Olive’s Silent Ocean
Olive the whale wakes up unable to sing. Her ocean friends lend a hand, or a fin.
Every evening, Olive the whale sang a beautiful song that rolled across the ocean. It was deep and slow and full of colour. All the creatures stopped to listen. It helped them fall asleep.
But one evening, when Olive opened her mouth to sing, there was no sound. Only a croak. She tried again. Nothing! ‘Oh no,’ she whispered. The sea was quiet, and the quiet felt wrong.
‘Perhaps it was a very bad cold,’ said Caleb the crab, nudging her gently. Olive didn’t know. She felt very sad. ‘Without my song,’ she said, ‘I’m just a big fish who can’t do anything.’
‘You’re a whale,’ said Cara the turtle, ‘and you’re our friend. We’ll help you find your voice.’ They all swam together to the deepest part of the ocean, where echoes lived.
There, they each shared a sound. Caleb made a quick humming noise, Cara made a low rumbling, and Faye did a squeaky tune. The sounds all mixed together like a soft, wild, wonderful song.
Olive listened, and something stirred inside her. A tiny hum began in her chest. It grew and grew, and then she opened her mouth. Out came one low note, soft as a feather, then another. She was singing!
The whole ocean cheered in bubbles. Olive sang the longest, loveliest song of her life, and her friends sang along, each in their own voice. The song floated up through the waves and into the night sky.
From that night on, whenever Olive felt shy about her song, she remembered the friends who had given her theirs. And she sang, always, for them.
The little lesson
Your voice belongs to you, and with friends’ help it will come back stronger.
Let’s talk about it
- Do you have a favourite song? What does it make you feel?
- How did each friend help?
Finish stories to collect Olive as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
More Under the Sea stories
Lola’s Littlest Fish Goes Exploring
Lola is a little fish with a big wish: to see what lies beyond the coral reef.
Tara’s Silent Ocean
Tara the whale wakes up unable to sing. Her ocean friends lend a hand, or a fin.
Vik the Hiding Octopus
Vik the octopus is the best hider in the sea. Can anybody find him?
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