Het Begin van het Leven

The storm became stronger. The ship climbed on huge waves. Then it crashed down into deep valleys of water. Every time we went down, I thought that we would never come up again. I was certain that we all would die. The waves would be my grave.

But the next morning something changed. The wind became calmer. The waves became smaller. The sun came out. And suddenly the ocean did not look so terrible. It was actually quite beautiful. My sickness was gone. My fear disappeared too.

My friend found me on the deck. He laughed and hit my shoulder. "You were scared last night, right? Did you think that small wind would kill us?" I could not believe his words. "Small wind?" I said. "It was a terrible storm!"

He laughed harder. "That was nothing! Wait until you see a real storm. You are just a new sailor. You will learn. Come, let's drink punch. Let's celebrate your first time at sea!" We went under the deck to drink.