There were four beautiful seagulls who lived in Siberia, Russia—a very cold place. They were good friends and loved fresh fish, so they made their home on a cliff next to the sea, surrounded by trees and mountains. Every day, they would fly down, catch fish, and return to eat together. They were very happy.
But every year, something difficult happened. In winter, the sea would freeze completely because Russia was so cold. When this happened, all the birds who lived there had to fly south to find food. The seagulls and hundreds of other birds would fly all the way from Russia to Southeast Asia—to a place called Bali in Indonesia. There, the weather was warm, the beaches were beautiful, and there was plenty of fish to catch. They would stay for three or four months until it was time to fly back home.
This journey was very long and tiring. The seagulls had to practice flying every day to stay strong. Sometimes, when one got tired, another would let them rest on their back while they flew. If they found a stone or small island in the sea, they would stop to rest and eat. This yearly journey is called migration.
One year, the four seagulls flew to Indonesia, excited to taste the delicious fish there. But when they arrived, something terrible had happened. There had been major floods—so much rain that water covered everything. The beach where they usually landed was underwater. The whole island had disappeared beneath the sea.
They didn't know where to land. They tried to find other areas, but those places had villages and cities full of people. The seagulls didn't want to go there because sometimes humans would try to catch and eat them. They kept looking and looking, growing more and more tired.
Finally, they found one isolated beach. It was very lonely, with lots of trees and plants. They landed there and rested because they were exhausted after flying for a month. But when they woke up, they couldn't find anything to eat. They were very hungry.
The next day, all four of them flew around the island, circling and searching for fish. But there was a big problem—there were no fish near this island. They could only see seaweed. The water was full of seaweed, and it was washing up onto the beach. Once in a while, they spotted a jellyfish, but jellyfish sting, so they had to be very careful.
They kept searching, but found nothing. They grew sadder and sadder. "We are so tired," they said to each other. "We don't have any food. We can't even fly back to Russia now. We think we are all going to die here."
The islands were flooded not only because of the rain, but also because of global warming. The whole earth was getting warmer, and the sea levels were rising. Many islands had gone underwater.
But the strongest of the four seagulls was named Dika. She said, "Don't worry, girls. Don't worry. We'll find a way. Don't get depressed. Don't feel sad. Be strong. If you think calmly and have courage, you'll find a way. Tomorrow, we'll fly further into the sea."
But the others said, "How can we fly? We are so tired. We haven't eaten. I'm so hungry I can't fly."
The next morning, Dika woke up and went to look at the seaweed on the beach. She smelled it—it smelled very bad. But she was so hungry. "Let me try to eat this," she thought. "What else can I do?"
Now, seagulls don't eat vegetables or plants. They only eat fish. But Dika took a bite of the seaweed. "It's a little bitter," she said, "but it's not too bad. I was so hungry." So she ate one full piece of seaweed.
At first, she didn't feel very good because it was bitter. But then, something amazing happened. She started feeling stronger. She had been so hungry for so many days, and suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore. She felt better.
That day, she was able to fly very far into the sea to look for fish. But again, there was no fish. So she came back and ate some more seaweed. She felt even better. Then she found some dry seaweed on the beach—and that was even tastier!
She told the others, "You should eat the seaweed! Seaweed has lots of vitamins and nutrition. It's very healthy!"
At first, the other seagulls didn't want to eat it. "Yucky! Who's going to eat this dirty thing floating in the water?" they said.
But Dika said, "If you're hungry, you have to eat." She taught them how to eat seaweed. Slowly, slowly, the first seagull pecked at the seaweed—just a little bit. "It's not too bad," they said. "Not too bad."
So they started eating more and more. For a few whole weeks, they only ate seaweed. And suddenly, they became stronger and healthier. They weren't feeling hungry anymore. They even started to like the seaweed!
With the seaweed giving them strength, they were able to survive. They tucked some seaweed into their feathers and flew all the way back to Russia. Once they were home, they could catch fish again. But you know what? They started missing the seaweed!
Dika said, "See? Whenever you have a problem and you feel that there is no way out—when you feel that all the doors have closed and there is no hope—keep trying. Keep trying, and something will come. Your job is to keep trying."
She continued, "If I had given up like all of you and said, 'There is no food, nothing,' I would not have tried to eat the seaweed. But I ate the seaweed. We didn't know that we could eat seaweed, or that it was even edible. But we tried it, and it turned out to be very healthy. Our lives were saved because we were willing to try new ways. So don't lose hope. Have courage and keep trying."
And that is how all four seagulls returned safely to Russia. Every year after that, they went back to Indonesia. And whenever they went back, they didn't look for fish anymore. You know what they looked for?
