The Elementary Student, The Whale, And The Water
Once upon a time, there was a whale living in the ocean.
One day, driven by curiosity, it wanted to see the world on the shore.
With the help of the waves, it reached the beach.
The whale crawled and crawled, wanting to see the shore.
It took an hour and a half to cover just ten meters.
Finally, it made it onto the sand and met its first human being.
The human curiously stared at it.
They gazed at each other for another hour and a half.
Then the whale asked, “Is this the soft beach?”
“Of course, the beach is supposed to be soft, silly (sand) thing…”
“So is silly (sand) soft too?”
The human thought for a while, then turned away and left.
Without a proper answer, the whale kept crawling forward.
It reached a traffic light.
Along the way, it saw many humans.
They were riding inside strange beasts—faster than anything the whale had seen underwater.
The whale was frightened and confused.
(Who could it ask about the names of these creatures?)
At that moment, a boy sat inside a breakfast shop, staring out the window at the whale.
Weak and short of breath,
the whale saw everything as if they were edible fish in the sea.
It didn’t fear the fast-moving beasts.
Just ahead, the aquarium was full of its favorite food.
With its last strength, it leaped—
and landed inside the aquarium…
After filling its belly, it finally remembered its original question:
Was “silly (sand)” really soft?
During its stay in the aquarium,
it overheard a conversation about a wise bearded professor.
The whale decided to ask him, and thank the kind humans later.
Luck was on its side—
it saw the professor driving by on his way to work.
The whale had a question:
“Excuse me, is silly (sand) soft?”
“Sorry?” the professor said.
“Is silly (sand) soft?” the whale repeated, impatient.
It was the professor’s first time seeing a whale on land.
He had only seen them in the water before.
“Well… it depends.”
“Are we talking about the abstract term or physical sand?
For example, ‘shasha’ is an onomatopoeia for rustling sounds—
like a snake’s slither.
But if you mean actual sand, like on the beach,
then yes, it’s called sand…”
“Please, just tell me—
is silly (sand) soft?”
“Still depends on context.”
…That seemed like the end of the story.
The whale ate the professor who couldn’t give a straight answer.
The police came and killed the whale.
It felt like the story ended without any life lesson.
It was Monday morning, a school day.
A student sat at a breakfast shop, drinking soy milk and eating fried dough.
Suddenly, an elderly woman collapsed in the street.
The adults hesitated, then walked on.
The student pulled out a phone and dialed 110.
He reported a stranded whale on Street X in need of urgent help.
The police thought it was a prank, but were curious—
and dispatched a nearby officer.
That officer found the fallen woman and called 120, saving her life.
As for why the whale ate all the aquarium animals—
it was still trying to solve that first question:
Is silly (sand) soft?
And that’s the story for today.