Dreampearl — A Magical Story

        Dreampearl was a magnificent dolphin.  He lived with his mother and the rest of the family in one of the great Southern Seas.
       His perfectly smooth shiny body glided through the deep water at remarkable speeds.  He was curious and he could swim for hours without tiring, astride huge waves that took him farther and farther on his discovery of the ocean.  He liked to laugh and to play with his friends, the blue flying fish, the yellow catfish and the little red goldfish.
      Sometimes he would leap out of the water, very high, and would turn a cartwheel and land close to them, splashing them with thousands of golden droplets.  It was so much fun!  The whole surface of the water was transformed into a vast foamy cloud!
     

     One morning at sunrise, Dreampearl discovered two small dark blue circles on his back, like the buds of two little flowers.  Oh they didn't hurt, but the tickled and they felt a little itchy.
          "I wonder what they can be?" thought Dreampearl.  "I've never heard of such a thing!  I'm sure it has something to do with rosy sunbeam.  I've been suspecting all along that it's magic!"
      Every day the little flowers grew bigger; slowly they blossomed in a thousand shades of blue upon his back.  Something very special was happening.  Dreampearl could feel it deep inside, and some nights it was even a little frightening.
    

Deux petites douceurs de plume

     Finally Dreampearl understood what was going on.  He had wanted so much to fly, and now his wish was being granted.  He began to sing as only dolphins can, and his song described another universe.
     Every day, again and again, Dreampearl dove into the rosy beam of the rising sun, the better to listen to the music.  Weeks and months passed.  His wings grew magnificent, folded along his back and surrounding him with shades of turquoise and mauve, with blue-gray and sky blue with violet. But sometimes the wings were very heavy and Dreampearl couldn't swim as fast as he used to.
    

     One day Dreampearl sensed that the time had come, that he was ready.  He awakened while it was still dark.  He swam on his back for a long time, gazing up at the stars.  He thought: "Today, I'll be going home."
     No, he wasn't sad — not really sad.  It was just that he felt he was rather small to be setting out on such a long journey all alone.
    The sky turned pale and one by one the stars were extinguished.  There was a silent pause between night and day, a moment of suspended nothingness, like a theater just before the curtain rises.  Dreampearl closed his eyes and suddenly, inside him, he felt the stirring of a brilliant magical force.  He chuckled.  This was marvelous!  All his fear had vanished.
                "What a wonderful trip I'm taking today!  Wake up you lazy old Sun.  I want to get going!"
     Slowly the sun came up, and as it rose, it left across the sea a rosy beam so wide, so bright, that fascinated birds flew over it in formation, back and forth, back and forth.