Speed-o (standard:fairy tales, 956 words)
Author: Ira L. White	Added: Sep 30 2002	Views/Reads: 3432/2198	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Ever wonder how sea snails evolved and why they move so darn slow? My fanciful tale reveals this darkest secret of the deeps!

Speed-o 

On the ocean floor there once lived a race of small soft bodied animals
known for their speed. Unlike most of the animals in the sea, they had 
no fins. Instead, they had two legs and streamlined bodies that allowed 
them to run across the seabed at an incredible speed kicking up the 
sand behind them. They were so fast everyone called them speed-os. 

Speed-os lived in small castles with spiral staircases. Some of the
castles were difficult to find because they were well camouflaged. 
Others were brightly colored and still others had sharp spikes sticking 
out so no one could sit on their roof or try to swallow their home 
thinking it was something to eat. 

The main food of speed-os was mostly algae and tiny bits of organic
matter they found on the ocean floor. They would dash out of their 
homes, grab a piece of food, then dash back to eat in the comfort and 
safety of their castles. Although speed-os were overly egotistical 
about their unusual quickness, they were a cheerful race and got along 
well with their neighbors who saw them as garbage collectors who 
cleaned the ocean bottom and gardeners who helped prune the fast 
growing algae. No one ever thought of eating them because there wasn't 
much of them to eat if one could catch one. As a result, the population 
of speed-os grew and grew. With the growth in the number of speed-os 
came a change in the ocean. The little bits kicked up by each little 
speed-o combined with all the bits stirred up by the billions of other 
speed-os as they ran for food or just for the fun of it until the ocean 
became a muddy brown. 

One morning Neptune, King of the Ocean, woke up to a pounding on the
door to his castle located in the deepest part of the ocean. 

“Who wakes the King at this hour?” cried Neptune as he opened the door
to his castle. 

“It is I, Ulan, a messenger from your subjects in the shallower water,”
said the mermaid who greeted him. 

“State your business so that your king may go back to his bed and finish
his sleep,” grumbled Neptune. 

“I am sorry to have awakened you, sire, but those who live in shallower
waters than you, oh mighty King, are unable to see where they are 
swimming. The water has gotten so bad the fish are having a difficult 
time breathing.” 

“Why is that?” asked Neptune. 

“Sire, it is the speed-os running across the ocean floor kicking up silt
and muddying the water.” 

“I will see what I can do,” grumbled Neptune. “A king's job never seems
to be done.” 

As King Neptune traveled to shallower water he began to notice that it
was getting more and more difficult to see. The ocean floor was crowded 
with millions of little speed-os zipping here and there at incredible 
speeds. The small castles of the speed-os were everywhere! 

“This ought to be easy to fix. All I have to do is slow the speed-os
down,” smiled Neptune and he cast a spell attaching each speed-o's 
little castle to its back. Then King Neptune went back to the deep for 
a nap knowing he had effectively lowered the speed limit for speed-os. 
Content that he had indeed solved the problem, Neptune went back to his 
castle in the deep where he stretched and yawned then laid down for a 
long nap. 

King Neptune had just arisen from his nap when Ulan, the messenger
mermaid, knocked at his door again. 

“Come to thank me, have you, Ulan?” smiled the king of the deep. 

“Oh King of the wide blue waters, if only that were so. But the speed-os
still are stirring up too much silt despite our wise king's magical 
spell.” 


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