The Edge of the Sea

Once upon a time, there was a man who lived on the edge of the sea. His name was Collin. Collin was growing old. He had lived in this little cottage for all his life and had never been further away than the little village a few miles away. He had no money—he grew all the food he needed in his own garden and traded what little extra he had for other things like clothes when they wore out.

Collin wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t sad either. He lived mechanically, existing as one cog in the machine of his life. Every day was the same. He woke up with the sun, dressed, ate breakfast, and worked outside in the garden in the morning. In the afternoon, he would do all of the other work, such as chopping wood or repairing the cottage. Then, he would make his supper, eat it, and sit out on his front porch watching the sunset on the ocean, perhaps doing a bit of reading. If the sky was clear, he would watch the stars for a while before going to bed.

Collin had lived alone ever since his sister moved away and his parents died, and he didn’t see anyone else very often. A few times a year, his sister and her husband might come by for a few days. Nothing really changed then except that Collin didn’t have to make dinner, and he would have someone to sit with him as he sat out under the stars at night.

Today was an ordinary day. Collin had just finished making his supper—a nice cabbage and carrot soup with herbs from the garden. He sat down on his chair on the front porch to enjoy his meal. It had been lovely weather all day, and the sky was glowing as the sun set along the beach in front of his house. A gentle breeze brought in the salty air from the sea.

Collin lifted his spoon to take the first sip of his soup, when suddenly he noticed a small shiny object floating on the surf in front of him. He set down his bowl of soup and walked down from his porch, across the rocky beach, and down to the water.

It was a bottle with a message in it.

Collin opened the bottle. It read, “Help! Small boat at sea.”

He sighed gruffly (in the way only a lonely old man can) and carried it back to his porch. He sat down and picked his soup bowl back up. Collin wasn’t the adventurous sort, and he had never thought much about adventures at sea, despite living by it for his whole life. Even if he were, this message didn’t have nearly enough information to be any good.

He picked up his spoon and was about to finally begin his supper when he happened to look up and see a small boat on the horizon. Now, Collin lived on an ancient coast on the northern seas where almost no ships ever sailed, so this was quite an unusual sight. Collin set down his bowl to take a closer look.

He squinted his eyes and could just make out what looked like a rowboat, coming straight towards his beach. He couldn’t quite make out what sort of person its passenger was. It must have been making a remarkably good pace, because although it had just been on the horizon a few moments ago, it was now much closer and easier to see.

After a few minutes, Collin could easily make out the figure of a large man rowing strongly towards him, and shortly after that, it became clear that the man intended to land the boat just in front of his house. Collin stepped down to the beach to help pull it in.

The boat seemed to be an old-fashioned row-boat—probably a lovely thing to spend a summer afternoon in drifting down a calm river, but certainly not a vessel to use out on the open sea! Even stranger, though, were its passengers. The man who had been rowing was certainly the strongest, most powerful man Collin had ever seen. In the front seat was sitting a young woman, who was wearing iron chains on her wrists and a golden crown on her head.

“I hope you’ve received our message,” said the man as soon as he’d come ashore, glancing at the glass bottle, which was still sitting on Collin’s porch, under his bowl of soup.

Collin nodded.

“Then you’ll have had time to get ready. Quick, get in!” The man pointed to the middle seat of the boat.

Collin didn’t know what to say. He never made decisions quickly. He squinted his eyebrows at the two strangers suspiciously

“Get in!” repeated the man. “I don’t have much time!”

Collin was very uncertain about this whole business, but he didn’t feel like he would win any sort of argument with the man. He would just have to hope for the best.

Collin climbed into the middle of the boat, very awkwardly, and nearly tipping it over.

“Thank you,” whispered the young woman. “This means a lot to us.”

Again, Collin simply nodded.

“Now, let’s be off,” said the man. “We haven’t a moment to lose.”

With one oar, he shoved the boat off from the shore and began to row away back to the northwest.

Collin coughed uncomfortably. “And where do we happen to be going today?” he asked.

“Away from here,” replied the man. “That’s the important thing.” He said this with an absolute definitiveness that Collin dared not question, even though the thought of “going away” from his home had never even occurred to him before.

However, he was still just as confused as ever. He looked at the girl inquisitively in hopes of getting a more satisfactory explanation from her.

She didn’t notice his look, so he coughed. Still, she didn’t look up at him. She seemed to be concentrating on the chains on her wrists.

The rowed on at an alarming pace for several minutes.

Finally, Collin broke the silence. “Excuse me, miss,” he asked. “Why are you wearing chains on your wrists?”

“To keep me from getting away,” she replied. “They didn’t work.”

“I see,” replied Collin.

He was about to ask more about them, when the man interrupted.

“I must tell you, sir, that I will not be able to continue on this journey much further. My time is nearly up.”

Collin did not understand this at all, and he said so.

“You will be responsible for bringing the young queen to safety,” the man explained.

“I beg your pardon, sir, but I’m not sure I’m very well qualified to do that,” replied Collin.

The man stopped rowing and looked at Collin for a few moments. “You’re better than nothing.”

Collin couldn’t argue with this.

“Though I’m not sure I’m much good at sea. I’ve never been out on a boat before, and I’m not strong enough to row nearly as fast as you.”

The man shrugged again.

The queen was more helpful this time. “It’s very important that I arrive in safety. This is about more than my own safety. If I die, our kingdom will fall to pieces. You may not be the best person in the world, but you’re by far the best person we’ve met today.”

Again, Collin couldn’t disagree with this.

“If you bring me back home and neither of us die on the way, you will be well-rewarded for your pain,” she added. “Will you please help me?”

