Luminous Abyss

Everyone warned the young hippopotamus about the abyss. ‘Nothing returns from that darkness,’ said the boatman, who had never dived. Each night a small blue fish rose from below carrying a point of light in its mouth, and each morning the adults explained it away. Curiosity finally outweighed fear.

The hippo descended past the last safe rope while the riders shouted above. At the bottom he found no monster—only thousands of tiny fish sheltering their lights beneath their fins whenever a shadow passed. They believed the surface swallowed everything. The hippo laughed, and bubbles carried the sound both ways.

He returned with one fish beside him. The abyss had not become harmless; it had become inhabited. That difference was enough to enter it wisely instead of fearing it blindly.