Captain Stormalong: The Giant Sailor

On the wild coast of New England, in a tiny seaside village, a baby was born so enormous that it took four horses just to pull the cart that carried him to the hospital. His name was Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, and he was the biggest baby the world had ever seen.

Young Stormalong grew up right by the ocean. By the time he was ten, he was already taller than the village lighthouse. He loved the sea more than anything. He would wade out into the harbor, and the water only reached his knees. The fish would swim between his toes.

When Stormalong became a captain, no ordinary ship would do. His crew built the biggest ship the world had ever seen. It was called the Courser, and its masts were so tall that the sailors had to bring packed lunches to climb to the top. The crow's nest poked right through the clouds.

Stormalong's crew loved their giant captain. He was the kindest man on all the seas. When a sailor was cold, Stormalong would cup his enormous hands around the man to keep him warm. When the wind died down, he would blow into the sails himself, and the ship would fly across the water.

One day, a giant octopus rose from the deep and wrapped its tentacles around the Courser. The crew trembled, but Stormalong just laughed. He reached into the water, tickled the octopus under all eight arms, and the creature let go, giggling bubbles all the way back to the bottom of the sea.

One morning, the Courser set sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Stormalong wanted to see the old countries of Europe. But when they reached the English Channel between England and France, there was a problem. The channel was narrow, and the Courser was very, very wide.

Stormalong had an idea. He ordered his crew to cover every inch of the ship with soap. Barrels and barrels of white, sudsy soap were slathered over the hull. The ship gleamed and sparkled with millions of bubbles. The crew slipped and slid on the deck, laughing all the while.

Stormalong squeezed the Courser through the English Channel. The soapy ship scraped against the chalk cliffs of Dover, leaving a thick white layer of soap on the rocks. And that is why, to this very day, the Cliffs of Dover are white.

On the way home, a mighty storm struck the Atlantic. The waves rose as high as mountains. But Stormalong stood at the helm and steered the Courser straight through. He was so big that the rain felt like a gentle mist on his face, and the thunder sounded like a kitten's purr.

Stormalong loved to swim alongside his ship after a storm. He would dive into the ocean and paddle with his enormous arms. His strokes were so powerful that they pushed the warm water from the south all the way up the coast. And that is how the Gulf Stream was born.

When the Courser finally sailed back into harbor, the whole village came to welcome Stormalong home. Children climbed up his boots. Seagulls nested in his hat. His crew cheered from the deck, proud to sail with the greatest captain who ever lived.

And so the legend of Captain Stormalong was told in every port, in every language, across every ocean. Whenever the waves crash against a white cliff, or a warm current flows along the shore, people smile and say: that was Stormalong. The biggest, bravest, kindest sailor the world has ever known.