In the north of Ykh-myth there is a bay separated from Pila-kerkka - the Sea of Okhotsk - by a sand spit. This is a lagoon. The lagoon is like a lagoon: in its bowl there is a deep channel into which sea water flows during high tide, and at low tide it violently pours back into the sea through a narrow strait; The lagoon also has an extensive sandbank, it extends to the west of the blue channel, gradually turning into a flat shore. The shallows are all overgrown with sea grass.
When you go to set nets, do not set them in shallow water. You won’t catch either chum salmon or taimen here. The nets will be clogged with sea grass, and the lower meshes will be filled with flounder. And not a simple smooth one, but a chickweed. It is all covered with prickly growths that look like warts. This flounder usually lies on the bottom of the lagoon, covers itself with mud with its fins, and is not visible.
And if you look where it is deep, you will see the black round head of a seal on the surface of the water. She turns left and right, her big shiny eyes seem to be looking for someone. The seal searches for a long time, does not find it, dives into the depths of the bay, but soon appears on its surface again, turns its head left and right.
Starfish were once similar to other flounders. And she didn't like it. And she swam off to look for someone to consult on how to be different from the other flounders.
Met with navaga:
- Navaga, navaga, you came to our bay from distant waters. You are not afraid even of the seventh wave. And you've seen a lot. Tell me how to do it so as not to be like other flounders?
The seasoned navaga was surprised by the flounder’s question, shook her head, wagged her thin tail and went into the depths.
And the flounder turned to both smelt and taimen. But no one could help her.
- I will help your grief! - said the seal. - Just be sure and you will help me.
- Of course! Of course! — the flounder was delighted, swam up to the seal, and stroked its whiskers with its fins.
At that time, the seal was all black and could be seen far away in the ice. And the seal, it is known, has many enemies: a bear, an eagle, a fox...
The seal began to smear the flounder with secret clay. He did his job for a long time and diligently. All you could hear was his snoring with zeal. The seal transferred a fan of the northern lights to the tail of the flounder, its fins colored in the color of a quiet sunset over the August bay.
The flounder admires itself - it can’t stop looking at it. It will turn now on one side, then on the other, swim now under the wave, now at the very bottom.
The seal waited and waited, somehow waiting for the flounder to calm down.
“Now you take care of me,” says the seal. “I’m black, and you can see me far in the ice.” Make me gray so that I can be invisible both in the ice and on the shore.
“I’ll do it in a moment,” said the flounder and began to smear the seal with white clay.
But the flounder did not have as much zeal as the seal. And she hurried to her relatives to show herself. She applied a few spots and left behind.
“Ugh, I’m tired,” she said.
“Get some rest,” the seal sympathized.
And the flounder turned and swam away from him.
-Where are you going? - the seal caught himself.
The flounder hit its fins hard, and all I could see was its flat back. The seal became scared: it is now motley. He cannot hide either in the ice or on the shore: black spots will give him away in the ice, and white spots on the shore.
- Oh so! — the seal was indignant and chased the flounder. The chase lasted a long time. But where is it: as soon as the seal opens its mouth to catch the deceiver, she will deftly dodge to the side. Then the angry seal grabbed a handful of coarse sea sand and threw it at the flounder. So the flounder became covered with prickly growths similar to warts.
A lot of time has passed since then. But to this day the seal is at odds with the flounder. A flounder hides from a formidable seal in the grass in shallow water. She lies down on the bottom of the lagoon, covers herself with silt, and is invisible.
And the spotted seal swims in the depths, keeps looking for flounder, doesn’t find it, dives to the very bottom, floats to the surface of the bay, turns its head left and right
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru