Delphi the Little Dolphin Who Learned to Float and Rest
In the warm blue sea, where the waves rolled gentle and the sunlight danced down through the water, there lived a little dolphin named Delphi — and Delphi was the most playful dolphin in all the pod.
All day long, Delphi played. She leaped up out of the waves and splashed back down, again and again. She raced the shimmering fish and spun in the sparkling water and rode the big rolling waves all the way toward the shore. "Faster! Higher! Again!" she chittered, looping and diving through the bright blue day.
But when the sun sank low and painted the sea all gold and rose, and the water grew calm and cool, Delphi's mother swam close. "Come, little one," she said gently. "The sea is growing sleepy. It's time to rest."
"But how do dolphins sleep?" asked Delphi, still wriggling with the last of the day's play. "We can't lie down in a bed. We're in the middle of the sea!"
"We don't need a bed," said her mother, smiling. "The whole ocean is our bed. Watch. You just float… and let the waves rock you."
So Delphi stopped her leaping and her looping, and let herself go still. She floated up to the top of the calm and quiet sea, where the round moon shone down, soft and silver, on the gentle water. And there she rested, just below the surface, rising up for a slow breath now and then, rocked ever so gently by the sleepy swells.
All around her, the rest of the pod floated too, calm and close — a circle of quiet dolphins drifting together under the stars. Safe in the middle of them all, Delphi felt the sea lift her softly up, and set her softly down. Up… and down. Up… and down. Slow as a lullaby.
And the little dolphin, rocked by the whole warm ocean and held close by her sleeping pod, closed her eyes and drifted, gently and happily, off to sleep.