‘Why is the sea angry?’ the children asked the old man.

‘It isn’t,' he replied.

The old man stood bent in the wind, like an old tree. His scruffy beard hid the bark-like skin of his face. His eyes were as black as the clouds which were covering the sky. The children knew it was time to leave and go home. Their parents would be worried sick if they didn’t see them coming, once that ominous, yellow light reached the village. Already the waves were roaring and bursting violently on the sand.

The old man looked at the seething water.

‘You see,’ he said, ‘there was once a boy who found a friend in a small stream in the hills. It was a little girl, who hid from him at first. But then they made friends.’

The children listened to the old man’s cavernous voice. They were cold, but they stayed.

‘The boy asked the girl to come with him to play in the valley, but she couldn’t. You see, she was made of water.

‘The boy was sad. He thought he would never see her again.

But then he had an idea. Back home, he found an old tub in the cabin in the back garden. It was a round casket made of old mouldy logs, held together by rusty nails.

‘Carrying it on his head, the boy rushed back to the hills.

The girl had never been outside the stream and was afraid at first. But the boy threw the barrel into the flow, and she found herself on the shore before she was aware of it.

‘The boy was overjoyed. It took him a long time to drag the box down the hill. He pushed it and pulled it through the woods, and hid it in a small grove near the mire, not far from his house.

His father was furious when he turned up very late, covered in dirt and scratches. “You’d better pull yourself together!” he shouted.

‘But secretly, every morning very early, and every night, the boy slipped out to go see his new friend, and the two played in the tub. The girl was happy, she had never been so close to the grass or directly under the branches of the trees.

‘They both jumped around and dived, making big waves and splashing water all around.’

As the old man spoke, drops of rain began to fall. But the children wanted to hear the end of the story. Some of them jumped up and down to keep warm. The wind began howling.

‘One day the boy saw something on the side of the wooden tub. He saw the head of one of the nails he hadn’t noticed before. The level of water in the tub was a little bit lower.’

‘Why?’ one of the smaller children asked.

‘Remember, the girl was made of water,’ the old man said, ‘and the logs were not nailed tight enough together.

‘The same evening, the boy’s father caught him as he climbed in from the kitchen window. “You’re in trouble!” he said, and locked him in his room. The boy couldn’t go see his friend for the whole of the next day and night. When he did manage to sneak out of the house, the boy was petrified at what he saw. The tub was almost empty. The girl was silent. So little of her was left. The boy didn’t know what to do.

‘Tears trickled down his face and dropped on to the logs. The girl feebly reached out, caught one of the tears, and smiled. Then he knew what to do.

‘He ran back home and grabbed a cup from the kitchen. His father called him, “Come back now!” But the boy rushed off as fast as he could.

‘He did his best to pour what was left of his friend into the cup, but the casket was heavy and he only got it half full.

‘He rushed to the shore, but kept spilling more and more as he ran. The cup was already quite small, and it was getting more and more empty. Soon he could hear the sound of the sea. He was almost on the beach. Then he stopped. Only one drop was left now.

‘He began moving slowly, holding the cup with both hands. Step by step he made his way towards the sea. It was calm. The waves were moving quietly to and fro, breaking gently on the sand. He waded into the water and, when it reached his knees, he turned the cup around and the small drop fell into the dark blue. At that very moment, the sea exploded with joy.

‘You see, the sea isn't angry. It is she, greeting her friend.’

‘You are the boy!’ shouted the children.

The old man smiled.