The Short-Sighted Walrus Old Jack's Boat

Go on, Salty!

# Come with me, we're off to the sea

# To where I used to play

# Looking back, when I was a boy

# And the fun we had each day

# Over the cobbles and through the streets

# Playing in the sun

# Friends to meet with games and treats

# Adventures just begun

# Stories from a magical world washed in by the sea

# Meet the rockpool creatures there

# It's amazing what you see

# Looking back when I was a boy

# Shrimps and starfish, crabs and snails

# In twinkly Rockpool Tales... #

HE LAUGHS

# Those lovely Rockpool Tales. # BOAT HOOTS

Salty... Salty?

Salty, where are you?

I... Oh.

HE CHUCKLES

I've lost Salty.

She was in her basket a minute ago and then... Pfft!

I don't know where she is, you know?

I think because I said I didn't have an idea for a story,

she got up and she trotted off. Yes.

Oh...! HE LAUGHS

There you are! Where have you been?

What have you got round your neck?

Oh, look.

Look at that!

My old binoculars.

Yes, all right, I know.

You see, she's brought these because she wants me to tell a story

about these binoculars.

Yes, well, I do have a story.

It all happened when I was a boy

in a twinkly time long, long ago.

I used to run down to play on the beach as often as I could,

meeting up with my best friends

Little Ernie and Little Sailor Sue.

One afternoon, I'd brought my binoculars down to the beach

to show the others.

"If you look through them, they make faraway things look closer,"

I explained.

"What happens if you look through the other end?" asked Ernie.

"Then it's the other way round," laughs Sue.

"Things look further away."

Well, Ernie didn't want things to be further away,

so he looked through the binoculars

and soon he found his favourite place.

"The rockpools! I can see them really well."

"Come on, then. Let's visit them," said Sue.

So, off we dashed.

When we got to the rockpools, we spent ages taking turns

to look at all the little creatures that live there.

We gazed deep down into the glittery waters

and there a magical world appeared before our eyes.

One morning, Sally the Starfish

popped her head out of the still water of the rockpool.

There, washed up in the seaweed,

was a pair of binoculars.

Reginald the Great Wise Limpet was nearby,

so Sally paddled over to him.

"O, Great Wise Limpet," asked Sally,

pointing one of her little arms at the pair of binoculars,

"What's that?"

Reginald yawned and then explained,

"It's a lookamabob.

"You look through it and it makes things look very big."

Well, Sally decided she should look through the lookamabob,

so she scrabbled over and peeped into it.

She was hoping to see boats bobbing about on the big wide sea.

Instead, what she saw was a monster lolloping over towards the rockpool.

At least, it LOOKED like a monster.

It was big and hairy, with scrunched-up eyes

and two long, long pointy tusks.

She glanced at Reginald and she whispered, ("Reginald,

("There's a monster out there

("and it's heading straight for the rockpool.")

Reginald opened a sleepy eye and blinked at the lolloping monster

coming across the rocks.

"Oh, it's not a monster," he said firmly.

"That is a walrus.

"Normally, though, they live a long way away, near the North Pole.

"I've no idea what this one is doing here.

"You'd better warn the others.

"He seems to be heading in our direction."

SALTY WHIMPERS

Well, Sally didn't need to be asked twice.

She dived down into the rockpool

and immediately bumped into Bertram the Butterfish.

She told him all about the walrus.

Bertram smiled.

"I'm sure it can't bother us down here."

But just as Bertram said those kind words, it went dark.

SALTY YELPS Yes, I know, Salty.

You weren't expecting that, were you?

You see, the walrus had reached the rockpool

and decided to have a sit down.

So it slowly lowered its big, hairy bottom

into the warm waters below.

That's what made everything go dark.

Bertram and Sally had to scrabble away fast,

as the walrus's bottom came towards them.

Finally, it settled with a large sploosh

on the sandy bed of the rockpool.

The walrus sighed a happy sigh.

Hmmm!

He was very comfortable, but nobody else was.

Reginald was squished against his rock,

Bertram was squeezed down in a hole

and Sally had managed to squadge between two rocks.

She wondered what she was going to do

and, just then, a large seashell nearby lifted slightly

and two familiar eyes blinked out at Sally.

It was her best friend Andrew the Anemone.

She helped him to slither out.

"What happened?" whispered Andrew.

"One minute I was playing in the sand,

"the next it went all dark

"and I was squelched into that shell!"

"A walrus is sitting in our rockpool," said Sally,

"And he's filled it completely!"

