The Voices of the Ocean

Once upon a time, there was a little fish with three coloured spots on her side.

Her name was Dot.

Dot lived in a warm, blue ocean filled with swaying coral, little fish and dancing bubbles.

During the day, sunlight played in the water. At night, stars shimmered above the waves.

Dot loved her reef. Yet she often swam to its edge, where she gazed out at the endless blue water.

The other fish preferred to stay close to home. But Dot was different. She was curious. Very curious.

She wanted to know what lay beyond the reef, where the enormous shadows came from and who was singing in the deep ocean.

One day, the call of the ocean was stronger than ever.

Dot swam farther than she had ever gone before. Farther than the turtles. Farther than the dolphins. Even farther than the place where she normally turned back.

With every beat of her fins, the familiar reef behind her grew smaller. The water around her felt different. Bigger. Deeper. More mysterious.

For a moment, Dot looked back. She could still return.

But then she heard it.

WooooOOOooooommm…

A low note trembled through the water. Dot did not just hear it; she felt it throughout her whole body.

Another note followed. Long. Low. And so extraordinary that Dot forgot to be afraid.

“Who is making that sound?” she asked softly.

The ocean did not answer. Around her, the water grew quieter, deeper and darker.

WooooOOOooooommm…

Very slowly, an enormous shadow glided beneath her. Dot held her breath.

For a moment, she wanted to swim back to her reef. But then she thought of all the voices she had not yet heard. And of something she had wondered so many times before: did she have a song of her own?

Dot did not know whose shadow it was or how far her journey would take her. But she knew one thing for certain: she wanted to listen to every voice in the ocean.