‘Oh dear,’ said Sep, ‘I’m so sorry, but I [p128 can’t move the rock back into the sea, you know. Can I now?’
‘No,’ said the mussels, ‘but if you speak to the wind,—you know his language and he’s very fond of you since you made that toy for him,—he’ll blow the sea up till the waves wash us back into deep water.’
‘But I’m afraid of the wind,’ said Sep, ‘it says things that frighten me.’
‘Oh very well,’ said the mussels, ‘we don’t want you to be afraid. We can die all right if necessary.’
Then Sep shivered and trembled.
‘Go away,’ said the thin sharp voices. ‘We’ll die—but we’d rather die in our own brave company.’
‘I know I’m a coward,’ said Sep. ‘Oh, wait a minute.’
‘Death won’t wait,’ said the little voices.
‘I can’t speak to the wind, I won’t,’ said Sep, and almost at the same moment he heard himself call out, ‘Oh wind, please come and blow up the waves to save the poor mussels.’
The wind answered with a boisterous shout—