Nostalgic Island Trip

Strange things happen at Rainbow Beach.  Finally able to wrench

Faerie Wren away, sporting a big headache, across in the boat to

Old Woman Island.  The people on the island were so

friendly and welcoming, we were very pleased.  It

appeared our taking part in the local festivities

pleased them, so Faerie Wren was vindicated. 

We asked to see the old woman of the

island, and a guide told us she was sleeping in one of

the huts, and we were not to disturb her.  Yet, said the

guide, “the whole island is an old woman”, that the old Nature

Goddess of old covered the whole length and breadth

of it, and would keep us safe in the treacherous waters,

in place of the Old Woman.   We gave a gold coin

to the guide and were shown the way to the diving

point.  We had to wear our glasses underneath our

suits, so we could see what we were looking for,

the Triton of the Deep…

The conventional diving suit was perfect for use here in

the deep, but Faerie Wren had to morph into his fish

suit, as there were none for birds. 

He can be seen swimming above me, in orange, and

took to it like a duck to water.  So many beautiful colours

and sights to see.  We carefully avoided the deepest parts and

treacherous ledges we had been warned about…

The Triton was not easy to find.  We had to change our minds

about what we expected.  Entering a part of the deep that was

different, we suddenly noticed that everything was huge.  The

seaweed was large and waved around with the underground

currents.  There at the centre of it was a giant golden orange

casket or cave, and we could hear a whispery voice emit from

it.  We instinctively knew it was the home of the Triton.

We offered it a prayer for the good of the ocean life and the

mysteries of the undersea world, and pledged never to

harm the realms there.  This pleased the Triton, and

it sang us a song, in tune with some whale noises we

had heard before.  Faerie Wren was so enchanted he

curled a precious necklace of sea beads around the giant seaweed

that grew around the home of the Triton, and then

we returned to the island, with a blessing from the

enchanted deep…

(copyright Imogen Crest 2008.)

Post Script:  These images are part of some senior school art assignments I did at the age of twelve or thirteen, using a watery theme technique on paper to create an undersea effect.  Little did I know that many years later, I would use these again, to be rewarded by a pleasing sense of nostalgia online.  These ideas are still relevant in the intensely technological years, which followed these early works at school, on paper.