believe that I learned some songs from this two-tails?
- Matriarch, that's why other whales say that your song are a little strange.
- That you sing a little differently.
- Is it because you learned these songs from a two-tails?
- We almost can't believe that, but we believe you.
- Matriarch, tell us more, what happened of that female two-tails?
- Ah, children, what can I say? It was a sad story. One day, I was waiting for the female two-tails in the place where we sang songs together. And she wasn't arriving. I waited a little, I thought there was nothing wrong with that. Then, suddenly, I heard a big noise. It was one of those large floats, those that kill us, you know, children, those that throw their teeth at us.
- Matriarch, really?
- But that big float came in place of the small one of your friend?
- And they were trying to kill you?
- Yes. They tried to kill me. And I was foolish enough that I waited: I thought that the female two-tails who was my friend was riding that float. Only after that it was close, I understood. Fortunately, I was young and strong. And I swam faster than I had ever swam in my life. They shot one of their big teeth at me, and it barely missed me. I felt the tooth bouncing away from my back. I saved myself by getting close to the bottom-that-has-no-water, I knew that those big floats don't like to go there. But I had learned from the two-tails of the little float how swim in that region. So, I made it. Children, I had never been so scared in my life. Blessed the Goddess who saved me.
- What a story, Matriarch!
- The goddess truly protected you, Matriarch
- But the two-tails on the small float? The female one?
- The one who sang songs with you?
- For many years I never swam again in that place. You know, I thought that she had betrayed me. That she had told to other two-tails where we were meeting, and that they had been looking for me just there. But of that I can't be sure. Maybe not. Maybe it was something different. Maybe they just had seen where she was going. Who can say? Maybe she had died on the bottom-that-has-no-water. The last time I saw her, she seemed sad, and she didn't want to swim with me. But how could I know? I can only say that later, much later, sometimes I returned to that place, and waited for my two-tails friend to return. But I never saw her again. Maybe she is still there, on the bottom-that-has-no-water. But I don't think so, because it was many years ago those two-tails are short lived. And so is life. It is a long life of us, the whales, and we keep learning many things.
- Matriarch, we are sorry to hear this.
- We would have loved to hear the songs that your two-tail friend sang
- That I am afraid won't happen, children. But, about those songs, there is something that I wanted to tell you. You see, I never could really speak to this two-tails friend of mine. But I learned some of her songs. And I understood something about her and about what she was thinking. You see, there was a certain sadness about her song. A sadness that at the beginning I couldn't understand, but that now I think I do. She seemed to be worried about the future, about something terrible that was going to happen to her. And not just to her. To all the two-tails.
- Matriarch, she was right.
- So many two-tails have died
- We saw so many of them dead
- Yes, children. I am afraid she was right. Something very bad happened to the two-tails. And I am saddened by that.
- Matriarch, maybe we are not so sad
- Matriarch, it is what they deserved
- Matriarch, that may mean that they will stop killing us with their long teeth
- But, children, I cannot be happy of the death of any creature. Yet, perhaps it was something that had to happen. Because they never learned the way of the Goddess and that they should have been more careful with killing so many creatures in the great Oceans. And they killed so many creatures that maybe they started killing each other. How can I say? Maybe some of them are still alive and they now understand what they were doing that was so wrong. But life keeps going in the great ocean and in the great bottom-that-has-no-water. And it will keep going on for a long, long, time for us, the people of the sea, and for the two-tails as well, perhaps.
- Blessed be the Goddess, Matriarch
- She gives life to everything, Matriarch
- This we know, Matriarch.
- And so be it, children. Now keep swimming and remember the story I told you. One day you'll tell it to your children and that's the way of the Goddess who gives life to everything!
