Folk Tales/The Moon and the Tides

"The Moon and the Tides" is a folk tale heard on Nakili’s path in the game Secret Paths to the Sea. It is narrated by Thea Henry. The story serves to illustrate for Nakili that her best friend can forge new friendships with other people and it doesn’t mean Nakili has lost them as a friend completely.

The Story
The Moon and the Tides

Long ago, when the moon was always full, there lived a girl named Isabeja. Although she was an only child, Isabeja had many friends; the waves and the sea, the winds and the rocks, the moon and the stars. But of all her friends, Isabeja loved the moon best.

Every night, Isabeja crept from the house and ran free along the pebbly beach where the moon made each rock sparkle like a shiny, black pearl. When she reached their small boat, Isabeja clambered aboard. Then she dangled her feet in the cool, clear water and listened while Moon told her stories of far away lands.

“How do you know these things, Moon?” Isabeja would ask.

“I circle the world, opposite the sun. I see many things,” Moon would reply. And each friend basked in the others’ company.

That is until one night when Moon didn’t come. When Isabeja crept from her house on that terrible night, she stumbled in the cold and could not find her boat. “Moon! Moon!” Isabeja cried. But Moon gave no answer. Isabeja waited many hours.

Finally Moon came, but a sadness took Isabeja’s heart, for Moon no longer faced her. Each night Isabeja waited longer for Moon to come, and each night, Moon turned further away from Isabeja. And Moon talked only about another girl across the water. Isabeja grew more jealous with every day.

Then, one night, Moon came not at all. Moon stayed away for many long nights and the sky remained as dark as Isabeja’s heart. Finally, when Isabeja thought her heart would break, she noticed a delicate sliver of light shining low in the sky. It was Moon! Peeking down from amongst the stars.

Isabeja was angry. “Where did you go, Moon? I thought we were friends.”

Moon slid into a thin curve. “But I am always your friend, even when I’m away. Each thing has its cycle like the seasons and tides. Why, what if the world were always in winter? Or the tide never rose, and the tide pools ran dry?”

Isabeja imagined Moon’s riddle: she shivered in eternal cold, she walked through dry pools where the sea life had died. Then she remembered the ebb and flow of the seasons and tides.

“I may venture far, but I will always return, for no shore is exactly like your shore. You are my friend, forever and always.”

Slowly, Isabeja climbed into her boat. She dangled her feet in the cool, clear water. She smiled up at the sky. “Tell me a new story, my old friend.”