A Lesson for the Shark

A long time ago, the ocean had a king. The king was the Shark. All fishes were afraid of him. The
Shark was the strongest and the fierce one among them. He was also very mean. The Shark did not
hesitate to punish those who disobeyed him. One day, a Skipjack and a Sea Turtle wanted to give him a
lesson.

"Skipjack, we need to make a plan. The Shark is so cruel especially to weak animals like me," said
the Turtle. “My friends were punished by him yesterday merely for a food. I cannot stand this anymore!”

"Don’t worry, I have an idea," said the Skipjack. "He is not clever as he looks. I think I can trick
him.”

"How will you trick him?" asked the Turtle.

"It is simple. You meet with the Shark and tell him that I challenge him to fight."

"What? Are you kidding? You cannot win!" said the Turtle.

“I'm not really challenging him. It is all part of the plan," the Skipjack continued."Just tell the
Shark that I challenge him to fight under that big coral, and leave the rest to me."

The Skipjack pointed to a big purple coral near them, and the Turtle agreed with his plan. Later,
the Turtle met the King Shark and told him about the challenge. It seemed that he managed to convince
the Shark to take the challenge.

“What!? Is it true?! Very well, tell the Skipjack that I accept his challenge! I can defeat him
easily," said the King Shark arrogantly.

The Shark went to the designated place and met with his challenger while the Turtle was
watching them from afar.

"Hey, Skipjack! I’ve heard that you challenged me for a fight. Come, fight me now!" shout the
Shark. However, the Skipjack did not answer him, and he was just staring the coral in front of him . The
Shark repeated to taunt him, but there was still no answer. He seemed confused with Skipjack’s act.

"Skipjack! Are you deaf?!" The shark was really angry for being ignored.

"Shh! Be quiet," replied the skipjack in a whisper-like voice.

"What?! You dared to ask me to be quiet?!"

"Yes. Do you see something on that coral?” The Shark saw the thing what the Skipjack
mentioned.“Last night I had a dream. A jellyfish told me that the big round thing over there is a stone
containing a magical power of ocean’s beauty. Those who have it will be granted that power. T he
problem is that I want to see it, but I am not sure whether it is safe or not.”

"Really? Are you sure about that power?" asked the Shark curiously.

“Yes, I think.”
 The Shark believed his story without doubt and wanted that power. "Well, I am the king of this
ocean! I deserve it! So, move aside to let me get it or I will punish you! We can continue the fight later!"
warned the shark.

“But my king, it could be dangerous! You might get hurt!“

“I said move away! Nothing can hurt me! I am the King of the Ocean!”

The skipjack pretended to be scared and ran away with a clever smile on his face. Meanwhile,
the shark swam to the upper coral where the magical thing was. He was trying to grab the round thing
which was actually a large pearl in the mouth of a Seashell. However, when he grabbed it, the Seashell
suddenly closed its mouth and trapped the Shark’s fin. He screamed in pain and swam crazily around the
ocean without knowing the way to release the Seashell off.

“Help me! Somebody, please! I need a help!” shouted him to the fishes and other animals who
were there watching him with reluctant face. No one had enough bravery to help their king and they
also felt dissapointed for all the Shark did to them long ago. They were just silent.

“Why didn’t you help me? Help your king! This thing hurts me!”

The Skipjack then appeared with the Turtle. “So, my king, did you get the great magical power of
all ocean?”

“You! Why did you do this to me? How dare you! You tricked your great king and made him to
endure such a pain?!”

“I didn’t do that. It was you who did that with your own will and selfishness. I had warned you
before. No one wants to help you because you are the mightiest. Besides, you said that we must not get
it your way. Otherwise, you will punish us.”

The Shark cried and begged to the Skipjack. “It is so painful. Please, help me to release it off. I
promise that I will not do such a thing again or being arrogant and selfish anymore. Please forgive me.”

“As long as you keep that promise, we will help you,” replied the Skipjack. “Turtle, help our great
king.”

“Sure.” The Turtle then told the Seashell to release its bite from the Shark’s fin, the king felt so
happy for the help and thanked them for it.

“Make sure that you become a wise king this time,” said the Skipjack.

After that, the King Shark apologized to all fishes for his acts in the past and once again promised
to be a good king for them. They finally forgave him, and to prove his words, the King Shark roamed the
ocean to protect his people from any harms and helped them when necessary. Since then, the ocean
filled with peace and freedom on his reign.