Once upon a time an island was born in the middle of a great ocean. At the time there were no other islands anywhere near there. So no one knew the island had been born and no one knew exactly how it got there.

At first the island was just a big mound of rock and soil sticking out of the sea, but as time passed those changed. Old limbs which contained plant seeds washed up on to the shore and ferns and grass and vines and bushes and trees and flowers began to grow. Insect eggs were washed up onto the shore too. Birds flying between continents saw the island and landed on it and some of them stayed. After a few years the island was teaming with plant life, insects and birds.

But although the island loved all these things, it was lonely and it didn't know why. Then one day the island saw a whale in the distance and thought it was an island. Then the island knew why it was lonely. It wanted to have an island friend.

The island became friends with the whale and talked to it about this. The whale said "Let me see what I can do" and dove to the bottom of the ocean. There he found several volcanoes that were going to erupt sooner or later and become islands. The whale talked to them and they agreed to become islands sooner rather than later.

Soon there were many islands in the middle of the ocean. The birds carried seeds and insect eggs to the new islands. So the new islands quickly became green and alive with life. That was their first spring.

The islands and their inhabitants and the whale and a school of fish that was floating by had a big party to celebrate the new society of islands. The volcanoes puffed smoke and fire to celebrate the occasion.

They had so much fun that after that they had the party every spring.

THE END