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| A Dragon in the Sea, July 2014 |
A Dragon in the Sea
There was once, long ago, a Dragon, who lived in the sea.
His name was Takumi, and though he had great golden scales and long whiskers
that were quite admirable, the other folk that lived in that stretch of water
disliked him, for the fire within Takumi’s belly made the water quite hot.
Whenever he went by, all kinds would swim away, be they shark, Merman, dolphin
or Nereid. Takumi was shunned by society, and it made him quite grumpy. He
decided that, should anyone cross his path, he would eat them. Takumi thought
they deserved it, for rejecting him so unkindly without knowing anything of
him.
And so, he became all the more unpopular.
In truth, Takumi was a lonely Dragon. He once had a wife,
but they had argued and she made him leave. Takumi and his wife had come to the
sea as a last resort, for in those days Humans had armoured knights who went
out to slay Dragons. Takumi had a big scar upon his leg from where he had been
cut by a magical blade, and in that place, his scales grew no more.
One day, Takumi was swimming through the sea when a large
mob of people appeared before him. There were Merfolk, Siren, Nereids,
Glashtyn, Selkie, and a great many others, all with angry looks upon their
faces.
“Well,” thought Takumi. “My stomach is quite full, but I am
sure I can eat them all.”
“Stop, Dragon,” said a Selkie. “Leave this place. We are
tired of your heat and your murder of our people.”
“I only eat those whom get in my way,” Takumi replied, his
red eyes narrowing. “And I cannot help my heat, for I am a Dragon.”
“But now you must leave.” A Mermaid stepped forward: the
queen of the kingdom in which all lived. “I hereby cast you out, Dragon, for
you have caused much trouble for us.”
Takumi wished to eat her, along with everyone else, but he
suddenly noticed weapons hidden amongst the crowd. Disappointed, he bowed his
head. “I understand,” he said, and turned away.
Takumi swam far, but was turned out of every kingdom he
passed through. The constant rejection caused him sadness, which in turn caused
him anger, for Takumi felt ashamed at being sad: he believed that no strong
Dragon should feel sadness.
As his anger grew, his regard for others diminished. Takumi
no longer entered kingdoms quietly to humbly beg acceptance. Instead, he
rampaged through them, destroying houses and killing any who cast ill words or
ill look towards him.
Throughout the oceans, Takumi became feared.
As the people’s fear grew, their hatred of him became
greater, and their rejection stronger. Takumi became sadder, angrier.
Then one day, as he left the ruins of a town he had
destroyed, Takumi happened upon a young couple: a Siren girl and a Selkie boy.
They started when he appeared over the rocks behind which they were hidden, and
the young woman started to cry.
“Please do not eat us,” she said. “We have done no wrong but
love each other!”
Takumi felt a pang of jealousy at the couple’s love, but her
words made him curious. “I do not eat people because they love each other,” he
said, a frown upon his features.
“But that is what our parents have said,” the young man
spoke up. “That the great Golden Dragon will come and eat us, if we do not
repent our sin and cease to court each other.”
“I will not eat you for that,” said Takumi. “I will eat you
for your rudeness.”
“How have we been rude?” asked the young woman, surprised.
Takumi could not answer, for these young people had not
shunned him. “…you have not,” he said after a moment. “So I shall not eat you.”
After further consideration, he said, “But I may have eaten your parents.”
“Oh,” said the girl.
“Ah,” said the boy. Then he laughed. “Now I can marry my
sweet Aysu.”
The girl, Aysu, smiled. “And I can marry my dear Gursel,”
she said. “Thank you, golden Dragon.”
“Yes, thank you!” exclaimed Gursel.
Takumi was so surprised by their gratitude that he sat down.
The shock was great after such a long period of rejection, and tears escaped
his eyes. “You are welcome…” he said.
“Why do you cry?” Aysu asked curiously. “We have heard tell
that you are a strong, angry and wicked Dragon. But you are not.”
