Why the Water is Blue — A Folktale

A story featuring the water god Aquarius.

Hey friends, this is a little story I wrote in childhood that I decided to revive. Hope you enjoy!

Why the Water is Blue

A long time ago in the Pacific Ocean, while its white waves rolled and crashed against the shore, a young dolphin was having trouble finding food. “I can’t see my prey, since everything in this ocean is white like the water, and I’m starting to starve! I must do something,” she said to herself.

A school of fish were having the same problem. “We can’t see our predators,” one of them said. “We keep getting eaten!”

“We must talk to Aquarius, our water goddess,” said another. So off they went.

At Aquarius’s palace, the fish bumped into something big. It was a dolphin. She, too, was complaining to Aquarius about her problems. “I can’t see my food since all the creatures and the water are white. And now I’m starting to starve!” the dolphin said. “Will you please help me?” The fish also explained how they couldn’t see their predators and couldn’t tell if they bumped into friend or foe. Aquarius listened to both their problems. It was true, the white water and the white creatures made it impossible to see. She got an idea.

Aquarius cast a spell to allow the sea creatures to breathe air, then she took each above water and painted them each a special colour. Sharks were grey, dolphins blue, and fish were every colour of the rainbow. When she finished, she placed them back in the water.

A couple of days later, the dolphin went back to Aquarius.

“Aquarius, you must help us!” she cried. “Now that the fish can see us, they keep running away, and we can’t catch our food, and now the fish are taking over the ocean!” The fish were having a similar problem. “Now that the predators can see us, they keep coming after us. And we can’t relax!”

Aquarius thought about this long and hard. She couldn’t take off the paint, because it was permanent, but she also couldn’t paint the fish white again. She told the dolphin and the fish to go back to their homes and give her a few days to think about it.

One day, while Aquarius was thinking, she decided to go up to see her friend Apollo.

As they talked, they both looked down over the ocean. “I don’t know what to do,” Aquarius said. “At first, the white water and white fish were making everything difficult. But now everything is too easy to see!”

Apollo nodded his head, then asked her to see the bucket of paint she was holding.

Aquarius had brought up the paint with her because her friend Apollo often liked paint as gifts.

She handed the paint over. As she did, the bucket tilted, and a drop of blue fell into the water. She watched as the small drop stained a portion of the ocean blue. An idea came to her. She took the can of dark blue paint and dumped it into the water. Then she dumped more and more until the whole ocean was a gentle blue colour.

“There,” she said. “White showed too much. But now, all the animals will be well camouflaged, but can still see their prey if they try.”

The creatures noticed this change and appreciated it greatly.

And that’s why the water is blue.