The Whale In The Bathtub

One day, a little girl called Sophie was having a bath when, up from the soapy water, popped a tiny whale; the smallest whale that Sophie had ever seen, almost as small as her left foot and then, blowing a big round soap bubble from the blowhole on its back, the whale said to itself, “That is odd. I’ve swam the seven seas but I’ve never seen a sea like this before”.

Just then, however, the whale saw Sophie’s left foot wriggling its toes and, thinking it to be an Octopus, said, “Ahh, Mr Octopus. Perhaps you can tell me which sea this is. I’m not the best of navigators and I seem to have got a bit lost”.

Sophie giggled, watching the whale, “That’s not an octopus. That’s my foot”, she said.

But the Whale didn’t seem very amused, infact he seemed quite terrified when he noticed Sophie
looking down at him.

“Aggh!”, he cried, “A sea monster. Quick, Mr Octopus! Swim! Save yourself!”.

Then, frantically, trying to escape, the little whale swam round in circles looking for an exit but all he could see round about him were the walls of the bathtub.

“I’m trapped!”, he exclaimed, cowering in a corner.

“Don’t panic”, said Sophie, “I’m not a sea-monster, I’m a little girl and this isn’t a sea at all, it’s a bath tub”.

“Bath tub?”, said the Whale, peering out from behind the tail that it was using to cover its eyes.

“Yes”, explained Sophie, scooping up the little whale in her hands; trying to be as gentle as she could.

“I was having a bath when you popped up out of the water”, explained Sophie, “and you’re the smallest whale I have ever seen. Whales are supposed to be big”.

“Well. You’re the biggest little Girl I have ever seen”, replied the whale, “Although I should have known you weren’t a sea-monster. I’ve never seen a sea monster with blonde hair and blue eyes
before; a few mermaids but never a sea-monster; they’re usually green and scaly and quite ugly”.

And then the Whale introduced itself.

“My name is Wilberforce”, it said and, using her thumb and forefinger, Sophie shook its tail as if it were a hand.

“Very pleased to meet you”, she replied, “My name is Sophie”.

Then Sophie placed the whale gently back down on the foamy water infront of her.

“Well, now that we’re better acquainted”, said the whale, “Perhaps you can tell me how I might get back home, to the open sea. I was swimming too near to the Bermuda triangle, I suspect. Mother always warned me, “Wilberforce. Never swim near the Bermuda triangle”, but I never listened”.

“Bermuda triangle?”, asked Sophie, confused.

“It’s a place, out at sea, where things go missing”, explained the whale, “Big things like ships and aeroplanes. No one knows where they go to but perhaps they end up in your bathtub aswell”.

“No, I don’t think so. I think I’d definitely know if a ship or an aeroplane popped out of the bath”, replied Sophie.

“Well. I don’t think I would have gone anywhere near the Bermuda triangle if that whaling ship hadn’t been chasing me”, sighed Wilberforce with a look of sadness in its little eyes.

“Wailing ship?”, asking Sophie, “Is that a ship that makes a wailing sound?”.

The whale shook its head, “I only wish it were, but no, a whaling ship is a ship for hunting whales;
hunting them and killing them”.

“Oh that’s terrible”, said Sophie, frowning, “Who would want to do such an awful thing? Whales are so nice and they’re supposed to be very clever”.

“Oh we are”, said the Whale nodding and beaming proudly, “Although we don’t like to boast
but, nevertheless, some humans just don’t seem to like Whales very much”.

Suddenly, however, they both saw a big soap bubble rise to the surface of the bath water and, inside the soap bubble, was a little ship with a crew of tiny humans on board and, though they were the size of tiny dolls, each of the little people looked fierce like a pirate.

“That’s it!”, cried Wilberforce, shivering with fear, “That’s the whaling ship. It must have followed me through the Bermuda triangle”.

Then, one of the crew of the whaling ship who was carrying a long harpoon in his hands burst the bubble that was surrounding the ship and Sophie heard another tiny sailor, who was wearing an eyepatch and had a long, bushy black beard shout, “Thar she blows, men! Prepare to harpoon ‘er”.

“Oh help!”, said the Whale, turning to Sophie, “You must help me or they’ll harpoon me for sure”.

Sophie didn’t like the thought of anyone hurting the whale, who seemed very nice but she didn’t really want to hurt the little men either, however, just then Sophie had an idea and, scooping up a handful of foamy bubblebath, she smeared it round her chin so that it looked like a bushy white beard, then she gave the prow of the tiny whaling ship a nudge with her finger in order to get the tiny crews attention and said, putting on a deep voice, “How dare you try to harm that whale. I am King Neptune; ruler of the sea and anyone who hurts that whale will have to answer to me”.

Seeing the bearded Sophie towering above them all, the tiny crew of the whaling ship were struck with terror and all got down on their hands and knees including their eyepatch wearing captain.

“Forgive us, oh mighty Neptune”, said the Captain, “We’re only trying to make a living, you understand”.

But Sophie had no sympathy for the Whalers.

“That poor Whale is only trying to live aswell. No, there’s no excuse for it. You must stop hunting whales or else I shall get very angry”, she said in a voice that sounded as loud as a raging typhoon to the ears of the tiny sailors and then, pounding her fist in the water, she sent a small tidal wave crashing against the side of the ship which was enough to make the crew of the vessel so frightened that they all promised never to hurt whales ever again.

“Phew”, said the whale, sighing with relief, “Thanks, Sophie. Now, if only I could get back home again”.

But, just then, something else appeared, rising out of the bath water, that was even stranger than a whale or a whaling ship ; a large triangle that was floating in the air and glowing all kinds of bright colours.

“What is that?”, asked Sophie, amazed.

“That’s what I was telling you about”, said the Whale, “The Bermuda triangle. It’s come to take me home”.

Then, suddenly, both the whale and the crew of the whaling ship felt an immense force tugging upon them and then Sophie saw them both sucked towards that peculiar triangle, almost like water being sucked down a plughole.

“Bye bye, Sophie”, said the Whale, waving with its tail as it was pulled into the swirling, glowing whirlpool at the centre of the triangle, “I really hope we meet again”.

“Goodbye, Wilberforce”, said Sophie, smiling and waving back to him and then, quicker than the flick
of a fishes tail, the glowing triangle disappeared, taking Whale and Whaling ship with it.

“Wow!”, said Sophie, “Who knew that bathtime could be so much fun”.