The Star on the Sea, by Matt Taylor
/Two sister stars loved to dance. Sometimes, they would dance all night long and all the animals on Earth could see them twinkling the brightest in the sky. As they grew older, they started to dance in competition with each other and this only made them dance even harder and even brighter. This was all well and good until one day, one of the stars danced so hard she fell over the edge of the sky and down onto the top of the ocean.
Being a star, she had never touched water and never learned to swim. Swallowed by the ocean's cold grip, she began to sink toward the bottom. The deeper and deeper she sank the more her light faded from sight, as her sister peered over the edge of the sky weeping and crying out her fallen sister’s name: “Tinker Bell! Tinker Bell!”
But Tinker Bell could not hear her sister. She could hardly keep her eyes open to see her either and even if she could, all her fellow stars were fading out of sight behind the wall of water.
It was then that a great basking shark – dark and spotted white like the night sky – swam up and caught Tinker Bell on the tip of his back. He carried her all the way back up on top of the ocean where she coughed and spluttered salty sea water all over his shiny back. With each cough and splutter, Tinker Bell’s light gradually flickered back to brightness until soon her sister could see her again; she smiled and sighed with relief.
The basking shark continued swimming onwards, eager to take the star to safety. He swam north to the closest rock of dry land he knew. As he swam north through the ocean with Tinker Bell shining on his back, other basking sharks started to follow him until almost all the basking sharks in the northern hemisphere travelled in convoy following the northbound star. Soon, other sharks, whales, dolphins, and fish joined the group; more and more sea creatures started to follow the star and the basking shark, even creatures from so deep down they have no name.
Eventually, this great shivering school of the sea came to the edge of land in what is now northern Scotland. Here on the tip of a headland, the shining basking shark who had been leading the way gently tipped Tinker Bell off his back onto a small grey stoney beach.
Tinker Bell was only just regaining full consciousness, but she knew deep down that she had been carried to a new life by an angel from another dark but glistening world. With her eyesight fully back, she saw all the creatures of the sea staring up at her from the water. Tinker Bell didn’t know what to do.
“Thank you for saving me! Thank you. Thank you!” She cried.
But they all stayed still staring up at her, their eyes beamed out of the dark sea like many sister stars in the night sky, twinkling.
That’s when Tinker Bell had an idea; she could dance for them all to say thank you. Right away, she began to move her feet but they hurt on the stones and the pebbles. She was used to dancing in the sky and dancing in space is perfect with bare feet. She tried again but the pain was even worse. Desperate for an answer, she looked around until she saw behind her a high hilltop at the peak of the headland. Up the hillside, glistening in the moonlight, was the hair of the Earth, swaying from side to side in the wind.
She ran up the hill to where the waving long grass began. Carefully cutting some off, she quickly wove the grass, strong as hair, into two small ballet shoes.
They fit perfectly. They were so light and springy that she felt like she could fly. Back down on the grey stoney beach again, she started to dance. This time Tinker Bell found herself dancing so hard and so bright she flew up high above the seaside with her flowing motion. She flipped and pirouetted, ducked and dived – twinkling brighter than ever before. Each time she spun around, bright white dust burst out of her twinkles and fell down onto the grey beach, coating it forever with white sand.
Her sister gasped. Animals for miles thought the night had become day. The basking sharks and other sea creatures looked up in amazement, barely able to believe their eyes. The basking sharks' giant mouths have been wide open in awe ever since.
After a crescendo of tinkling light and dust, Tinker Bell eventually fluttered down. There was a brief moment of silence. And then all the sea creatures started jumping and splashing up high out of the water in applause. They jumped and crashed so hard that they broke a small corner of the high headland off from the mainland. The sea gushed around behind it, forming a small island among many others. But this time, an island made by the creatures of the sea. That’s where it got its name ‘Eielan Shona’ meaning Sea Island. Or the island made of the sea.
The sea creatures eventually all swam back into the depths of the faraway ocean, leaving Tinker Bell safely dry on her white beach on the tip of the new island. Here, Tinker Bell has stayed ever since, surrounded by the waters of the night sky.
But every year, the basking sharks return on the longest day of the summer to watch Tinker Bell dance for them, when the night is at its brightest. And, if you look up at the sky from Scotland on a clear night that day, look for the star that is twinkling the brightest. That’s Tinker Bell’s sister dancing with her still.