Once upon a time in the quiet of the deep blue sea, there lived a little starfish named Sammy. Sammy was bright and lively, enjoying the vibrant life that the ocean had to offer, but each night, a heart-wrenching sight would greet him.
As the tide receded under the shimmering glow of the stars, countless starfish would be left stranded on the beach. The morning sun would rise, and it was an unbearable scene as Sammy watched his fellow starfish dry up and perish.
Sammy could not sleep; he was determined to do something to help his friends. “Tomorrow,” he thought, “I shall swim to the beach and throw them back to the water.” As soon as the sun’s first light pierced through the waves, Sammy set off for the beach, as fast as his little arms could carry him. Soon he reached the shore, and there, disaster struck: a giant wave crashed and swept him up the beach before he knew it.
There he spun and tumbled with the water, and when he floated out again, all seemed hopeless. But Sammy was not a starfish to be easily deterred. He crawled with all his might to the spot on the sand where the first starfish lay inert, and flung it into the water.
One by one, he went from starfish to starfish, tirelessly throwing them back into the sea. Hours passed, and Sammy was exhausted, but still, the beach stretched on, as far as his little starfish eyes could see, and countless starfish lay helpless upon the sand.
Just then, a big fish swimming by in the ocean called out to him scoffingly, “You are wasting your time, little starfish! There are miles of beach covered with starfish! You can never save them all! What difference can one starfish make?”
With all his strength, Sammy picked up another starfish, hurled it as far as he could into the surf, and turned to the fish, saying, “It made a difference to that one!” And again Sammy flung another into the waves.
The fish swam away, but another fish from the crowd gathered, and this one said, “Good little Sammy! You are right. It does make a difference to each one,” and with that, he turned and helped Sammy to throw starfish into the water.
Then a group of fishes came by, exclaiming in unison, “Little Sammy! Where can we help the best?” And then with the extra strong fishes to help, the work went on moving swiftly.
Impelled by his example, starfish who had been cast up the night before on other parts of the beach helped, till the work was accomplished.
And when later in the day, and the tide had risen again, Sammy was able to return to his home, he told the fishes his story, and his words flew from fish to fish of every sort or size in the sea till they all believed that they each could do a little to save starfish, and thus save the sea.
And that is the legend of Sammy the Starfish!