Embarrassed, Takumi swiped his tears away with his paws. “I
am strong,” he protested. “…and yes, I am often angry.”
“But why?” asked Gursel.
Takumi had already humiliated himself before the pair, so he
thought he may as well tell them. “Everywhere I go, I am shunned. They do not
like my heat, and they do not like me eating people.”
“Well, it is not nice to eat people,” Aysu said. “But the
warm water is nice!”
Gursel nodded. “Your belly-fire makes the water more
pleasing,” he said. “Nobody should reject you on account of that.”
“Even my wife turned me away,” admitted Takumi, shame-faced.
“We argued, and she made me leave.”
Aysu swam up to Takumi’s head and patted him. “You should
make up with her, and then you can live with her again!” she told him, smiling.
“What did you argue about?”
Takumi sighed, his great breath knocking a nearby school of
fish from their path. “She wanted to have children, but I said we were too
young.”
“What a silly thing to argue over!” Gursel exclaimed. “Aysu
and I have talked about children. We know it will be difficult, and I am afraid
of being a poor father, but children are lovely. I want to be a good father.”
Aysu nodded. “Why do you not go back to your wife and
apologise?” she suggested.
“Do you say that it is my fault?!” Takumi asked, frowning.
“No,” said Gursel. He swam up beside Aysu and smiled kindly
at the Dragon. “It is alright to be afraid. But if she is angry and sad, your
apology would help make up with her, and you can talk honestly with her like I
do with Aysu.”
“I want children, now I am older...” Takumi mused. “Ah, but
she is so far away.”
“Where does she live?” asked Gursel.
“We lived in the Hidden
Sea, beneath a mountain,”
replied Takumi. “It is on the other side of the world.”
“It sounds so magical!” Aysu clapped excitedly. “Do let us
come with you, Golden Dragon! We can all start afresh. Besides, you likely
destroyed our homes in the town, and other family will certainly come here
eventually to tear us apart.”
Takumi considered this. Though people had rejected him for a
long time, and he had grown tired of him, these two were different. Having
travelling companions would make the journey less of a lonely one. “Very well,”
he said. “You may come with me.”
“Thank you, Golden Dragon!” exclaimed Gursel, taking Aysu’s
hand.
“My name is Takumi,” the Dragon replied, trying to sound
gruff.
“Takumi,” Aysu smiled. “And what is the name of your wife?”
“Tiamat. Her name is Tiamat.”
The trio left the kingdom and started their journey across
the seas. Takumi could swim much faster than his new friends and the Siren girl
and Selkie boy became tired long before he did. When this happened, he allowed
them to ride upon his shoulders. Aysu and Gursel clung to his scales and cried
out in delight, especially when he swam faster.
Takumi began to enjoy the company of others. What’s more,
other sea-folk seemed less afraid of him when they saw Gursel and Aysu riding
upon his shoulders. Often when people looked fearful or started to swim away,
Takumi’s travelling companions called out and told them he was a friend, and
comment on how lovely and warm the water was. Slowly, the news spread across
the seas that the Golden Dragon was not wicked, but a friend with a warm belly
that would heat even the coldest sea.
Takumi learnt to not only enjoy the company of others, but
to appreciate them too.
At length, their journey came to an end. Takumi swam towards
the mountain beneath which the sea was hidden, but he stopped at the underwater
entrance, hesitant and worried.
“What is the matter?” asked Aysu. She patted Takumi’s head.
“Your wife will be waiting!”
“What if she has found a new husband?” asked Takumi,
uncertain. “Or if she does not want me? Or if she has left this place?”
Gursel shook his head. “I do not think she has left, for the
water here is doubly warm as it usually is around you.” He smiled reassuringly.
“Let us go beneath the mountain with you, Takumi. Aysu is curious about your Hidden Ocean,
and I would much like to meet your wife.”
“Yes, and if she is unhappy, maybe we can help,” Aysu spoke
up. “Come, Takumi. We have travelled very far and I am sure she misses you.”
