Candied Seaweed

As the children sat in a circle around the giant conch, their eyes, shining from the hearth fire, were glued to the speaker as they munched on candied seaweed. The recipe for candied seaweed came from the narrator and storyteller extraordinaire, Briny Breeze. As she watched the children's little mouths chew the sticky delight she thought of the story her Grandmother, Seaworthy Breeze, had told her eons ago about how the recipe was a gift of remembrance from the sea nymphs.

Many years ago the sea nymphs had found a human child and brought her far under the cerulean sea to dwell with them. This was a very special child who was born with gills and lungs. As it was a time from the long ago, few people spoke of it now- having forgotten that some humans still could be born bearing the vestiges of the sea creatures that all life had evolved from on the World of a 1,000 Islands. Even today, though no more gill people existed, the inhabitants of that wet world could all swim like dolphins, could all dive deep down like the sea otters and could all easily hold their breath under water for 10 minutes or more. As the story went, according to Seaworthy Breeze, the child did not belong to just anyone, but was the daughter of a great sea captain and his young bride. Oh how they wept and wrung their hands for the loss of their child. This special child, however, flourished and grew long and sleek as a true sea nymph.

She was called Mara and she loved to swim to the rocky coast and observe the great ships of man in their harbors. The great sea captain, her real father (though she never remembered him) would set sail each year in the month that she had disappeared to search the seas for his lost child. The years passed and the captain never found a trace of the missing child and sadly , her mother had died, never knowing what became of her darling daughter.

All of these events did not affect Mara, she was happy with the sea nymphs and they never revealed to her where she had been found. But, by a justice that only fate could mete out, the sea captain came, at last, to be in the presence of his lost daughter. He first saw Mara sunning herself on a large outcropping in the Harbor of Seals. He was just mooring his boat after a long journey. Mara was not afraid of the man with sad eyes, in fact, her intuition told her that he had a story to tell that she needed to hear. The sad-eyed sea captain joined Mara on the outcropping by jumping overboard of his ship and swimming like an eel underwater all the way until his head popped up a few feet from where she sat.

The captain's story told of how he and his wife had gone to the seashore with their baby daughter. They carried her in a beautiful woven basket made from dried sea grass that her mother had gathered as a girl and dried in order to weave her future children's cradle. While the young couple sat at the seaside with their newborn babe they became sleepy and lay down for a short nap. They slept too long though and when the waves lapped at their feet they awoke to find the basket with the child in it was gone! They searched the waves, they searched the shore; they called to the Moon who controlled the tides to tell them where their daughter was. The Moon hanging in bright silence, kept its long night's vigil until it was replaced by the rising sun. In the morning the couple sadly returned home-their sweet child lost, they knew not where.

As he spoke with such tender sadness Mara began to weep many salty tears of the sea that was in her body. She felt such compassion for the man that her choice was to comfort him- give him something to always remind him of his lost child that could make him smile.

Mara began her explanation with a story about her own childhood. She had been a foundling she was told. Sea nymphs will raise and care for each other's offspring. All nymphs are raised together by all the families. A foundling is as another child to bring into the clan and is quickly absorbed into a life of love and acceptance from all. Being a foundling meant that Mara had no father or mother though and at times she experienced a sense of mourning and a longing to have known her true parents. This was not understood by the sea nymphs. They could only feel the unity of their kind in a way separate from the human sense of belonging to and having. So when she became melancholy, Mara explained to the captain, that her Bright Concha mother (one of her many parents and guardians) would make her candied seaweed to cheer her up. It always worked like a charm!. She felt happy again and complete as a part of the whole. Nothing was missing, no one thought for possession overtook her; she felt a part of the clan again. The captain understood her story, but not the feeling of it. He would always long for and miss his lost child- nothing could change that, certainly not some candy. Mara promised to bring him some of the sweet treat the next time they met. Her word was true and the sample she brought was made by Mara, magically infused with the love of all connected beings and the delight of its sweet taste. Truly, as the captain chewed he began to feel a lightness of heart that he had not experienced in years. He thanked Mara for her gift and felt a healing begin that left him at peace with the world.

Mara and the captain met once a year at the captain's request. He never figured out that Mara was his true daughter, but he loved her as if she were. Each time they met Mara gave the captain the recipe for candied seaweed. The ingredients included no sugar or sweetener of any kind. This caused the man to wonder how Mara's recipe was so deliciously sweet. He tried to duplicate the healing confection many times, but it always tasted bland compared to Mara's.

One day Mara explained that the sweetness was the magical ingredient. It was not a tangible ingredient but infused the recipe with the maker's outlook. Knowing and feeling oneself to be part of the whole, to belong to all, caused a sweetness to adhere to the other ingredients. This was the magic of candied seaweed: a pure heart filled with the sweetness of life, not the bitterness, always creates the just-right flavor.