Andrew gazed up at the walrus.

It looked like an enormous, hairy mountain.

"Let's tell Bertram," said Andrew.

"He'll be able to help."

Sally shook her head.

"He's stuck in a hole. Everyone's stuck," she sighed.

"Then WE'LL have to do something," he said bravely.

"We'll be mountaineers

"and climb up the walrus.

"Then we can ask him to leave our rockpool."

It sounded a little scary,

but Sally always liked an adventure,

so she nodded bravely.

"Let's do it," she said.

So, Andrew and Sally

started to climb the walrus.

It was hard work making their way through the rough,

prickly hairs, but soon,

with a mighty effort,

they plooped through the surface of the water

and out into the fresh air.

Up above them, they saw the long, hairy curve of the walrus's back.

"We need to climb onto his head," whispered Andrew.

So the two little friends slithered up the hairy back of the walrus,

until, with a mighty pussshhh...

they managed to reach the very top.

They were standing on the walrus's head!

Andrew gazed proudly out at the big, wide sea.

"You can see for miles up here," he said.

"Look!

"There are lots of walruses out there!

"So why is this one sitting in our rockpool?" said a breathless Sally.

"Let's find out," smiled Andrew.

And together the two mountaineers

made their way over the walrus's head,

down...down...

between his scrunched up eyes

and settled on the end of his

whiskery nose.

"Huh!"

The walrus blinked when he saw them.

"Huh."

He wasn't expecting creatures on the end of his nose!

Sally coughed.

"Huch, huch...!"

Mr Walrus," she said. "You are sitting in our rockpool

"and there's no room for any of the little creatures

"who live down there."

The walrus blinked again.

"Er...urh...sorry,"

he said in a gruff, walrussy voice.

"I was tired and wanted somewhere comfortable to sit down.

"I'm expecting to meet with my friends very soon."

Andrew wiggled his way to the tip of the walrus's nose

and pointed out to the big wide sea.

"They're out there! You see?"

But the walrus shook his head sadly,

which almost made Sally and Andrew lose their balance!

"I'm a very short-sighted walrus," he sighed.

"Which means I can't see things far away,

"so I have no idea where they are."

He peered out to sea.

And then Sally thought for a moment

and gazed down at the lookamabob

still lying in the seaweed.

"I think I can help you," she said.

SALTY WHIMPERS

So, guided by Sally, the short-sighted walrus

gently lent down and picked up the binoculars in his flippers.

Sally and Andrew jumped down onto the rocks

while walrus lifted the binoculars up...

and peered out to sea.

"Oh...!"

And there were his friends.

They were waving and calling.

They had followed him all the way from the North Pole

and now they wanted him to come home.

"I must have got very lost!" he laughed.

"Well, you can keep the lookamabob, if you like," smiled Sally.

"Then you'll be able to see your way home."

Sally and Andrew helped the walrus put the binoculars

round his great neck

and then he got out from the rockpool

with a gloooop-a-whulp...

and he slowly waddled away towards his happy friends.

"Thank you!" he called back to Sally and Andrew.

Our two friends, they waved him off before diving

back down into the warm water of their rockpool.

They were greeted by cheering rockpoolers everywhere,

emerging from their holes and blinking in the light.

They were heroes!

And Sally and Andrew told the story of the short-sighted walrus

again and again and again.

Well, when Sue and I looked up from the rockpool,

Ernie was peering back towards the beach.

"What you looking at, Ernie?" I asked.

"My dad," he said.

"I think he's waving to us, but I can't tell what he wants."

"Well, try these," I said.

And I handed Ernie the binoculars.

Well, he looked through them, shook his head...

"No, I almost can't see him at all - he's like a little dot!"

Sue laughed.

"Ernie, you're looking through the wrong end again!"

So, he turned them the right way round

and he could see very clearly, indeed.

"Yes, it is - it's Dad!

"And your mum's there, Sue, and...

"Ooh! She's brought cake!

"Hurray!"

Anyway, we made our way

across the rocks and then raced across the sand

to be the first to get some cake.

And guess who won. SALTY YELPS

Yes, it was Ernie.

And then we played and played

until it was time for us to go home.

And the tide came in and covered the rockpool,

like a great seaweedy blanket.

You know, Salty,

all that talk about cake got me thinking.

And I think it's time to visit The Mermaid Cafe

for a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Yes.

So why don't you join us

for some more Rockpool Tales next time?

Goodbye. Come on, Salty.

Cake is calling me!