Far away in the deep blue ocean, there lived a little humpback whale named Finley. It was his first year migrating across the ocean with the rest of the humpback pod. Finley was very excited. He could hardly wait to get to the warm tropical waters.
“How much farther?” he asked. “Are we there yet?”
“Slow down, Finley,” his mother replied. “Sometimes when you are looking for things that are out of reach, you miss the things that are right in front of you.”
Now Finley did look around as he swam. And everywhere he looked, he saw bright fish sparkling and leaping out of the water. This made Finley so excited that he felt as if he would burst. He swam quickly around the pod of humpbacks toward the fish.
Suddenly, a fishing net drifting in the water caught him. He tried swimming out of the net. He tried leaping out of the net. He tried diving out of the net. Finally, Finley became so tangled in the net that he could not move at all.
“Help!” moaned Finley, but he had swum too far away from the pod and the others did not hear him.
“Maybe they can still see me!” Finley decided, and began to blow bubbles out of his spout, creating a circle of bubbles around himself.
Soon, a group of seagulls saw the bubbles and dove down to scoop up fish for lunch. That was when they discovered that the little whale was in trouble. Immediately, they forgot all about lunch.
“Hold the net! Hold the net!” they squawked to one another.
The seagulls tried to hold the net afloat with their webbed feet. But although Finley was just a little whale, he was really not so little, and the net began to sink under his weight.
Alarmed, the seagulls began to screech and squawk for help.
Sebastian the sailfish was basking nearby admiring his beautiful blue sail fin when he heard the commotion.
“Bother, why are you making such a noise!” he demanded, swimming over. “Can’t you see I am sunning my fin here?”
“Help! Help!” screeched the seagulls. “The little whale is drowning in the net!”
When Sebastian realized that Finley was trapped, he immediately stopped thinking of himself and quickly cut through the net with his big sharp spear to free the little humpback.
“Hooray!” shouted the seagulls.
“Thank you, my friends! You saved my life!” said Finley. “I would like so very much to stay and play with you, but I need to hurry back to the pod. We are traveling to warm waters today.”
“Of course, and have a safe journey!” the friends replied.
Finley looked in every direction, but he did not see the humpbacks. He sang out to them, but the pod was too far away to hear.
“Oh, no!” moaned Finley. “I am lost. The pod is too far away to hear my song. How will I ever find them?”
“Don’t worry,” said Sebastian, “I swim very fast. I will swim quickly to my friends, the dolphins. They will help you find your pod.”
When the dolphins realized the little humpback had been separated from his pod, they joined him and began clicking and whistling loudly to help get the other humpbacks’ attention. Still, the whales did not hear them, but the Great Blue whale did.
The Great Blue whale is the strongest whale in the ocean. His deep song can travel thousands of miles across the ocean, and he had heard many songs. But these clicking and singing sounds puzzled him, so he decided to unravel the mystery.
“What is this song you are singing?” he asked, swimming over to the group.
“This little whale is lost,” clicked the dolphins, “and we are trying to help him find his way home.”
The Great Blue whale smiled. “If you teach me your song,” he said to Finley, “I will sing this song to all the humpbacks in the ocean and help you find your way home.”
Finley quickly taught the Great Blue whale his song. Soon, the little whale’s melody echoed so loudly through the ocean that all the fish and animals could hear it.
When the humpbacks heard the song, they quickly realized that Finley was searching for them. Right away, they sang the song back so the lost little whale would know where to find them.
Finley and all his friends were delighted to hear the humpback song returning to them.
“We will swim and fly together with you,” announced the Great Blue whale, “just to make sure that you return to your pod safely!”
As the happy friends swam closer and closer to the warm tropical waters, the humpbacks began to hear the most beautiful song: the seagulls were crackling, Sebastian the sailfish was splashing, the dolphins were whistling, and Finley and the Great Blue whale were singing together in harmony.
When the humpbacks heard this beautiful song, they quickly swam out to join the celebration! At last, Finley was home with the humpback pod.
“Thank you all for helping me find my way in the great ocean,” said Finley. “I will miss you very much,” he added sadly.
“Don’t be sad, little one,” said the Great Blue whale. “We are all connected like drops of water in the ocean. When you truly love your friends, you are connected forever. Wherever we are in the great world ocean, we are together in one song!”