(told in the car, on the way to a concert in the park in Pasadena)
Skeegal is a good, and wise, and just king. And an octopus. Every morning he would drift through the water and survey his kingdom, and he could see that all was good, and at peace.
One morning, a strange new creature flitted through the waters of Skeegal’s kingdom. A mermaid swam in, up, down, everywhere, the sunlight reflecting off a beautiful pearl and abalone necklace. It caught the eye of Gerome, a porpoise. He dashed to her, grabbed the necklace, and swam away.
The mermaid, who was named Alissa, returned to her own people, and told her father the story. Her father, Simbal, was angry. He had given her the necklace when she was just a young girl, as a reminder that he would always love her, and to show all of the people that she was royalty. Simbal was, of course, a king, and Alissa was therefore a princess. The king roared with anger, mustered the troops, and prepared to go to war with Skeegal.
Skeegal saw the armies advancing, and shouted for his own people to gather around, to defend themselves. Just as they were about to fight, Skeegal swam out between the opposing armies, and shouted for everyone to stop. He asked Simbal to parlay, and hear the story of the stolen necklace.
They agreed to maintain peace for 3 days, while Skeegal and his people went in search of Gerome and the necklace.
(Skeegal was originally called “Squiggles”, and Simbal was originally called “Simba”. The original names were chosen by my daughter, but it was decided that those were the names people called them, but the story should be told with their ocean names, Skeegal and Simbal.)