This is a fairy tale written by school students for school students. It deals with school bullying and the value of offering love even to our most aggressive classmate. The story of the arrogant sea urchin, which harassed, intimidated and attacked defenseless fish at the bottom of the sea, is brought back to modern school classrooms as a student who engages in bullying behavior by projecting his physical strength and ego and creating followers. This story testifies to the importance of love, which ultimately manages to heal even the most heatless person who happens to find himself in a difficult moment, helped by his own victim.

Fear of the Deep Waters

In the deep blue waters of a small island lived a sea urchin with large and sharp spines. He lived among stones and rocks and always hid his face, showing only his terrible spines. He was the fear and terror of the small neighborhood. His name: "Bitter Thorn"! Everyone knew his story.
When he was little and his shell was soft, he needed love and affection and a hug. But no one hugged him. So the little sea urchin did not feel love. As he grew older, his shell hardened and so did his soul. Over the years, he became mean. He caused fights for no reason. He stung everyone with fury. Everyone cried and Bitter Thorn laughed. He had a weakness for sponges, which could not move. This is how he would stick the thorns into their soft bodies and pull them out.
He would go to school first and leave last. Not for the lesson but for the noise. Anyone he saw alone and unprotected would be cut off a tentacle, a fin, a tail and then he would be happy about what he had done.
All the animals in the neighborhood were afraid of him and would not approach him. The fathers and mothers had heard something about Bitterthorn but they did not know the details, because no child dared to testify what exactly was happening. All the children were afraid and unhappy.
One day a new family appeared in the fishing neighborhood… a family of crabs, who had moved from a distant reef. There, all the creatures were loved and happy. One day a large ship crashed into the reef and oil spilled into the sea and the reef turned pitch black. All the residents were forced to move.
The Daganakis family came to the neighborhood… dad, mom and their little crab. Daganakis went to school carefree. Before he could get through the door, Echinos was in front of him:
- Where are you going?
- Well… I’m going to school, my dear friend. Isn’t he here?
- Hahaha… you probably don’t know me like that?
- No, I don’t.
- It’s time for you to get to know me. He’s the leader of the neighborhood. Everyone obeys me because I’m bad. Who are you?
- I’m little Daganakis.
- Hahaha… what a ridiculous name!
The rest of the children had gathered in the yard and were watching anxiously behind the bars. Some were hiding their eyes, others were crying, and others were shouting: “Leave him, leave him! Don’t hurt him!”.
The Bitterthorn didn’t listen… He forcefully stuck half of his thorns into one of the little one’s claws and started to do somersaults and drag him away. Then silence… and soon crying. The little crab appeared, one of its claws wounded and bleeding.
The children all shouted together: “Enough! This situation must stop! Let’s all get together and fight him, throw stones at him, and tear him apart!” But little Daganakis, despite being injured, said: “Will we become the same? Will we become bad?” Suddenly a huge boat had come over them and was dropping the nets. The teacher then called the children to hide in the school. Octopuses, squids, fish, shells ran to hide. The huge net fell and covered everything. The fish inside the school were waiting to see what would happen.
- Phew! There was nothing inside. Everyone escaped… only some gems got tangled.
- Look what is this? Is it seaweed?
- Children, children… it’s Bitterthorn! He got tangled in the nets!
Bitterthorn groaned and cried desperately for help as the net rose to the surface. No one felt sorry for him… now it was the others’ turn to laugh and he to cry.
Suddenly, little Crab jumped out of the school and started swimming towards the net. With great effort, he reached the net and grabbed the end with one of his claws, where the bad Sea Urchin had gotten entangled. His other claw was injured and he had no strength to help. Crab put all his strength and "CRACK(!)" he cuts the net and opens a hole. The crab hugs the bad sea urchin even though it hurts from its thorns. He pulls it and finally frees it.
Hugging tightly, they slowly descend to the bottom and fall into the school. Everyone looks. No one speaks. Bitter Sea Urchin gets up, shakes his thorns and looks around like he's lost. "Sorry, sorry," he shouts! Now I understand how you feel when I was chasing you! Sorry, sorry! But I also understood something else, which is stronger than fear. I understood the love that Daganakis has inside him… I felt it in his arms. DON'T BE AFRAID OF ME, CHILDREN! NOW I CAN LOVE TOO!!!".

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Fear of the Deep Waters

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