King Ocean's Flute

Paulo stands on the shore, playing his little wooden flute. He loves music, finding song in all he sees and listens to in the natural world. King Ocean hears his playing, and, curious, sends his dolphins to bring Paulo to him. First the King plays his own flute capturing the sounds of crying seals, crashing storms and albatross wings. The silver barnacle-encrusted flute is then thrust at Paulo, with the challenge to play as he, the King did, or… shinehis sharks’ teeth, polish his mermaids’ scales and scrub the salt from the seabed day and night for seven whole years. Though terrified, Paulo does play wonderfully, entrancing the King with sounds of skies full of skylarks, fields of grasshoppers, butterflies, sheep, harebells and daisies. Delighted, the King gives him a small coral and mother-of-pearl flute, which he says holds all the songs of the sea and which now needs to be taught the songs of the earth. Returning to his sleeping family at dawn, Paulo decides he will play them a song of the sunrise. This beautiful story, simply constructed and told, is illustrated in soft muted tones, both on land and below the sea. The mermaids surrounding the King softly glisten, as they listen acutely to the music of the King and Paulo. The sea creatures are finely and accurately drawn, as are the land creatures at the beginning of the tale. What a wonderful emperor dragonfly, almost life-size! The villagers are portrayed with depth of character and a quality of timelessness, along with pony and cart, fishing tackle and the palpable heat of a Mediterranean port. An entrancing book.