A Pourquoi Tale

You are about to read a tale I wrote a long time ago.  I wrote this with upper elementary school and middle school age kids as the audience.  I shared it on my on-line writing site and got some very positive reviews, so now I feel confident enough to share it with you!  If you don't get why I am doing this, let me explain.  I am a writer.  A writer loves writing, but a writer also wants what is written to be read by someone or by a whole lot of someones.  I do write for me, but I think some of what I write is good enough to be read by others.  So read my story and tell me what you think.  Let me know if you get it!

Why There Are Fish In The Sky
a Pourqoui Tale
by Rosemary Schimmel 

Life at the bottom of the ocean was quite dull. The bottom feeders moved slowly; they slept and ate. Their existence was tedious. Discontent was brewing in the dark depths. a few of the creatures who made their home there were longing for more excitement, and were resentful of the creatures living in the mid-waters where there was light and more activity.

"We shall go there," one of these bottom dwellers announced one day.

"You can not," came the reply from a very old inhabitant of the sea. "We are meant to be here, the swimmers of  mid-sea are meant to be where they are, and the fish at the top of the sea, well, they were born to be there. You must learn to accept your place."

This quieted the rebels for a short time, but before long the leader announced again, "We shall go there. Only now, it isn't to mid-sea that we wish to go, but to the top! The light there must be glorious with even more to do."

The old inhabitant vehemently spoke up again. "This is impossible! You will surely meet with peril and certain death if you attempt to go where you do not belong."

The others who had also been thinking that there must be more to their existence began to grumble. "I wish to swim higher too."

"Yes, I deserve a better place in the sea. I have been down here long enough."

"I also want to try and reach the top. We should go!"

The old inhabitant tried once more to dissuade the young rebels. "The creatures at mid-sea do not want you there. It is crowded and there is no room for you."

"But that is not where we are going to stay. We are going to the top!"

"They will eat you up before you have a chance to tell them of your impossible plan. There are some in the middle who also desire to be at the top. They will not allow you, the bottom feeders, to pass them by. They will beat you down and send you broken, back to the very bottom of the sea from where you came."

The old inhabitant knew that his words had gone unheeded. The party of rebels had turned and swum away before he had finished his oration. Sadly, he lay on the very bottom of his ocean home. Others before these young scrappers had tried to swim higher, and he had seen the proof of their lost struggle in the decay that floated down to become the ocean floor.

The next day four bottom dwellers began their ascent. They were young, strong, and filled with longing to be in a better place. Their desire propelled them quickly upward.  As the waters around them grew lighter, their need to be among the higher fish in the sea grew stronger.

Upon reaching mid-sea, they were met by a brigade of fish demanding to know why they had come. "How did you ever get this far? You are not capable of living here. You were not made to live in this much light among us."

"We wish to swim to the top. We have no plans to stay here and bother you." the leader explained.

"To the top! Why, who do you think you are? Don't you know all fish have a place in the sea and you can not upset the balance of our ocean home? Go back to the bottom where you belong, and we shall tell no one of your foolishness."

"We are going on," spoke the leader. "We do not want trouble; we only wish to pass and take our chances on reaching the top."

This angered the fish in the middle, and they attacked. In the ensuing battle, a bottom feeder was lost. As he slowly sank towards the bottom, the leader screamed, "Why do you try to keep us from going higher? Let us pass, and perhaps one of us will even reach the sky!"

This caused a fish from mid-sea to exclaim, "You think you can really reach the top? Then go, pave the way for us; we also long for more light and a better life. But you will not succeed. Others from our place have tried only to fail."

"We will not fail. we have come this far, and we shall swim on to the top," the leader shouted as they continued their ascent.

The fish at mid-sea swam away, believing they were where they would forever be, not having the strength to swim higher. "They shall never reach the top," said one.

"Oh, I hope they do," spoke another, and painfully he swam away in the opposite direction.

The remaining three rebels swam upwards, but with more caution now. "Perhaps we are wrong to do this," said one. "Maybe we should go back to the bottom where we belong."

"I shall never go back!" spat the leader. "One of us has paid the ultimate price for a better life, and for him I will swim upward until I reach the sky."

"The sky?" his fellow rebels queried. "We thought we only wanted to swim to the top of the sea."

"At first, the top of the sea was good enough, but now I know we must reach the greatest heights that we can reach. The sky is where we shall make our home."

From mid-sea to the top seemed a longer journey than the trip from the bottom to the middle. The light grew brighter, and the fish swimming in these clearer waters were more colorful; some in fact were brilliant in their hue. But time and again the three from the depths were accosted. The beautiful fish were full of rage and even fought each other for room and food. As the three swam past schools of plump fish they were swiped at, often not the targets, but the victims nevertheless. They lost pieces of tail and fin, but they swam on higher and higher.

"You will get no further," quietly spoke a gentle giant of a fish when they were nearly at the very top of the sea. "Few know you have come this far, concerned as they are with their own existence. If you stay here and remain quiet, you can live among us and no one will be the wiser."

"That is not good enough," the leader answered. "If we are to live here, we need to be recognized for the trials we have endured reaching this place, and I wish other bottom dwellers to make their way here as well."

The gentle giant exploded! "Bring others? Never! You do not belong here. How you made it I shall never know, but now you can not stay. Did not the old inhabitant tell you this?"

The leader was bewildered. "The old inhabitant? How do you know of him?"

"Do you think you are the first of the bottom dwellers to try to reach these greater heights? The old inhabitant warned them all, they did not listen either and they are gone now. You will become food for us just as the rebels before you. If you had only remained quiet, content to blend in."

One of the three spoke up, "I shall remain quiet. I have made it this far and have never seen such brilliance. I will be happy to find a place here among you and forget the life of a bottom dweller."  With less fin and tail than he had started this quest, he swam away. It took only seconds for him to blend in, and the others when they turned to speak, could not see him at all.

The leader was momentarily subdued. He floated about unsure of what he should say, unsure of what he should do. He looked at the only other remaining bottom dweller and the downtrodden look in his eyes re-lit his fire. "We shall swim on. We shall reach the very top of the sea and even enter the world beyond this ocean home!"

The not so gentle giant who had greeted them moments before called out to the other beautiful fish, "Crush them!" he yelled. "Crush them or life here will never be the same."

The ocean heaved and swelled. It overflowed and the shore was obliterated. The fight in the sea even caused the winds to scream and howl. The two bottom feeders took on an army of fish, lightweights alone, but in a crowd their strength could not be conquered.

The old inhabitant was awakened by a churning sea. He knew the cause and what he must do. He rallied his own army and around and around they swam. "Faster," he hollered to the soldiers of the deep. The waters became as angry as the bottom dwellers. This army below continued their rapid dance, and the momentum from the depths carried to the top. The rebels above were propelled out of the sea to the very sky. The beautiful fish continued their fight, unaware that the two intruders had taken flight.

Look up at night. The sky is on fire with stars, and two stars shine brighter for their burning desire to belong among the highest fish in the sea. They made it to a world beyond. They flew to the sky. Pisces beckons us to follow.


Thanks for reading and I really do want to know what you think.
Rosemary