Read a story, hear a friend
Water world
Bali and the Runaway Pearls
Eight runaway pearls. One small step at a time.
Read the transcript
Hold on tight, little one. Ori here. Morning had only just begun in Coral Cove when eight round pearls shot out of Bali’s basket like slippery marbles.
“My pearls!” Bali boomed.
The pearls bounced into Ripple Run, the fastest little current in the cove. Plink-plink-plink! They raced between the coral arches toward the Tide Gate.
Bali had promised to bring all eight pearls to the morning balance game. But when the Tide Gate shut, anything still inside Ripple Run would drift to a soft sandbank far across the reef and stay there until tomorrow.
If Bali did not catch the pearls now, the game could not begin.
“I will catch every one!” Bali said. He grabbed the biggest shell bowl he could find and charged into the current.
Four pearls came bouncing toward him at once.
“Got you!” Bali swung the bowl in one enormous sweep.
All four pearls landed inside. But the heavy bowl yanked Bali sideways. He spun once. Twice. Three times.
“Whoa-whoa-Whoa!”
The bowl tipped, and the four pearls sprang straight back into Ripple Run.
Bali rose with a little sea sponge balanced on his head.
“The giant scoop,” he puffed, “was perhaps too giant.”
A silvery swish zipped around the coral.
Lumi had heard Bali’s spinning splash.
“The Tide Gate is closing,” she called. “What can still carry pearls through this current?”
Bali heard a wooden creak beside the path. His old balance sled was tied there: one shell pan on the left, one shell pan on the right, and a flat board between them.
“My sled can,” Bali said. “I will load it fast.”
He untied the sled and caught three pearls in the left pan.
The left side sank. The right side rose. The whole sled curved left and spun Bali back toward the same coral arch.
“I have passed this purple coral three times,” Bali grumbled.
“And what did the sled do when one side became heavy?” Lumi asked.
Bali felt the low left pan tugging against his flipper.
“It turned toward the heavy side,” he said. “My big load made me lose the path.”
Ahead of them, more pearls clicked through Ripple Run. Behind the clicks came the slow closing sound of the Tide Gate.
Bali could not chase all eight at once. He could not carry a whole pile on one side. He needed the sled to stay level while he moved.
Lumi hovered nearby. “When the whole problem feels too big,” she said, “try one small part.”
Bali listened to one pearl bounce from one wall of the coral tunnel to the other.
His eyes widened.
“One pearl. One choice. Keep moving,” Bali said.
This time, the plan was his.
Bali pushed the sled into Ripple Run. Lumi swam above him, calling out when the path was clear, but Bali chose where every pearl would go.
The first runaway pearl bounced toward his nose.
“Left!” Bali cried.
The second pearl zipped under his belly.
“Right!”
The sled stayed straight.
Two more pearls came tumbling through a ring of bubbles.
“One pearl. One choice. Keep moving!” Bali called.
Left — plink! Right — plink! The sled skimmed between two coral pillars without spinning.
Four pearls safe. Four still racing.
The fifth pearl skipped high. Bali caught it in the left pan. The sixth skimmed low. He dipped the right pan under it.
Six pearls safe. Two still racing.
The Tide Gate was almost shut now. Its wooden arms left only a narrow opening.
At the last fork, the seventh pearl flew straight across Bali’s path. The eighth pearl vanished into the tunnel on the left.
Bali could hear it tapping farther away.
He could not reach both at the same time.
Then Bali remembered how the heavy left pan had turned the sled left. That mistake had given him exactly what he needed now.
“First, this one!” he called.
He caught the seventh pearl in the left pan.
The heavier left side steered the sled into the final tunnel. The eighth pearl shot out of a bubble arch and bounced toward the empty spot in the right pan.
“Now, that one!” Bali said.
Four pearls rested on the left. Four rested on the right. The balanced sled flew straight through the narrowing Tide Gate.
For one quiet beat, Bali and Lumi floated on the other side.
Then Lumi burst into bright dolphin clicks, and Bali let out the deepest, bubbliest laugh in the whole cove.
“All eight!” he cheered. “And not one giant scoop.”
Bali guided the level sled back to Coral Cove. He moved the pearls into their basket one at a time, checking each one before closing the lid.
The little fish gathered around the balance game. Seahorses curled their tails around the grass. Everyone was ready.
Before Bali fastened the basket strap, Lumi tapped it with her fin. Together they said, “One pearl. One choice. Keep moving.”
Click! The strap held tight.
Bali smiled. The runaway chase was over, the pearls were safe, and the morning balance game could begin.
Little one, when a big problem rushes at you, take care of one small part at a time. One good choice can show you the way to the next.