Collin’s stomach rumbled. He still hadn’t eaten his soup, and it would probably be cold by the time he got back home—if he ever came back at all. All this talk of kingdoms and rewards and the sea was well outside of his comfort zone. He began to think that perhaps they could turn back. Surely there were others in the village a few miles inland who could row faster than him. He thought about the lovely weather this night, and how nice the stars would look from his own front porch, a few steps away from his warm bed.

But then Collin looked back at the queen. He could see on her face that she needed his help. Collin still wasn’t quite clear on what or who they were rowing away from, or what dangers might await him if he joined them. But he knew that he had to do what he could.

“All right,” he replied. “I’ll do what I can, though I’m not sure that’s very much.”

“And none too soon,” said the man from behind him. “For I must go now.”

With that, he jumped into the sea and swam away towards the bottom.

Collin started, and he looked at the queen for an explanation.

“That’s where he lives,” she said, laughing at Collin’s surprise. “He can’t stay up here for more than a few hours at a time. The sun will melt him.”

Collin thought it better not to ask any further, but he did say, “Well, I hope you don’t melt in the sun too, for we’re not likely to have any clouds soon.”

The queen laughed. “No, I won’t melt. The weather is the least of my worries.”

Though perhaps it should have been, for Collin would turn out to have been quite wrong about the weather.

Collin awkwardly took his place at the oars. He had never been in a boat before, and it took him a few minutes to get the boat moving smoothly again. The queen offered to help, but of course the chains on her hands prevented that from working.

The sun had already set below the horizon by now, and a few stars were beginning to shine. The ocean man’s quick rowing had already brought them far away from the shore, and there was nothing in sight but sea in every direction.

Now that he was at the oars, Collin began to think more seriously about where he was going. Previously, that had only been one of many questions, but it was now beginning to be the primary one.

“Now, your majesty,” began Collin. “Do we really have no destination in mind for this…voyage?”

“Ultimately, we must return to my capital city of Saline, but it may be wise for us to avoid a direct path. They will be looking for us, I expect.”

“And do you know the way to Saline from here?”

“I cannot say that I do,” sighed the queen.

“Then I should say a direct path is completely out of the question!”

“I suppose you’re right!” laughed the queen.

“I suggest that we simply travel to the east then, until we find land. Then we will ask for our location there and adjust our plans. And maybe find a better means of travel.”

“No! We must avoid the east at all costs!” exclaimed the queen. “That is the land of my captors, and we just came from there.”

“All right, then,” replied Collin. “We’ll go west.”

The sky was now fully dark, and the stars shone brilliantly against the darkness.

When Collin stopped for a few minutes to rest his arms (for he wasn’t able to continuously row as the man did), he looked up to admire them.

“These are so beautiful,” exclaimed the queen. “I haven’t seen the night sky in weeks!”

“And to think I could have been on my front porch looking at these very same stars!” Collin added quietly, as he began to row again.

Soon, however, Collin noticed a dark patch appear on the horizon, directly in front of them, where he couldn’t see any stars. The patch grew rapidly, and Collin realized that it was a cloud. He didn’t say anything, but the queen eventually noticed as well.

“I hope that isn’t a storm up ahead,” she said quietly.

Collin just grunted. He knew the weather at sea too well to be very hopeful. He rowed on.

Soon, a fierce gust of wind began to blow on them from the direction of the cloud. It was cold and fierce, and by now, even the queen knew that it would bring a terrible storm.

“Hadn’t we better turn around?” she finally asked, since Collin just kept on rowing.

Collin shrugged, “That storm is moving much more quickly than I can. We can’t get away.”

He didn’t turn around, but he did pull the oars in. There was no point in wasting his energy now.

Even before the rain hit, the wind began to drive up enormous waves. Collin did his best to navigate through them in the dark, but even so, they were soon soaked, and the boat nearly tipped over once.

“Your majesty,” he shouted over the wind. “If the boat does happen to go over, hold on for your life. You’ll never be able to swim with those chains on.”

Soon, the storm hit them with its full force. Cold rain poured down, thunder and lightning struck the sea, and the waves threatened to topple them over at any minute.

The storm went on for hours and hours. Collin and the queen soon lost all track of time. They spent all their efforts in trying to hold on to the boat as it tossed and turned in the waves. Many times, they were tossed high into the air, only to come down with a crash that threatened to shatter the poor little boat into splinters. Once, the boat actually did turn over, but both held on, and the next wave flipped it right again.

But finally, the first light of dawn began to shine through the storm clouds, and nearly as quickly as it had come, the storm began to fly away.

Collin and the queen were both so exhausted that it was several minutes before they noticed a large ship in the distance.

“Safety,” called the queen.

“But how do we know whether it’s a friend or one of these people trying to put you in chains?” asked Collin.

The queen hesitated. She looked around at them. The old row-boat was in very poor shape, and it didn’t look like it could hold up much longer. They had lost both of their oars early on during the storm. “I don’t think we have much choice,” she replied. “A small chance is better than none.”

This was plenty of encouragement for Collin, who was very keen to get away from this boat forever. He began to jump up and down and shout like a madman. (This was something he had never done in his life.)

For what seemed like hours, there was no indication that the ship had seen them. However, after Collin’s throat had nearly gone hoarse from shouting, a flare went up from the ship, and it turned towards their direction.

Collin and the queen shouted and cried tears of joy when they saw this.

Eventually, the ship reached them, and they were pulled up onto the main deck.

As soon as the men on the ship recognized the queen, they all bowed to her. This was a ship from her own navy!

Within a few days, they had arrived back at the queen’s capital city. Upon their arrival, her first act was to give Collin his promised reward.

“What can I ever do to thank you for your service?” she asked.

“All I want right now is a nice hot bowl of cabbage and carrot soup!” he replied.