On the coast of Antarctica, five families of penguins huddled together ready for the breeding season to begin. The penguins were all good friends who always protected each other.

“It is time to lay our eggs!” One family said.

A few weeks later, all of the penguins had laid their eggs and were keeping them warm. The mothers were talking while the males huddled around the new eggs. Suddenly, there was loud splash!

“What was that?” A mother asked.

“I have no idea,” a male replied.

ARR ARR!

A large, white leopard seal appeared over a hill. The penguins were scared for their lives. The seal started sliding towards them.

“She wants our eggs!” A penguin exclaimed. “Quickly get together!”

The five families made a circle around their nest and started honking at the seal. She turned away knowing the penguins had outsmarted her.

This happened for weeks, each time the seal being unsuccessful. Her pups were getting hungry so now she was desperate. The penguins were eating all of the fish and scaring the rest away, which left none for her and her pups. The penguin eggs had hatched, too, which meant the penguins needed more fish. The seal knew the penguin families were all good friends and that nothing could separate them. But if they were separated, it would be easy to attack them. The leopard seal dove in the water with a bright idea in her clever mind.

It was late morning; the penguins were swimming and catching fish. Some of them were teaching their newborn chicks how to swim and dive. Three adult penguins surfaced and placed their caught fish on the ice. There was more than enough fish for all five families in the pile. Far out in the ocean, an iceberg cracked. The penguins were curious and decided to check it out.

“I’ll stay behind to guard this fish,” said a male penguin.

The others trusted him so they agreed and set off. What they did not know was that the seal had asked her friend, the orca whale, to break the ice to distract them and was now hiding behind a hill. The leopard seal and the orca whale both disliked the penguins. Despite her size, seal was extremely stealthy stealing all of the fish without the guard penguin knowing. She quietly made it back to the penguin nests and placed the whole stash under only one of the houses. She watched from a safe distance. By now the penguins came back with no idea what had happened.

“It was so weird,” they said. “Something must have cracked it, but what?”

One of the penguins noticed that the fish was gone.

“Where did it go?” They questioned the guard penguin.

“I have no idea,” he replied. “Nothing came here.”

“Well, we should probably look for it,” a mother suggested.

They all agreed and went back to their nests. They were searching their nests when one penguin caught a glimpse of fish under the guard penguin’s nest.

“Look what I found,” he said. “You stole it, didn’t you?”

“What? No!” The guard exclaimed. “I would never do that!”

No one believed him. They all thought that he wanted the food all for himself.
“How can I trust anyone here?” One male asked.

He and his family set off. Soon all of the penguins were arguing and fighting. One by one, each family went their own way until there was no one at their original nesting grounds. The leopard seal, that was still unnoticed, went back home with a triumphant smile on her face.

The next day the seal slid down a hill, without warning, and attacked one family and killed them all. There was no one to protect that family because they had all separated. The seal fed her pups a big meal. Next morning another family went down. Each day one family was killed and eaten until there were no penguins left. The leopard seal’s pups had grown and were now strong. The penguins were killed because they were tricked by the seal and were alone. It was very easy for the seal to attack the nests with only two adult penguins protecting each family.


Moral: United we stand, divided we fall