Chapter 1
Once upon a time there was a Man.
His official name was Sapiens. However, for the sake of this story, we will call our friend "Sappy".
His Mother and Father taught him to make things, so he made an interesting musical instrument called a Bassoon.
To play his new Bassoon, he took it down to the seashore. To the sound of the waves, he created a lovely melody.
After half an hour or so, he realised that someone was listening to his tune and beginning to sing a song back to him, like a duet.
Looking out to sea, he realised that it was a huge whale about 100 metres away, spouting water and whistling a tune.
Soon they got talking to one another. The whale told Sappy that his name was "Blue".
They realised that they were interested in each other's instruments – the Bassoon and the Whistle.
Each wanted to tell their friends about this unexpected encounter.
Sappy's family lived only a short distance away, and he was going back there for lunch.
Blue, however, said that his friends might be anywhere within a 200-mile radius. That was not a problem, though, because he could whistle that far – indeed even further – and he would find them!
Chapter 2
Sappy went home and asked his family, who were physicists and acoustic engineers, how Blue's whistle could travel such a long distance through the ocean, whereas his Bassoon’s notes would only travel about 100 metres or so. He was intrigued and wanted to know more.
Well, he was not the only one who wanted to know more.
While Blue was calling his friends and travelling a long way to tell them about his new ability to talk to a real human being – namely his friend Sappy – some insects travelling high up on the jet streams saw Blue down below. They realised that there was something new and exciting afoot.
All the insects, including some Bees, got together to talk about what was going on.
Bumble, the Queen Bee, told them that she had heard Blue and Sappy singing together by the seashore. They all wanted to tell Sappy that they could sing too. So they asked Bumble to introduce them to Sappy and his friends.
Bumble devised a plan that no one else in the whole wide world had ever dreamed of! Guess what??
Bumble gathered together 400 of her favourite loyal friends to go on an adventure. It might be dangerous!
Just before sunset, they all flew quietly inside the cello of the musician "Cello Man", who lived next door. They liked it in the cello and slept soundly until they were woken the next morning with a start when the cello began to resonate with lovely music.
That was the moment for which they had waited!
They all swarmed out. Cello Man was shocked – indeed, rather frightened! However, Bumble buzzed up to him and said: "Do not be afraid! We are your friends, and we would like to show you that we can sing along with you while you play." So they did. Between them, they composed some new, strange music that had never been heard before. Should they call it The Flight of the Bumblebee?
Chapter 3
The next day, a friendly Spider called "Spy" came along and said that he had eight legs and, although he was not officially an insect, he did not want to be left out of this exciting party.
He explained that he was a friend of a wild-eyed Professor with whom he was working in a laboratory in Oxford, teaching the Professor all about how spiders make their thread, which is much stronger than it looks and could be used like silk – light and powerful.
In so doing, the Professor, with his wonderful modern scientific instruments, could hear interesting clicks as Spy made his web. Spy had not realised that he was actually singing his own spider music as he wove his web. So, after a few experiments together, they made a record of "Professor Spy Music" to give to their friends.
Chapter 4
Both the Bee Cello music and the Professor Spy music became a big talking point. People loved it so much that a music composer decided to create a cantata – a sort of symphony – to thank Blue the Whale for bringing all these novel ideas together. He simply called the music "Whale".
Others joined in, one calling theirs The Dance of the Bumblebee. There were many others.
Chapter 5
Now the whole wide world was alight with new ideas. In fact, so many that Blue, who was now returning from the other side of the world, decided to meet up with his friend Sappy and have a celebration including Bumble and Spy and all their friends.
Whale felt it appropriate to give a speech in which he not only thanked Sappy and all the others, but said that he and all the animals felt that they now had voices with which they could communicate with Sappy and his friends – and in so doing teach them a great deal.
Sappy responded by agreeing that between them they could learn from and help each other. Also, that with modern science, joint effort, and understanding, they could do great things together.
So the circle of life – this very story – would start afresh with new and even more exciting adventures and friendships.
The new world had dawned.
A short story by Felix Appelbe