Bahhar the Dolphin and the Turtle Caught in the Old Net

In a clear blue bay surrounded by white rocks and a golden sandy beach lived a young dolphin named Bahhar. Bahhar was the fastest young dolphin in the bay. He leapt over the waves, spun in the air and then dived into the water with a splash! He loved racing the fishermen's wooden boats in the morning, and the fishermen would laugh and wave at him. His mother always told him, "Bahhar, speed is a fine thing, but a watchful eye is finer." He would laugh and say, "My eyes are watchful, Mother, I see everything!"

One morning Bahhar was swimming near the colorful coral reef, where the little striped fish, the see-through jellyfish and the red starfish lived. Suddenly he heard a weak voice coming from between the rocks: "Help... can anyone hear me?" Bahhar stopped, moved his fin slowly and swam closer to the voice. There, between two large rocks, he saw a big sea turtle. Her green shell was decorated with patterns like a mosaic, and an old torn fishing net had wrapped around her, catching her flippers and her head.

"Don't be afraid!" said Bahhar. "I'm Bahhar, and I'll help you. What's your name?" The turtle said in a tired voice, "My name is Sadafa. I was swimming to the beach to rest, and I didn't see this old net. It was hidden among the seaweed. I tried to get out, but every time I moved it wrapped around me more. And I can't swim up to the surface to breathe properly." Bahhar knew that the turtle needed to rise to the surface to breathe, just like him, and he felt he had to hurry.

Bahhar took the edge of the net in his mouth and pulled hard, but the net did not break. Instead it caught on his teeth and nearly wrapped around him too. He backed away quickly and said, "This net is very strong. I can't cut it alone." He thought for a moment and remembered what his mother had said about a watchful eye. He looked carefully at the net and saw that it was tied to a rock on one side and had many knots in it. He said to Sadafa, "Be patient a little. Don't move too much, so the net doesn't wrap around you more. I'll come back quickly with friends who can help."

Bahhar shot off like an arrow toward the big rock near the shore, where Rammal the white gull always stood. Bahhar leapt out of the water and said, "Rammal! Sadafa the turtle is caught in an old net by the reef and can't come up to breathe! Can you lift her to the surface a little?" Rammal said, "I can't carry a big turtle, but I can see everything from above, and I'll find where the net ends. And I know someone with two sharp claws: my friend Kammash the crab! Let's go!"

Kammash the crab was sitting on a wet rock, waving his two red claws as he nibbled some algae. When he heard the story, he said, "Snip snip! My claws are ready! But I'm a slow swimmer." "Ride on my back!" said Bahhar. So Kammash jumped onto Bahhar's back and held on to his dorsal fin, and off they went together, with the gull flying above them and calling, "To the right! Now to the left! Past the red rock!" On the way they passed a small cave where Hakeem the octopus lived, and Bahhar called out, "Hakeem, we need your eight arms!"

Hakeem the octopus came out of his cave, opened his big eyes and said, "Eight arms at your service!" When they all reached Sadafa, she was very tired. Hakeem said, "I'll hold the net from every side so it doesn't tangle more." He stretched out his eight arms, took hold of the strands and lifted them away from Sadafa's head. Kammash began cutting the strands with his claws: Snip! Snip! Snip! One strand after another. As for Bahhar, he put his head under Sadafa and gently pushed her upward until her head was close to the surface.

Sadafa lifted her head out of the water and took a long, deep breath. "Thank you, Bahhar, I can breathe now!" she said. Rammal stood on a nearby rock and pointed with his wing: "There's another strand at her back flipper! Watch out, Kammash!" Kammash watched out and cut the last strand: Snip! The whole net came loose and fell away. Sadafa moved her four flippers freely, turned a full circle in the water and said, "I'm free! I'm free!" Bahhar leapt into the air with joy and spun three times before diving back in.

But Hakeem the octopus was still looking at the old torn net in his arms, and he said seriously, "Friends, this isn't the first old net I've seen in our bay. There are other nets left behind by their owners after they tore, and there are plastic bags and floating cans. Today we saved Sadafa, but tomorrow a little fish or a bird might get caught." Rammal said, "From up high I saw another net near the old pier, and a big bag by the black rocks." Everyone fell silent, thinking.

Bahhar said, "Then let's work the way we did today, each of us with what we can do. Rammal sees from above and guides us, Kammash cuts, Hakeem holds and gathers, and I pull and push quickly." And Sadafa said, "I know the beach well. I can push the rubbish onto the sand where people collect it." From that day on, the five friends became a little team cleaning the bay. They gathered old nets and bags and pushed them toward the shore, piece by piece.

Their first mission was at the old pier. Rammal flew over the water, circled twice and called, "The net is here, under the third wooden post!" Bahhar dived first to look and found the net wrapped around the post, with two little silver fish inside trying to get out. Hakeem held the strands gently with his arms so they would not hurt the fish, and Kammash cut a small opening, snip snip, and the two fish darted out. Then they came back and circled Bahhar as if to say thank you. After that Kammash cut the rope tied to the post, and Bahhar pulled the whole net toward the shore with his mouth, while Sadafa pushed it from behind with her strong shell. When the net reached the sand, everyone sighed with relief, and Kammash laughed and said, "My claws are tired, but my heart is happy!"

One morning the fisherman, Uncle Marzouq, saw a pile of torn nets and bags on the sand, and he saw a young dolphin pushing another bag toward the shore, with a gull flying above it. He was very surprised, and then he understood what was happening. He gathered the other fishermen and said, "It seems the sea is teaching us a lesson. These are our old nets. We left them in the water, and they became traps for the creatures." From that day on, the fishermen brought their torn nets back to the shore, and they put a big rubbish bin near the pier.

In the evening the friends gathered at the big rock as the orange sun set over the water. Sadafa said, "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here tonight." Bahhar said, "It's because of all of us together. On my own I was fast, but speed wasn't enough. I needed Rammal's eyes, Kammash's claws and Hakeem's arms." Hakeem laughed and said, "And on my own I could hold, but I couldn't cut or swim fast." From a distance, Bahhar's mother smiled and said, "Your eye has become watchful, Bahhar."

Bahhar and his friends learned that each of us has a small, different strength, and that when these strengths come together they can do what no one can do alone. They also learned that the sea and the land are a home for all of us, and whoever loves their home keeps it clean and leaves nothing in it that could harm other creatures.