Little pebble Granite was rolling and rolling. However, this was not joyful rolling like on a meadow full of dandelions. Granite was tumbling in a swift and cold mountain river. Every time he hit another stone or the hard bottom, he felt a tiny, almost invisible piece fall off him.
"Oh dear," he sighed when the water current rolled him over again. "Once I was a beautiful, large piece of rock, part of a huge cliff. I had sharp edges and everyone admired me. And now? Every day I'm smaller and smaller. The water grinds and wears me down, as if I were just ordinary soap in a bathtub. What if I completely disappear one day?"
Granite was very unhappy. He floated down the river for days and weeks. The journey was long. He saw little fish swimming by, which quickly hid from him, and dragonflies with transparent wings. But nothing could cheer him up. He kept thinking only about how he was shrinking.
The river gradually widened and slowed down. One day he felt the current carrying him to a place where the water flowed into something enormous, blue and salty. It was the sea. The current gently placed him on the bottom, where thousands and thousands of tiny, glittering grains lay.
"Where am I?" whispered Granite in surprise.
"Welcome to the sea, little one," a calm voice said beside him. Granite spotted a magnificent, large shell.
"Who are you?" asked Granite.
"My name is Seashell. I've been living here for a very long time," the shell replied. "You look sad. What's troubling you?"
Tears almost welled up in Granite's stony eyes. "I'm traveling because I must! The river carries me away from my native mountains and destroys me along the way. Look how small and smooth I am! I'm afraid I'll soon completely crumble to dust and disappear."
Seashell smiled her shell smile. "But dear Granite, you're not disappearing at all. You're just changing!"
"Changing? What do you mean?" the pebble didn't understand.
"Look around you," said Seashell. "Do you see all those tiny, golden grains? That's sand. And do you know what it came from?"
Granite shook his little stone head.
"It came from exactly such pebbles as you. The river is like a great and patient artist. She doesn't want to hurt you. She just takes pieces of large rocks and slowly works on them during the long journey. She smooths their sharp edges and makes them smaller."
"But why?" asked Granite.
"Because everything in nature has its purpose. The river brings all those tiny pieces here, to the sea. And here she creates something new and beautiful from them. She creates a beach from them," Seashell explained.
Granite looked at the endless expanse of fine sand that stretched along the sea.
"A beach?" he repeated.
"Yes," Seashell nodded. "A beach where children will play and build sandcastles. A beach where tiny crabs will dig their little homes. You're not disappearing, Granite. You're becoming part of this beauty. Your journey doesn't end in destruction, but in a new beginning."
Granite was silent. Suddenly he understood. All his fear was gone. He looked at his smooth, polished body and no longer felt sorry for the lost edges. He was a future grain of sand on a beautiful beach!
"Thank you, wise Seashell," he said joyfully. "Now I understand. My journey had great meaning!"
From that day on, Granite looked forward to every wave that gently rocked him. He knew that in time he would break into even smaller pieces and join with the other grains. And he couldn't wait to become part of a great, sunny beach that would bring joy to many others.
And maybe, when you next play on a beach, one of those glittering grains in your palm will be brave Granite, who remembers his long and important journey from the high mountains in the sound of the sea.