The Blue Fish and the Lion

The Blue Fish and the Lion.

Hidden in the hottest part of the Rotem desert there lies an oasis with the deepest and coldest waters to quench the thirst of any passing creature. In that oasis lives a beautiful blue fish who likes to commune with the other creatures who come to seek refuge from the heat. The other creatures would come to drink and keep her company, from time to time they would make her feel happy, but none of them would get in the water with her. There were also long stretches of time when no one would visit, and the little blue fish would feel lonely, wishing there was another to tell her about the outside world.

One day a wandering lion appeared at the edge of the pond and watched the beautiful blue fish basking in the sparkling ripples that reflected off her rainbow blue scales, enjoying the shimmering sun warming the surface of her home. Unable to resist, the wandering lion stuck his paw in the water to see what it would feel like. He enjoyed the cool feeling of the water and gestured the fish over to see if she would respond to his invitation. The fish was in awe of the beastly lion showing her that he wasn’t afraid to get wet by dipping part of himself deep enough to touch the long reeds poking up from the bottom. She swam to the lion eagerly. Lightly caressing his paw and poking her head out to receive a light tickle from his whiskers.

The two of them spent hours together. She felt lost in his warm energy. The blue fish wished that this lion would get in the water with her and stay forever but didn’t want to ask; She was too afraid the question would run him away, like all the others. The blue fish remained quiet and let him remain only partially dipped into the oasis with her; Enjoying anything the lion would give, she soaked it all up, even if it was only a little.

The wandering lion would visit often and always promised he would come back. The fact that he never stayed put the blue fish into a whirlpool of emotions. Her little heart could hardly stand when her lion wasn’t there with her, bringing her into loneliness when he was gone, but then she would burst with joy whenever he would return. Sometimes he would leave for days and it would feel like he was gone forever, but when it was time for him to leave, she knew that he had other things going on in the desert that he couldn’t leave behind, and she would already miss him before he even left. She looked forward to his return visits and would talk about her lion to the other visiting creatures. The lion made her happy and she wanted to tell all the other creatures about him.

The blue fish began wondering why he had been gone so long, and made-up stories to explain his absence to herself; She felt that there was a good reason and he would tell her when he came back. She was ready to forgive him and swam along the edges waiting for his return, but still he did not come; Even more time passed and the lion did not come back. The blue fish did not want to lose hope that her lion would never return. She wanted the lion to come back so bad that she pushed every blue and orange gem she could find at the bottom of the oasis up to the edge of the water, creating a most magnificent ring of beauty that would display to her lion how much she missed him, and how much she wanted him. Days passed and the blue fish finally finished her display of love and the oasis was more beautiful than it had ever been. All of the visiting creatures wanted to shower the blue fish with praises for all her wonderful work; But none of their words mattered to her, since none of the compliments were from her lion, the joy was not there.

Eventually the Blue fish accepted that the lion was not coming back and sank deep into the pond where no one could bother her. For a long time, the passing creatures would continue to drink from the oasis, but the blue fish was nowhere to be seen. They wished to see her swimming in the crystal-clear oasis and wondered where she had gone; The water didn’t have the same luster without its beautiful blue fish to play in the shimmering light.

The beautiful blue fish didn’t come out of the deepest depths while she let herself reflect on what she really wanted; She had wanted the lion to jump into the water with her, to play with her, and to love her like she loved him. Having been used to no other creatures showing her affection she was blind to the lack of attention the lion was actually giving her-- The lion had only dipped in his paw; He would hardly let himself get wet-- The blue fish knew there would be another creature like her that could swim in deep blue waters and gained hope that love was still possible.

She let herself return closer to the surface of the oasis once again. She knew that the surface was a return to hope, a return to life, a return to joy. The desert was full of thirsty creatures looking for sweet relief from the blazing hot desert surrounding them, but still, none of the creatures were eager to get in the water.