With a nod, Takumi swam beneath the mountain.
The entrance to the Hidden Sea
was a series of caves, connected by tunnels. In one cave, the walls were
studded with diamonds, in another they were emeralds, and in another, rubies.
The final cave was filled with sapphires, and then they were out into the
giant, endless cavern that housed the Hidden Sea.
Aysu exclaimed in wonder at each of these caves, and Takumi swam closer to the
walls so that Gursel might break off some of the gems for his love.
Aysu and Gursel fell quiet as Takumi swam through the Hidden Sea,
though both continued to pat his head and stroke his scales in silent
reassurance. He was grateful of their presence.
Eventually, Takumi neared the part of the sea where he and
Tiamat had lived.
“Tiamat?” he called out. “It is I, Takumi.”
Slowly, from behind rocks and weeds, the grand form of
Tiamat appeared. She had blue-green scales and yellow eyes, and frowned when
she saw her husband. “I told you I did not wish to see you again,” she said.
“Why did you return?” Spying the Siren and Selkie on his shoulders, she added,
“And who are these creatures?”
“These are my friends, Gursel and Aysu,” Takumi replied, a
little defensive. “It is they who persuaded me to return to you, for I have
been alone and rejected by all I encounter.”
“What a surprise,” Tiamat snorted scornfully. “Your temper
has always turned people away.”
“You are right,” Takumi replied humbly.
His wife looked at him in surprise. “You have not agreed
with me so readily in the past,” she said.
“I know, and perhaps I should have.” Takumi swam closer to
her. “I am sorry for our arguments, dear Tiamat. You were right. It was not
that I did not want children, only that I was afraid…” He lowered his head.
“Gursel taught me that.”
Tiamat eyed Gursel. “You, the Selkie?”
“Yes, madam,” Gursel nodded. “I understand, for I am soon to
marry Aysu, and I am also afraid to become a father, for I do not wish to do a
poor job of it.”
“Oh Gursel, you know you will be a wonderful father,” Aysu
smiled at him.
“And what have you taught my husband, Siren girl?” asked
Tiamat.
Before the young woman could answer, Takumi spoke up. “Aysu
has taught me to be humble and accept when I must apologise.”
“Really, Takumi. If not for these two, I suspect you would
still be swimming around in the sea, destroying villages and eating people.”
She laughed at his surprise. “Yes, the news even spread as far as here. So did
the tale of the Golden Dragon, with the Selkie and Siren companions who rode
upon his shoulders.”
“So you already knew they were my friends.”
“I suspected such, and wondered if I would ever see it for
myself,” Tiamat nodded. “But now you must bid your friends goodbye, for it has
been a long time since I saw you, Takumi. We have much time to catch up on.”
“You accept me back?”
“I never truly wished for you to leave, I only wanted you to
apologise.”
“Oh.”
Tiamat laughed. “You big fool. Come inside. You can see your
friends later.”
Takumi sighed in relief. “Thank you, Tiamat…”
Aysu and Gursel swam from his shoulders, and Takumi looked
over at them. “There is a pleasant place in the diamond cave; I think you will
like it.”
“Thank you, Takumi!” they called.
“No,” said Takumi. “Thank you.”
And so it was that Takumi was reunited with his wife Tiamat,
and over the years they had many children. Aysu and Gursel discovered a lovely
place within the diamond cave that was perfect for a house. It was close to the
open sea but also close to the Hidden
Sea, and beautifully
warm. They were wed and built a house together, and they, too, had many
children.
Little did any of them know that the water, warmed by
Takumi, Tiamat and their family, flowed out of the mountain here and there,
into hot pools where the Kappa-folk played and the Nereids danced, and the
occasional human came to bathe.
Even today, long after Takumi and Tiamat have passed into the
otherworld, those pools are warm, for the descendents of those fire-bellied
Dragons continue to live in the Hidden Sea, far beneath the mountain.For more stories from Folk Tales of the Sea People, check the tag.
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