The early morning was clear. The little mermaid lay on the coastal stone near the pier, humming softly, basking in the rays of the gentle sun. A flock of dolphins swam in the distance, their dark backs appearing from the water, then plunging into it again. One of them decided to indulge, he began to jump out of the water high into the air, the whole flock joined him. The sea dweller, watching the animals, laughed merrily, her perky laugh ringing like a bell. The inhabitants of the deep were her good friends.
Suddenly she saw two boys of about ten or twelve, heading for the pier. The teenagers carried fins and nets to collect mussels. The little mermaid slid off the stone into the cool water, but did not swim away, watched as the friends quickly threw off their clothes on the sand, entered the water. The boys swam along the pier, then dived and hid under it. The huge cement slabs of the structure rested on metal supports covered with sea moss. The little girl knew that shells called mussels cling to this moss. If you open such a shell, then inside it will not be empty, there is life. Sometimes people made a fire on the seashore and prepared amazingly tasty food from the catch. The shells were heated on the fire, they opened themselves, inside there was tender, pinkish meat, which the catchers feasted on. This food was considered extraordinary, becausethat mussel meat had magical properties. Everyone who tried the dishes made of them at least once became healthy and strong, and some children began to grow up like the fairytale hero Gulliver.
The guys tried to collect mussels, but it turned out to be not an easy task. It was necessary to dive deep and separate the find from the moss, to which it was attached almost tightly. They took full lungs of air, dived, quickly working their legs with fins, approaching the cherished goal. But the insidious mussels did not want to fall into the bag of people and clung to the plant even more tightly. The air in the divers' lungs quickly ran out, and they had to surface again to the surface of the water in order to take another breath. The little mermaid watched the young catchers, but did not dare to swim up to them. But now, the sea guest got worried, realizing that one of the guys did not appear on the surface of the water for a long time. She left her hideout and swam to see what happened? And what happened is that one boy dived especially deeply, did not calculate his strength, he did not have enough air, he began to sink.The loser no longer moved, his eyes were closed, he slowly sank to the bottom of the sea. The little mermaid realized that she would not be able to help the drowning man, then she quickly surfaced to the surface of the water and began to call for help from her friends - dolphins. Dolphins never leave anyone in trouble. Hearing the call of a friend, the flock rushed to her aid.
One of the dolphins swam under the drowning man and began to push him up, when he was tired, he was replaced by another. Here is a boy who was already unconscious on the surface of the water. Now sea animals and the little mermaid ferry him to the shore and leave him in shallow water, while they themselves swim away a short distance and watch what happens next. At this time, the older boy noticed that his friend had disappeared. He began to look around and saw a friend lying on the shallows, quickly swam towards him. Having pulled the victim to the shore, he began to shake him, call him by name, trying to revive him, he soon succeeded. The inhabitants of the deep sea, watching what was happening, were delighted, and then sailed away into the sea.
