Can I travel to the sea for you? she said quietly.

She stood there, small in stature, clear eyes and with a staff in her hand.

Uh, I said, who are you?

I am Lillebirk, I can go to the sea for you and ask what you need to know, she said.

I want to save the sea, and I know quite a lot about the sea, I said. I'm a biologist, I've read thick books about the sea.

Yes, but it is also important to listen, sometimes you just have to listen, she said. I can do that for you.

Do you think listening can save the sea? I asked.

I don't know, said Lillebirk, but maybe you'll get wiser and maybe there's something you've forgotten.

Can I travel to the sea for you, then?

Um, yes, I said without really knowing what that meant.

Lillebirk went off, and this is what happened:

Lillebirk traveled, as the old shamans had taught her, with the help of the Drum and with an important question:

"How can we save the Sea. What messages can I bring back from the Sea, what does the Sea tell us?"

She traveled with her staff and her horse to the place where the Sea meets the Land. She patted her horse, laid her staff on the beach and walked out through the waves.

A large old creature slowly emerged from the Sea. His head came first, then his shoulders, which looked like rocks peeking up above the surface of the Sea. His shoulders were full of seaweed, mussels and starfish. He stretched out his arm so that Lillebirk could climb up and sit on his hand. Then he opened his mouth and told her to go down into the Sea through his mouth. She felt no threat and wanted to go down there. Still, she hesitated, because you shouldn't trust just anyone in all worlds.

She asked for his name, but it was hard to hear, because he hadn't spoken for hundreds of years: Sea-sei, Sea, Sei ... It sounded muddy, but then it came, in a deep and soft voice:

Seidon, as Poseidon without ”Po”.

Ok, Seidon! Lillebirk said. I'll go through your mouth, but I want one or two helpers with me! And just shut your mouth, because I won't leave until I have helpers, she said.

Seidon laughed: Yes, yes.

"GET YOUR STAFF" someone shouted.

Lillebirk looked around and sighed, she didn't want to go all the way back to the beach to get the staff, and besides, what can you use a staff for out in the Sea?.

"GET YOUR STAFF ! " - yes,ok! I obviously can't go any further without my staff, she thought and waded back to the beach. She took the staff and wandered through the waves, and sat down on Seidon's hand again.

Seidon opened his mouth: Come on!

I need helpers with me! said Lillebirk.

Seidon rolled his eyes and closed his mouth.

She sat on his hand and waited for helpers.

Seidon teased her and pretended to go down under the water with her sitting on his hand – Ok, ok, I'll leave it at that, he said and laughed.

Then Seagull came, but Lillebirk thought she needed a helper who could dive under the water. Seagull flew again.

Puffin appeared and a little cockle,who knows the bottom of the Sea, rolled by her side. Ok, said Lillebirk, I have good helpers now, so we can go.

Lillebirk, Puffin and Cockle went into Seidon's mouth. They tumbled around a bit, and then they whizzed off with their heads in front. Downwards and downwards it went at a wild speed, and at last they came out and landed on the bottom of the sea.The slow movements in the semi-darkness and the feeling of moving in water were very clear.

Lillebirk didn't quite know what to do, but someone said: "Knock the staff on the seabed".

She knocked the staff into the seabed and immediately an air bubble formed around the small party, and light came into the top of the staff. They wandered in the air bubble across the seabed. Cockles knew the bottom of the sea and showed where they could go without sinking in. There was no life, no animals, no seaweed, just murky dark water and sand.They walked close together in their little bubble of light through the desolate and dark Sea.

Far ahead, the contours of large algaes appeared. Puffins knew that fish are found where there is seaweed and slowly they approached the algaes, which with its more than 2 meters high leaves formed a forest of large seaweed plants. They went in among sawwrack, bladderwrack and sugar kelp which swayed in soft movements. The seaweed breathed life into the water with billions of oxygen molecules rising up through the sea.

Lillebirk sat down on a stone, up against a large sawwrack, and softly repeated the question:

"How can we save the Sea. What can I bring back of messages from the Sea, what does the Sea tell us?

Soon the animals appeared. At first they were on the edge of the air bubble, but then they got closer.The sea creatures had no trouble breathing in the air bubble, because other rules apply in other worlds. The animals wanted to be petted and cared for. Lillebirk petted plaice, sea stickleback, cod, herring, known and unknown fishs, crab, starfish, eels, small and large animals, and animals without names.

This was the message of the Animals of the Sea: "We need care"

Lillebirk thought that it is often people who ask for help from nature. That was not the case now.

She asked the great Algae, who answered, "We are here, we are here, we are helping, we are helping, and they weighed in the current of the sea."

Lillebirk felt the sand and the seabed,which was just that – bottom.

Yes, we need a solid bottom, she thought.

Then she asked the Sea itself. The salty water. Lillebirk connected with the Sea and the Ocean and felt that she became more porous. She felt the Sea seeping through her and enveloping every cell in her body.

"We are one and yet I am me, I am not completely dissolved" she thought. "I can be on land, but the Sea will always be in me". She got the feeling that if it was too difficult to be on land, she could always seek protectionin the Sea. This was a somewhat strange message from the Sea, Lillebirk thought, but that was how it was.

Lillebirk, Puffin and Cockle sat for awhile and it was time for the small company to return. With the staff in front of them, they whizzed through the Sea, up and out of Seidon's mouth. Lillebirk sat a little on his shoulder and played with his hair, which was filled with sea creatures. Little Birch stroked Puffin and Cockle, thank you for joining us, she said. Puffin and Cockle went home and Lillebirk thanked Seidon. She went up to the beach and looked at Seidon. Beautiful and old as the Sea itself. Thank you. Thank you so much, Seidon, for taking care of me and sharing your knowledge.

Lillebirk rode back with her horse, and told me everything. Now you also know it. That life in the Sea needs our care, and that the Sea and the big algae will help us.