The first day she returned to the surface, after her long hibernation in the depths of the cold water, she enjoyed feeling the warmth of the sun dancing off the curves of her scales sending warm sprinkles of tingles throughout her body. A lanky Zebra was drinking quietly at the edge of the water when he noticed the beautiful blue fish approaching the surface of the pond. The blue fish instantly swam up to her visitor and communed with the friendly Zebra. The two of them enjoyed each other's company for hours. He had many stories to tell the blue fish, and equally enjoyed listening to the tales she told of her other visitors, but no matter how much he wanted to stay with the fish he could not swim with her. The Zebra loved the blue fish but knew he would drown if he tried to get into the water, and did not want to try. He knew he would only hurt both of them by staying. As much as the blue fish wanted her new friend to stay, she understood, and thanked him for reassuring her that someday there will be another who will want to swim with her that can actually get into the water without any trouble.

In the meantime, Zebra and Blue fish remained good friends, the two of them enjoying each other’s company while reminiscing about the possibility of love's great powers, and what each of them hoped for themselves. It wasn’t long before the blue fish was back to her shimmering and bright self; Attracting all the creatures looking for the sweet relief of a drink from the coldest water in the entire desert. Although the blue fish was enjoying socializing again with the visiting creatures, she still had it in her heart that she missed her lion and how he made her feel, and she would occasionally hope that he would just appear. Over time that occasional hope would happen less and less.

Blue fish started enjoying her time alone and would swim just deep enough that no one could talk with her, but they could still see her swimming in the water. There was enough on her mind to keep herself occupied for a long time. The beautiful blue fish did what she knew she did best; She made the oasis shine and sparkle as if it was the most beautiful place in the entire desert. At the very least the blue fish was determined to fulfil her purpose in the pond and took pride in her ability to make something beautiful happen. The desert creatures that stopped by admired the fish greatly and desired to speak with her but she would not swim up to the surface to commune with anyone, and remained only a visual that was pleasing to the eye of any living thing.

On one of the hottest days of the year a young lion was on his last leg of the longest journey of his life, when he had ascended a large dune only to see the crest of the blue fish’s oasis up ahead. In his mind he thought the oasis was too good to be true and questioned whether or not he was seeing a mirage. Approaching the edge of the water the surface sparkled like small fireflies dancing along the swaying beams. The lion was thirsty but did not want to approach the water too quickly. It looked more appealing than anything he had ever seen in his entire life. A patch of blue sparkles was swirling beneath the surface of the water seemed to be moving independently and the lion was captivated waiting to see what might happen next.

The blue fish noticed the figure standing just far enough away from the edge that only a round head was visible but out of focus. She tried to ignore the creature just like she had been ignoring all the others and continued to swim in such a fashion that her blue scales would glitter with all the colors of the rainbow.

The lion watched as the blue fish danced before his eyes. He felt like she was dancing just for him and enjoyed watching such a mesmerizing scene. Instead of approaching the water's edge the lion stayed still, frozen in awe of the sight approaching.

The blue fish wondered why the visitor was only watching and hadn’t started taking a drink from the oasis and swam a little closer to the surface to see if she could see them more clearly. It was another lion. This one was much younger but his eyes were full of life and they were locked onto her like she was going to be his next meal. The blue fish couldn’t resist her mystery visitor and greeted him with her sweetest smiles, insisting that he must be beyond parched, asking why he wasn’t already enjoying a drink from her oasis.

The lion responded that he wanted to ask permission before taking anything from her and that her beauty had made him forget why he had come in the first place. The lion knew he needed the water she swam in, but the beautiful blue fish made him feel at home and he didn’t want to be told to go anywhere else. He had spent many years heading nowhere trudging through the worst places on earth and moving forward anyway. The young lion hoped with all his heart that he could stay in the oasis forever, with her, but worried she would not want him to since they had only just met.

The blue fish was shocked that the lion would ask to take a drink when no other creature had done so. She watched him as he stayed there waiting and wondered why it made her feel so happy. After a few moments, she couldn’t resist his kindness and finally granted him permission to drink from the oasis, but instead of approaching the edge to drink, the lion took a running start and leaped into the center of the pond. Her heart was pounding. She couldn’t believe what he had just done. For the first time ever, the lion sent water splashing over the edges of the pond, ricocheting the pebbles lined up along the edges in every direction, wetting the hot rocks that had been baking under the sun their entire existence.