The story of how earth and water met and why we love strolling on the beach…
Sand, daughter of rock, and Sea, son of rain, finally met. Sea was shy and, for once, was unable to make waves. He hid behind a boulder. Sand was less bashful. She sought him out and cornered him on the waterfront. “I have been watching you for some time already and I like what I see,” said Sand, “You are just the cowboy for me. So why don’t you marry me?”
Sea was taken aback. “I like you too,” said Sea, going back and forth, “but you don’t want to marry someone like me.”
“But I do,” said Sand, “I think we make the perfect match.”
“But I’m unreliable,” replied Sea, “everyone knows that I come and go like the tide.”
“But every time you come in,” said Sand, “I will be refreshed.” She smiled widely.
“Sometimes the weather angers me,” said Sea desperately, “then I blow up a storm.”
“On my shore,” replied Sand, “have I been anything but the epitome of calm?”
“I have depths you cannot imagine,” answered Sea, “A darkness you will never fathom.”
“I lie in the sun all day,” said Sand, “and sometimes can be quite shallow, but I like a nice challenge.”
“Yes,” searched Sea, “but I am known to drown many things.”
“Whether I am under you or inside you,” replied Sand, “you can never swallow me.”
Finally, when he could not think of anything else, Sea said: “Do I have a choice?”
“I don’t think so,” replied Sand and smiled wider than any shoreline, “It is inevitable.”
The sun set quickly behind the horizon.
And so Sand and Sea were married. Under the watchful eyes of Moon, Sea regulated his tides. No matter how deep Sea was, you always found Sand holding him up. When he blew up in storm he found a place rest on the shores of Sand. There, with every incoming wave they renewed their love for each other and mingled in the breaking crest. They talked no more as there was no need for words any longer.
After many years, and with the help of Sun, Sand and Sea gave birth to offspring that would symbolise their love for each other. These children were the first humans made of Sand and Sea. Human beings combined calm and storm, shallow and deep, travelling and staying — the one part never being able to swallow the other.
People went all over the earth always keeping grandmother Sand under their feet to keep them firm and to build their homes. At first they only went where their uncles, the rivers were, and then later took water with them wherever they went. And till today, when lovers want to renew their love for each other they go walking on the shoreline with their feet mingling in the wet sand, their children building sandcastles that the tide will try to swallow… inevitably.
Adli Jacobs 