The Ancient Clam and the Catfish at the Bottom of the Sea - A Fable

Dedicated to my niece, Kathleen.

The Ancient Clam and the Catfish at the Bottom of the Sea - A Fable...

Ages ago, a clam deposited her larva upon the sea floor. Many of them were immediately consumed by the other creatures of the sea. Naturally, according to Nature's strategy, a few of them survived. One survivor, in particular, was Xing. Many of his siblings were devoured by the great catfish of legend that lived at the bottom of the sea.

The catfish had lived for eons. It was one of those creatures that nature, time and death had long overlooked. It could have been around forever. It was that old. In the time it had lived, it grew to be of extreme physical size and could devour most anything on the sea floor. It had even taken on a few whales and giant squid. There had been many, many colossal battles between them and the catfish. The catfish always won. It lived to be a very great age due to its size and consequent hunger.

Xing also distinguished himself by living a very long life. He mainly survived by living at the sea floor and covering himself with sea silt and other detritus. Eventually, the sea floor grew above his great shell, and eventually even rose out of the sea. Over time, this mound grew to be a very great land mass. Plants and animals, and even humans, came to live on this great land mass.

The great catfish had always been aware of Xing's presence in the mound. Xing's survival strategy and massive shell had protected Xing from the catfish and the other hungry sea creatures that surrounded his silt and mass.

The humans, which came to live upon Xing's great land mass, were simply unaware of the process by which this land mass had formed. They simply took it for granted that it was the result of an ancient and massive shellfish's attempt to nest and protect itself from the other denizens of the sea.

The humans were also unaware of the effects their fishing in the seas around them had done to the great populations of fish and other sea creatures that swam around them. Over time, their catch had been colossal and had depleted many of the stocks of the sea.

This did not have much effect on Xing, directly. He managed well on the tiny sea creatures and debris that eventually came his way through the currents and eddies of the water.

However, the depletion of the other creatures did have much effect on the great catfish. This caused him much hunger. And, needing to support his huge physical mass, he began to realize that Xing was still around. However, Xing was still protected by the land mass and his massive shell.
The humans on the great land mass grew in population and in hunger. Eventually, they began looking for other resources to support them and their growth. They came in contact with other humans around the world. Some became great friends. Some were neutral and indifferent. Some became great enemies...eventually, they even began to perceive these humans of the great land mass as a threat to their survival. They began building weapons and other war machines. They said that they meant to protect themselves from the harm that they perceived the people of the great land mass presented.

Xing, and the great catfish, were almost totally unaware of all this. The humans of the opposing sides could not make peace. They instead, elected and appointed leaders to defend and protect them. Some of these leaders, were overt hawks. This was very unfortunate, as they were also very desirous of power and felt driven to take whatever they could from the others.

Then, without warning, one day the humans of Xing's great land mass attacked the humans who had opposed them. They sent their great rockets, bombs and war machine to destroy them. However, ready for this the opposing humans had developed and produced their own war machine - and, most of all, had developed strong alliances with other very powerful human colonies near their own.

They formed an irresistible offense and attacked the humans of the great land mass. They launched bombs, rockets and so on with great force. Xing was shaken by the disturbance in the great land mass and began to feel its movement. Eventually, the great pile shifted above him, removing some of the silt and soil that was on top of him. He grew concerned, he even felt endangered, but he could do nothing.

Eventually, the great catfish sensed this disturbance, too. Interested, he began to swim around the waters around the great land mass. He felt great disturbances and explosions around him. He sensed the opportunity.

Eventually, a shell (ironically) penetrated Xing's massive shell. Parts of Xing and some his blood flew out. This attracted the great catfish. Sensing doom, Xing was fear stricken and died as a result of panic and its wounds. At last, the great feast was ready for the great catfish. He was ravenous. Not sensing the danger, he burrowed in the silt, sand and soil until he found Xing's already dead flesh. He began to feed, eventually Xing's great shell began to crack into pieces. It began to collapse and trapped the now feeding catfish within the dead shell.

The great catfish panicked, and broke out of the shell. This caused the great land mass to subside. That caused the physical society and structures of the humans above to collapse and fall into the seas around them. Eventually, they were destroyed by this and the remainder of their enemies' war machine. The great catfish, too, perished in the collapse.

Eventually, things settled down. The great catfish and Xing and the humans of his great land mass became forgotten memories. Only the seas around them survived.