#inflatable boat

[adventuresofalgy]

And so, before very long, Algy and the little lost leprechaun found themselves far, far out at sea, bobbing about helplessly on the mighty ocean in a very small inflatable boat, without even a paddle to help them steer, and only the briny deep below them…

But when the leprechaun, who was beginning to feel rather seasick, saw the plight that they were in, he quickly began to sing a soft Irish air in a wee, piping voice, indicating to Algy that he wanted him to join in. So Algy listened for a couple of choruses and then began to sing with him… and very soon Algy and his companion found that they were no longer alone, but were surrounded by a pod of happy dolphins, leaping and dancing merrily to the music, all around the boat.

Algy and the leprechaun continued to sing for quite a while, with the dolphins prancing about in the water beside them, for the old folk tune just went round and round and round again, as so many of these Celtic airs do. But eventually they got tired and had to stop, and at that point the dolphins paused in their leaping for a moment, and one of them enquired whether they were perhaps heading for the ancient Celtic lands, remarking that if that was the case, they were drifting the wrong way…

On hearing that Algy and his companion were indeed trying to sail to Ireland and the west coast of Scotland, the whole pod kindly volunteered to accompany them, pushing the báidín (little boat) with their noses whenever necessary, for they too loved to play in the Hebridean waters 🐬🐬🐬

Here is a version of the song which the leprechaun started to sing:

[sunflowerbower]

Ok I’ve been reading “May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth” and there’s an almost throwaway line about early rubber boats and someone has designed one that is a cloak and also a boat?!

So I can only imagine James Fitzjames bragging about his ✨cloak flotation device✨ only to be swept off the deck by a gust of wind landing perfectly safely on the Navy Issue Lilo now tied around his neck!

[ancient-whimsy]

[gentlemensarts]

[roger-rockette-remixes]

RR perdu dans un rocky landscape Dessin numérique / digital drawing, 2016 123 x 88 cm – (48 x 34’’) (catalogue n° : RR 16.59) ©RGV 2016

Un tirage «Beaux-Arts» signé, numéroté et encadré (+ scellés ARTtrust) One “Fine arts” print signed, numbered and framed (+ ARTtrust seals)

c'est RR, ici ! VUe D'ICI VUe DE LOIN VUe DE PRÈS

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy tried and tried to inflate his plastic boat, but it was just no use: try as he might, he simply couldn't do it. Fluffy birds are not easily discouraged, of course, so bearing in mind the poet's incitement "Say not the struggle nought availeth" Algy blew into the wee plastic tube time and time and time again, until he was completely out of breath… but it was indeed to no avail, and eventually he became so exhausted by the constant effort that he simply fell asleep on top of both the boat and his wee book of verse, completely tired out.

Imagine Algy's astonishment, therefore, when he woke from a fretful dream about trying to blow endlessly into the impossible inflation tubes of completely impossible boats, and discovered himself afloat in a most beautifully inflated wee boat, complete with suitable decorations for a voyage across the sea… and in the company of a leprechaun ☘️

For a few moments Algy assumed that he must still be dreaming, albeit in a very much more pleasant dreamland than the one in which he had found himself before. But he could feel the plastic around him, and smell the salt of the sea air, and he soon began to realise that he was indeed awake.

Gazing at the leprechaun seated opposite him, Algy suddenly remembered the wee fellow he had met in the depths of the forest on St. Patrick's Day: the sad, lost, lonely little leprechaun who had explained that he was unable to return to his home in the Emerald Isle.

"So you followed me through the forest!" exclaimed Algy.

"That I did," said the leprechaun, in his soft Irish brogue. "I knew you would be going my way, so I thought I'd be giving you a wee hand with the báidín."

[adventuresofalgy]

The tide was coming in fast, so Algy hopped out of his little boat and began to push it up the beach to safety, for it was sure to float out to sea again if he failed to move it away from the water's edge.

But the task was not an easy one for a fluffy bird, and especially not when he reached the huge mounds of kelp and other uprooted seaweeds tossed up by the winter storms, for they were strewn and piled up all along the beach in every direction, as was so often the case at this time of year.

The scene was a familiar one, and so was the wild west Highland weather, for Algy discovered that he had a vigorous tail wind, which rather than helping him manoeuvre the boat – as it might have done if he had still been afloat – threatened instead to lift it high in the sky at any moment, for to the wind the boat was nothing but a special kind of balloon: just an oddly-shaped plastic bubble filled with air…

So in addition to trying to push his boat against the resistance of the dragging, wet sand and glutinous kelp, Algy also had to apply all his feeble fluffy might to holding the boat down firmly, in order to prevent it flying away… which contradictory efforts considerably hindered his progress to the sand dunes at the back of the beach, where he hoped to store his flimsy craft for future use.

In many ways the journey from the shoreline to the sand dunes was a great deal more arduous for Algy than his voyage across the ocean, for there were neither dolphins nor any other creatures available to help him move his boat across the beach. But although he was exhausted, aching, and covered with nasty, sticky sea salt, gritty sand, and sundry bits of rotting seaweed – and the wind kept blowing his hair feathers into his eyes so that he could barely see where he was going – a big smile spread across Algy's face as he eventually approached the dunes…

… because a wee bird that Algy knew well was fluttering above the Marram grass, and as Algy lifted his head to watch it ascend into the sky, he heard the beautiful voice of a skylark singing high overhead…

He was home at last!

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy woke bright and early the next morning, eager to set off on his journey home, despite the warning regarding the sea that he had read in a poem only the day before:

'Wouldst thou,'–so the helmsman answered, 'Learn the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery!'

Not that Algy really wanted to comprehend the mystery of the sea: indeed, he felt that such comprehension was far beyond his reach. But he did want very much to get back home, and he knew that in order to do that he would certainly have to brave the ocean's dangers, for one attempt to fly across was more than enough for a fluffy bird who could not swim. Algy was profoundly grateful that the gale force winds had carried him safely to land when he had inadvertently crossed before, but he dare not attempt such a journey again.

So, having breakfasted on a few exotic fruits and nuts which he had found in the trees at the edge of the rainforest, Algy carefully unfolded the inflatable boat that for days on end he had been carrying under his wing as he trudged through the forest, opened it up as best he could, and spread it out on the ground.

Examining it carefully on both sides, Algy discovered two small plastic tubes projecting from the shiny plastic, each with its own little stopper. He guessed that these must be the openings through which he would have to blow in order to turn the strangely flat object into a sea-going vessel, for although he inspected every part of it, he could see no other way in which that transformation might be achieved…

Algy found that the removal of a stopper was not too challenging, once he had managed to get a firm grip on it with his beak. However, blowing through the very short projecting tube was a quite different matter. Possibly a boat of this kind was not intended for the use of fluffy birds, or perhaps he simply lacked some implement or tool which would have helped him blow air into the interior of the flabby plastic structure. But whatever the reason, Algy quickly discovered that the concept of inflation in this particular case was one that was evidently very much more easily described than actually achieved…

Algy huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed, and he huffed and he puffed again. Then he rested to regain his breath, and huffed and puffed again. But still all he had was a floppy piece of plastic, and most certainly not a floatable craft…

But there was just one wee consideration which Algy, in his fixed concentration on the job in hand, had failed to take into account. He was not alone…