In the beginning, the Creator split the Earth into land and ocean, and he assigned the Emperor Penguin as the master of the sea. Several years later, the Emperor’s wife bore their first child, Prince Penguin. After Emperor Penguin passed away due to illness, Prince Penguin succeeded in his position and took charge of the united Arctic and Antarctic Ocean-World. Not only did his leathery silver wings give him absolute freedom over the firmament, but Prince Penguin’s streamlined body also enabled him to swim freely in the ocean kingdom. As the favorite animal of the Creator, the Prince could either breathe underwater or fly up into the Sky-World, where the Creator lived. Prince Penguin grew up with Luna, the most attractive sea-creature throughout the ocean. Nobody could take their eyes off Luna the moment they saw her. Due to her mesmerizing appearance, everyone seemed to neglect her greedy nature: she would pilfer anything shiny and precious. Prince Penguin and Luna fell in love from a young age. Although Emperor Penguin had warned his son about her avarice, Prince Penguin did not take it seriously. Soon they would hold their wedding, and the whole Penguin Kingdom would be celebrating. As happiness permeated the ocean, it appeared that everyone forgot about the Seal Monster sleeping under the Tree of Evil over thousands of years…

Two days before the marriage, Luna and her maid went on a trip to find a caterer for the wedding. On their way to the restaurant, enormous sparkling diamonds on the Tree of Evil immediately caught Luna’s attention. “Oh, my lord! Have you ever seen anything like this?” she asked her maid. Having her eyes glued to the jewelry as she walked towards the tree, she didn’t notice the dark cloud surrounding it.

“No, your highness,” replied her maid. As soon as Luna picked one of the diamonds from the branches, the ocean land began to shake tremendously as the ferocious Seal Monster woke up from its long sleep. Before Luna realized the serious mistake she had made, the Seal Monster snatched her and brought her back to his palace, leaving his devious laughter behind.

Terrified of what she had seen, the maid rushed back to tell Prince Penguin about the news. Anger flooded his veins, and he swore to slay the Seal Monster in order to get his lover back. Bringing merely his sword, he instantly set out to the evil Seal’s Palace. Although he gave all he got during the battle, his power was still not mighty enough to defeat the monster. “My last resort will only be the Creator now,” he thought. Spreading his massive wings, he made his way to Heaven and humbly asked God for his intervention. Surprisingly, the Creator would not give a helping hand unless Prince Penguin showed his sacrifice. After a long time of contemplation, Prince Penguin bargained with God and finally agreed to give up the Northern Kingdom and his ability to fly, which left him no access to the Sky-World in the future. His enormous wings began turning into short rigid fins the moment the Creator cast a spell on him. With these sacrifices, the Creator granted him the Golden Trident, the weapon with the greatest power in the Ocean-World. Prince Penguin once again set off on his quest to slay the Seal Monster.

No matter how foggy and gloomy the Palace appeared, Prince Penguin no longer worried about confronting the Monster as the Golden Trident illuminated his heart and empowered his fear. “Well, well, well. Look who’s here again?” The villain gradually appeared from the darkness with a cunning smile.

Watching Luna fettered under the tree, a strong sense of outrage filled his chest. “I order you to let Luna go! Otherwise, you will regret your decision!” Prince Penguin furiously roared to the devil.

The monster replied: “Do you think you can beat me? Let me remind you of my power. In the early years, no seals in my neighborhood dared to argue with me…” While the Seal Monster continued his pompous soliloquy, Prince Penguin took the chance to jump on to the monster’s head and cut off his ears with the Golden Trident. Berry-red blood splashed from the open wound. Prince Penguin dashed to release Luna while the Seal Monster screamed and wailed in acute pain.

“Luna, I need you to listen to me carefully. When you return to our Kingdom, tell my people how much I love them. Now, do not look back and just go!” Prince Penguin had made the decision to sacrifice himself in exchange for eternal peace in the Ocean-World. “No, I’ll never leave you!” cried Luna with tears in her eyes. “Just go!” Prince Penguin pushed her out of the Palace. He slowly picked up the Golden Trident and turned back to encounter the Seal Monster. The devil became frenzied and vowed to make Prince Penguin pay the price. Their battle lasted 3 days and 3 nights as the clanking and clattering sounds of weapons echoed throughout the depths of the ocean. Finally, Prince Penguin slew the devil and triumphantly returned to the Kingdom.

Since Luna realized what irreversible consequences her mistake had brought to her people, she promised that greed would never cover her eyes again. The Ocean-World was once again back to peace, and a grand wedding ceremony was celebrated by all sea creatures at the Ocean Church. Due to Prince Penguin’s sacrifices, penguins no longer have the ability to fly now that short fins have replaced their grand majestic wings. Even now, the penguins can only live in the Southern Kingdom and must be prepared at any time to encounter their natural enemies—the Earless Seals, whose name keeps reminding them of the disgrace from the war.

Image by Arthur Curtis via https://www.si.edu/object/emperor-penguin-admiralty-inlet-snow-hill-antarctic:saam_1950.8.14?edan_q=Penguin&destination=/search/collection-images&searchResults=1&id=saam_1950.8.14