The "Fable of the Sea Snake" Story

It was an ordinary day. The sun was in the Eastern sky and starting to get hot. We are sitting along Dover Beach in our beach chairs wondering if it is time to get wet. Slightly to our left a throng of beach goers is growing at water's edge. Someone is pointing towards the water. I watch from my chair whilst the crowd grows. Some are grabbing their infant children and pulling them back. My interest has grown and I walk towards the people. Weave my way to the front by the water and hear the talk about the huge sea snake. I look and see what appears to be a slithering snake about four or five inches in diameter about twenty yards offshore. Nobody knows what to do. I told them I would go in and see what it is. Most discouraged me, but I was determined to see what it was. I remembered a song by the Merrymen from Barbados and how they would use a big rock for almost anything. I yelled for someone to get me a big rock and shortly I was ready. The sea was angry that day my friends, but I headed toward the green thirty-foot long mass. As I got close in the waist-deep water, I stopped, raised the big rock above my head and thrust it at the head of the snake. No movement, so I reached down and grabbed the head and pulled it out of the water, triumphantly above my head as the throng of beachgoers cheered. The "HERO" of Dover Beach. OK ....... you know that this has to be a fable. Start my story over again. When you reach the part about wondering if is time to get wet, you can resume here. Not as dramatic, but still exciting, nonetheless. Carol and I headed toward the water. She asked me what that thing was in the water right off shore. Wasn't getting unless she knew. Told me it looked like some kind of snake. I waded in up to my waist and studied the long narrow green thing before I realized it was a large gauge chain with a hook on the end and totally covered with seaweed. I was being warned at the shore to be careful. Grabbed the hook and held it up for all to see. Ah, the "HERO" of Dover Beach. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.