Reading time: 7 minIn a secluded bay lived a mermaid called Esmelda. She was beautiful and kind. However, the inhabitants of the bay rarely saw her. But the mere knowledge of her presence reassured them.
Rumor had it that the young mermaid would live forever and that she had lived in the coral and rocks of this strait for hundreds of years.
But the sea creatures kept telling each other one thing in particular: Esmelda was said to have special abilities, which she never showed off.
One warm summer’s day, the fish noticed that they suddenly found it harder to breathe. “It feels stuffy, like the water is sticky,” said Luca, the little rainbow fish, to his mother.
Other fish also complained about this and sent Sally, the dolphin girl, to the surface. “Please see why we can’t breathe so well through our gills.”
Sally quickly swam to the surface and immediately noticed that a thick carpet of orange-colored algae was sticking to the otherwise clear surface. “No wonder the fish can’t breathe so well,” she thought to herself.
“We must try to remove the carpet of algae.” Together with the other animals, she thought about how they could clear the surface of the water. But now, of all times, not a single wave was moving across the bay.
One squid suggested asking the old octopus in the cave to scoop up the surface with its many arms. The others agreed to his suggestion. So the octopus came to the rescue, but to no avail.
Now dolphin girl Sally asked the sea eagle to tear up the algae carpet with its claws in a dive. But that didn’t help either.
Even a large whale tried to smash the sticky layer with its tail fin. But this attempt was also unsuccessful.
So the sea creatures had to give up and watch as the bay became darker and darker day by day. Hardly any daylight reached the seabed.
The rainbow fish were no longer brightly colored, but looked dull and gray. The animals found it increasingly difficult to breathe and drifted tired and weak in the water.
As another day without sunlight dawned and the fish became increasingly sickly, the two rainbow fish Luca and his little sister suddenly noticed a glittering tail fin behind a high rock.
Luca told his sister that they had to be very quiet now. “Look, Mathilde. I think that’s Esmelda’s tail fin.”
Luca had always loved listening to his grandparents’ stories. He had never doubted that this special mermaid could really exist.
They swam closer and closer to the rock and couldn’t believe their eyes. “Esmelda! That’s her!” thought Luca. No story had ever described her as beautifully as she really was.
A fine haze of sparkling air bubbles floated around her. She radiated brightness and hope at the mere sight of her.
Luca looked at his little sister, who was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. He plucked up all his courage and whispered softly: “Esmelda?” In an instant, the mermaid turned to the two siblings.
“You know my name, little rainbow fish?” the mermaid asked in surprise. Luca told her that he had always hoped to see her in the bay one day.
But now they needed her help. He excitedly told her that all the inhabitants were in danger and pointed to his little sister, who looked tired and weak.
Her beautiful, colorful scales had become grey and brittle. She was losing the strength to swim. “We barely have enough air to breathe, Esmelda. We’ve tried everything, but we just can’t do it.” He pointed his fin towards the surface of the water.
Esmelda now saw the heavy carpet of poisonous algae. There was a sudden sadness in her eyes. “I’ll help you,” she said, ”but you mustn’t tell anyone about our encounter.”
The two siblings looked at each other and nodded. They promised. But Luca was so captivated by the uniqueness of the wonderful creature that he took his little sister home and then returned to the place of the encounter.
And sure enough, he could make out Esmelda’s shiny tail fin in the distance. He swam after her as fast as he could.
“I will keep my promise and not tell anyone about you, but I would like to see how you would like to help us.” Esmelda disappeared silently at a large cave in a huge rock.
It was dark and Luca was a little afraid to follow her. But he relied on his intuition and swam after her. He hid behind a large rock on which shiny shells were sitting.
He looked at them curiously before taking a look inside the cave. He could hardly believe his eyes. The belly of the cave was bright and shone in the most beautiful colors he had ever seen.
There were colorful corals everywhere, shimmering in the bright light and moving as if in time with the current. But what was that? It wasn’t the random movements he had just observed.
Only now did he notice the gentle, wonderful sound emanating from the cave. Luca was spellbound by the music, which he was hearing for the first time in his life. He dared to emerge from his hiding place so that he could see what was happening even better.
Now he saw that Esmelda was sitting on a gallery. She was holding a mother-of-pearl staff in her hand. She moved it gently in one direction and then the other. The water suddenly began to pile up around her and rise to the surface in a circle.
Luca understood that the wondrous melody was coming from the coral. “It’s an orchestra!” Luca thought enthusiastically. “Esmelda is leading a coral orchestra. But why is she doing all this?”
At the same moment, the exhausted inhabitants were busy dividing up the last of the food they found among all the animals. There was far too little for everyone.
Over time, the food sources were almost completely used up. But then something strange happened. A bright ray of light suddenly blinded the animals and caught their attention.
A large seahorse called out: “Look up there!” and pointed to the surface of the water. Now all eyes were turned towards the sky.
They saw that a huge whirlpool had formed, tearing up the carpet of algae with great force and pulling it aside piece by piece. “We’re being rescued!” the animals shouted in relief.
Exhausted, Esmelda put down the beautiful mother-of-pearl staff and the orchestra began to fall silent. As she turned around, she met Luca’s gaze and pointed the staff at him.
At that moment, Luca forgot everything he had seen and Esmelda could be sure that her secret would be kept for another hundred years.
When Luca returned to the other animals, they greeted him beaming with joy. “Luca! We’ve been rescued! Where have you been?”
The little rainbow fish shrugged his shoulders ignorantly. He couldn’t remember anything, but a smile on his face showed that he had witnessed something very special.
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