This tale clocks in at 385 words w/out the title. Please note that a "let" ( In Sedna's poem, line 3 of the story) is the collective noun for a group of walruses. Please leave a comment & I promise to read your tale, too. Thanks & appreciation to Susanna Leonard Hill for hosting this contest.
The Twelve Dancing
Walruses
Every evening as the Northern Lights flashed, Sedna, the Sea Goddess,
sang a sea shanty that only twelve walrus pups could hear.
“My lovely let* of twelve,
Come to me where I dwell.
Dance with me under the sea.
I’ll catch you in my spell.”
The twelve slipped into the sea and swam to a secret cove where Sedna
held court until dawn. Her song
enraptured the calves. The sociable sea creatures flapped their flippers. They
danced a jig. They jostled and jumped ‘til the wee hours.
The
next day the calves slumbered in the sun. Old Tooth snorted when he saw his
pups still dozing Hmm… they sleep too soundly as if they’ve been up all night.
First Born felt his father’s gaze and barked. “Look lively, brothers, especially
you, Little Bit. Father suspects.”
Sedna’s mesmerizing voice continued to compel the calves to dance. The
pups waltzed. They wiggled and even did the wobble. Each night promised more
fun than the last.
However, Little Bit dragged his flippers as the twelve shimmied and
swayed. He blubbered to First Born, “My flippers flop. I’m ready to drop.”
The next night as the Aurora Borealis danced its way into the sky, Little
Bit waited. While his brothers and sisters snuck out, he floated over to Old
Tooth, seeking out his father’s warmth. Old Tooth woke as Little Bit crawled
closer.
“Is that you, little one? Where are
the others?”
“My flippers aren’t dancing slippers, Father, but if I tell my brothers’
secret, they will tease me.”
“Son, I questioned why your brothers lay listless. I was once like First
Born, but I have a plan. My brother Grimm entrusted me with a magical net
before he died. Now we use it.”
Under the Northern Lights Old Tooth and Little Bit paddled to Sedna’s
cove. While the pups frolicked, an invisible net scooped up the let and pulled
them home.
The twelve brothers rose early the next morning, famished and forgetful.
Old Tooth swam over to the twelve.
“I am pleased,
my pups. Tonight we feast on the shrimp, crab, and clams I caught with Brother
Grimm’s net. We will dance by the light of the moon. I decree that First Born
and Little Bit shall lead and I will call the tune.”
