UNDERSEA 

Deep undersea, a sad oyster spits out a tiny black pearl. A big fish eats the pearl and swims away.

Slowed down by indigestion, the big fish is caught by a fisherman's daughter. Her father sells the fish to the only restaurant in town.

The young man who cleans the fish at the restaurant notices a tiny black thing stuck in its gut. It takes him some time, and lots of clean water, to realize what it is. He looks around and pockets it.

In his room, he gazes at the tiny black pearl, wondering what to do. How much is it worth? Should he give it to the chef? He already knows he won't.

The next morning, the young man gets up before dawn, runs to the harbor, and waits for the fisherman's daughter to arrive in her little boat.

He shows her the tiny black pearl and asks her to marry him. The girl scoffs. She's already engaged to the son of another fisherman. Her father will never accept a lowly scullion as his son-in-law.

Brokenhearted, the young man gets drunk and swallows the tiny black pearl. Soon, the first verses of a poem take form in his mind.

Back undersea, the sad oyster starts working on a new tiny black pearl.

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An unexpected companion piece to "Slow Digestion"