One day the sea captain was trying to make a batch of candy so he could share it with his friends. As he was preparing the mix he thought of his friends biting into the sweetness he knew and loved. He thought about Mara and about how wonderful her candy always tasted and just like a magic elixir receiving its final ingredient to set the spell his candied seaweed tasted sweet! He shared the recipe with many people, always explaining the magic needed to sweeten the pot. Many people, like himself, tried for years to make a tasty batch. Others achieved it in the first attempt. Throughout the many years and generations to follow the recipe was passed down until it was tried and perfected by Seaworthy Breeze.

Briny Breeze looked into the eyes of each child and as she did she spoke their name and gave them a wink to assure them that this was going to be a good story, so get ready!

She always began her stories the same way:

In the long ago times there.....

was a beautiful kingdom hidden away in the great depths of the cerulean sea. It was the kingdom of the seahorses who dwelt among the brown algae and kelp. The seahorses held wonderful gatherings and dressed in their finest colors. Depending on their mood or what they had eaten that day each seahorse may be black, brown,gray or yellow. A golden beige was a sign of youth and vigor. Black or brown may come with age.

This particular celebration was a gathering to honor the Tidal Wave Racers. Each seahorse clan had a tidal wave racer- their strongest and bravest swimmer. As the seaweed moved towards shore the tidal wave racers had to stay among the floating vessels of algae until they washed ashore. They then had to make their way back to the sea or perish on the dry land. Oft' times the waves came up and over where they had landed, drawing their tiny bodies back to the briny safety of the coastal waters. At the beginning of the race each wave racer found his spot nestled among the swaying movement of a detached plant. The journey began and the seahorse adventurers hoped they had chosen the right spot to swim freely as their algae barge moved towards shore. It was a dangerous voyage, filled with predators swimming by, and treacherous tugs and pulls from the separated algae stems. The final danger- the greatest of all, was to go from the dry land back to the open sea and make their way back to the seahorse clans.

Their race completed, the clans were celebrating a wonderful finish to the contest and presenting awards to the winners.

As the evening went on the last of the wave racers returned and were given their rewards of delicious crustaceans and zooplankton. It became evident that one racer had not returned and was still out there somewhere-maybe lost, maybe stuck on shore. "Oh great blue whale forbid!", they all thought. A search group was sent out to scan the sea beyond the algae kingdom. There was no sign of their missing comrade. A great sadness came over the celebration. All there had lost the happy feeling and decided to join in the search. Twenty seahorses, denizens of the deep swam out and away from safety to search.

Toward the dawning glow of light near the surface they swam to a floating tangle of seaweed. To their delight- there was the tidal wave racer, snugly tucked into the floating algae. They nuzzled and prodded him with their snouts, worried he may not be asleep but had perished and was floating on his death-bed. "O heaven in the sea! He's alive!" they all shouted when he stretched and smiled at his welcome home committee.

Back in the deep, deep kingdom of algae all the seahorses gathered around him to hear his tale of adventure and daring. He began his tale with a great churning of bubbles blown from his snout, which was the way all seahorses began to speak. Once the bubbles cleared and he knew everyone was listening, he began:

"I went ashore easily- as easy as phytoplankton goes down your throat! My troubles didn't begin until I realized that my landing wave had shot me over the tidal pool we were all aiming for. I was buried under my vessel so I could keep moist for a bit but I was choking for my sea water. Suddenly I felt myself rising out of the seaweed and was looking into the eyes of a land whale! Its mouth was open and red with large white teeth. I was certain it would down me in one bite!"

"O bones of coral that crunch!", everyone exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing! I waited to be crunched and munched! But suddenly I felt myself being lowered very gently back down to the seaweed. Then I was up,up,up in the air again and moving. From that height I could see the horizon of the sea and the setting sun disc and thought, "a right fitting last view before my demise!"

"The next thing I knew I was moving out to sea, back in the lovely water, able to breathe again. I was being guided over the tide to calm waters by that land whale. I was so exhausted and shook up that I just spent the night at rest and my floating bower brought me to where you all found me! Thanks be to coral life!"

"Was it you who found the sea racer, Briny?", the children asked.

"T'was me", she replied with pride. "I have returned many a tidal wave racer towards home and safety and you should do the same when you find one stranded and lost"

"We will, we will", and the children sang:

To the sea, to the sea

Won't you come with me?

Briny deep and no where to sleep

I'll fashion a bed of kelp

and sleep will come without any help

save the rockin' and rockin' of you

by the gentle waves of blue

Briny Breeze gathered the children together then and they walked outside of the cozy sea shack to run and play. They searched for treasures brought in by the tide and hoped they would find a wave racer to return to the sea. Briny walked the beach and searched for the algae she needed to make her next batch of candied seaweed.