Seahorse

This yarn is about knowing where you are and where you need to be going, on a physical level this is a story about navigation. But at a higher level it can be used to talk about gullibility (a scout is not a fool!) and the importance of goals in a patrol.

The Seahorse yarn

Once upon a time a young Seahorse gathered up his pieces of eight and cantered off to make his fortune.

Before he had travelled very far, he met an Eel, who said, "Psst. Hey you, where you going?" "I'm going out to find my fortune," replied the Seahorse, proudly. "You're in luck," said the Eel. "For four pieces of eight you can have this speedy flipper, and then you will get there faster." "That's great," said the Seahorse, He paid the money, put on the flipper, and slithered off at twice the speed.

Soon he came upon a Sponge, who said, "Psst. Hey, where you going?" "I'm going out to find my fortune," replied the Seahorse. "You're in luck," said the Sponge. "For a small fee I will sell you this jet-propelled scooter so you will be able to travel a lot faster." So the Seahorse bought the scooter with his remaining money and went zooming through the sea five times faster.

Then he came to a Shark, who said, "Psst. Hey little guy. Where you going?"

"I'm going out to find my fortune," replied the Seahorse. "You're in luck. If you'll take this short cut," said the Shark, pointing to his open mouth, "you'll save yourself a lot of time." "OK, thanks," said the Seahorse, and zoomed off into the interior of the Shark, never to be seen again.

The lessons

The lesson of this yarn are - if you’re not sure where you’re going, you’re going to end up somewhere else, and not even know it.

• First you must know where you are,
• Then you must know where you want to go.
• ...and do not be blindly trusting - remember, trust is earned.

Adapted from a book Preparing Instructional Objectives by Robert Mager (1984).