Recently, at the rock pools in Tairua, I had an amazing
encounter. Octopi! Two of them, in the same rock pool.
That in itself is worthy of note: to find not one, but two
beautiful octopi on the same day. But what happened next was even more amazing.
One of the octopi, the larger one, raised its head to the surface of the rock
pool and spoke…
So here I am, an octopus in a rock pool.
It is not, to be fair, the most flash rock pool I’ve been
in.
For a start, there are the shrimps: whiskery, flibberty creatures
that pester an animal when he’s trying to hide. The anemones too, wink, stare.
Yet, in the absence of a larger claim to occupation, a seal
say or an eel, I fancy I may call it my own.
What is that you say? You consider a rock pool not the
safest place for an octopus to reside.
On the contrary! Note the abundance of nook and crevasse; perfect
for containing a body soft as an over-ripe fruit. A fluid body, lithe and unencumbered
by meddlesome bones.
You disagree? Claim a soft body can be disadvantage, in the
presence of, say, a spear.
Oh, I see, you have one there.
Ah, yes, and here it is. You brandish it before you like a
toasting fork over hot coals.
Yes, yes, that is close enough; I assure you, I see your
point.
Perhaps that is the downfall, after all, of a rock pool – no
immediate means of escape.
Although containment can, itself, be offset by the proximity
of the sea.
Yes, that’s right, the sea.
We are, after all, talking of a temporary inland outpost;
the connection to the mother water remains.
You snigger, yet I would not expect you to understand, land
lubber as you are, with your parcels and packages of tidily allotted ground. With
the sea we take a broader view: connection rather than fence. Pool to sea to
tributary, animal to animal, it is all as one.
Take, for example, my large friend here.
Where? There. See
there, where he rears behind you
Yes, indeed, he is an orca. Note the black and white warrior
markings, the musculature of the sides.
Good idea, drop the spear, you’ll find it serves you little
use now.
Now then, as I was saying…
So here I am, an octopus in a rock pool.
