The Gifting Tree and Other Real World Stories by Bruce Blanshard

Author:Bruce Blanshard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Addie
Published: 2021-10-02T06:08:53+00:00

TANGLEWEED

The whale in this tale is albino, totally white. He’s a one-of-a-kind whale—you will see. This is the story of his first treacherous ten-thousand-mile migration. The young humpback whale has to swim non-stop from the frozen feeding grounds of the north to the great gatherings in warm tropical waters of the south. On the way, he must face terrifying killer whales, great white sharks, and the most dangerous of all—man.

As a one-year-old humpback, he weighs ten tons. That’s larger than a yellow school bus. At six years of age, he’ll be fully grown and weigh forty tons. That’s as heavy as a fully loaded dump truck. You’d think his name would be Snowflake or Iceberg, being white and all, but he’s named Tangleweed. Here’s why.

In the northern oceans he likes to dive to where giant seaweeds grow. When he finds them, he spirals around until seaweed drapes his entire body. Once cloaked and tangled in weed, he rises to the surface like a giant octopus. With his kelp tentacles writhing, he surprises and terrifies other whales.

One evening, in fading light, Tangleweed’s tentacles reached out and wrapped around his mother’s tail. Unaware that it was her son having fun, she dived for the deep in fright. Entangled in the weed, Tangleweed struggled in her wake. Soon he was running out of air and feeling strangely dizzy. He had to get to the surface, but the more he twisted and squirmed, the deeper his mother swam.

On the surface, Scarface, a forty-ton adult whale, had seen Tangleweed appear octopus-like out of the dark. He also saw Tangleweed struggling for his life. Scarface followed them down and caught up with the entangled pair. Gripping hold of the seaweed in his mighty jaws, he tore it to shreds, releasing the young drowning whale from his mother.

Tangleweed shot to the surface, where he lay gasping for air. He’d learned his lesson and wouldn’t be playing any more monsters from the deep. But the name Tangleweed stuck with him forever.

However, the young whale had another game called Iceberg. It didn’t require diving, but it was surprising. He held his five-meter pectoral fins tight against his sides, lifted his dorsal tail out of the water, closed his eyes, held his breath and waited. Now he was just another floating iceberg bobbing in the sea. When other whales swam near, an iceberg would suddenly burst into life, scattering them in shock. Then the iceberg would freeze again, except for a little shudder of delight.

One day, while he was floating in the ice-pack, pretending to be arctic ice, he heard his mother and Scarface. They came so close to where he floated amongst icebergs, he could have reached out and touched them.

Scarface grunted, ‘Why don’t you make Tangleweed stay by your side?’

‘Oh, I try, but he just disappears.’

Scarface grumbled, ‘The whole pod has stopped fishing to look for him.’

‘I’m sorry, but he’s young and only having fun.’

‘Well, if an orca finds him alone, that will be the end of him.’

Tangleweed held his breath.

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