Once apon a time, there was a man who loved the sea. The man’s name was Sam. Sam loved the sea so much, he went out on the water everyday to sail and explore the sea with all his sailor friends. Sam’s friends loved the sea very much, but not with the same intensity as Sam. Now, in the village where Sam lived, there was a beautiful maiden who loved Sam infinitely. Sam never seemed to take a notice of the maiden’s love, though. Every time Sam was in town, the maiden would flirt and talk to Sam to try to become his girlfriend, but all her efforts were in vain. Sam simply loved the sea too much to take a notice of anything else.

One day, Sam and his friends were about to set sail when Sam suddenly decided to make an announcement. “Today,” he said, “I am going to marry the sea!” Sam’s friends laughed at the idea. “No, I am serious!” Sam said. He didn’t understand why his friends didn’t see the same way he did. Before they took off, Sam found seaweed on the shore and formed it into a ring. He and his friends set sail and Sam mentioned nothing of the prospect of marrying the sea again. Then, when the wind picked up and the waves were huge, Sam walked to the edge of the deck and bellowed out for all the sea to hear: “Sea! Listen to me! I love you and want to marry you! Will you marry me?” And Sam threw the seaweed ring into the waves. Instantly, ocean creatures of all sorts swam up to the surface and spelt “YES!” out. Sam was the happiest he had ever been in his life. He took a great big breathe, smiled at his fellow sailors, and plunged into the sea. Sam was greeted by all the fish and exotic animals with a throne of seaweed and coral. Sam sat on it, happy to be King of the Sea. Sam opened his mouth to say, “Bow down, all ye creatures of the sea,” but water rushed into his mouth. Sam couldn’t breathe. He leapt out of the throne and tried to swim to the surface. He finally made it, just as his breathe was failing him, but he couldn’t break through. Sam was loosing air, and fast. A bubbly voice that was all around him said, “Leaving so soon dear? Don’t you want to give your brand-new-wife a kiss?” Sam franticly tried to go up for air, but the surface of the water had become a wall, and he couldn’t get through it.

“You don’t want to stay with me?” Said the sea, clearly outraged now. “Well, you’ll have to join my other lovers!!!” And with a force of the strongest rip current there was, Sam was dragged down to the bottom again. All around him, Sam saw skeletons of men; all with rings of seaweed (not unlike the one Sam made for the Sea) around their finger bones. There was a whooshing noise as Sam’s seaweed ring was stuffed around his finger. Sam was losing consciousness. The world went black.

Meanwhile, the lovely maiden had heard Sam’s idea of proposing to the sea and had immediately set off on another ship to follow Sam’s. She arrived on the scene with great unintentional flourish. Immediately, she climbed on to the side of her little boat and jumped. Before she hit the water, the maiden said, “Sam, you are my true love and I love you!” She broke surface. All of Sam’s friends gasped. Each of them had tried to dive into the sea also, but every time they came in contact with the water, they bounced right back up onto their ship. The sea had been impenetrable until the fair maiden had jumped. “Must be true love,” one of Sam’s friends said, and they all wondered in amazement of the awes of true love.

But, at the moment, the maiden was swimming to the shadowy outline of Sam in the depth. She braced herself, ready for a full fight from the Sea when she reached him, but found there was no difficulty to grasp Sam. The Sea could put up no fight, for true love had overpowered her. The maiden swam Sam up to the surface as quickly as she could. Sam and the maiden emerged from the water. The maiden immediately brought Sam up onto his ship’s deck. As soon as Sam tasted the salty air, he was revived, for the Sea had pity on him and saved his soul. Sam looked at the maiden and said, “Fair maiden, you are my true love and I love you. Will you marry me?” The maiden agreed immediately. They went back to the village where Sam and the beautiful maiden wed. Sam vowed never to touch the Sea again, for he had learned to value people above other things. They all lived happily ever after.


The End