"Now that we're married, I can practice my shape-shifting skills!" said Patrick as he looked at his best man.
And with the ceremony done, the only thing left to do was go home.
"Patrick, it's time to go. Take your beloved wife with you and come," said Manta Ray.
Patrick changed into the Manta Ray and followed the school. At first, things were going well, and he had no problems. However, after a couple of hours, Patrick's fins started to tire out. And then he started to lag. Manta Ray looked back and told the rest of the school to slow down.
"What's wrong Patrick? Why are you so slow? This is the regular trek for our species." said Manta
"Oh I know, it's just that I have had a hook in my heart ever since the war," said Patrick as he flapped his fins harder.
His wife, Manti Reyes, looked at Patrick's chest and could find no puncture wound.
"Strange. He says he got wounded in his heart, but yet I see no wound?" she whispered to her sister, a corporal in the manta ray legion.
Patrick once again got tired and started slowing down. This time, however, Manta did not notice him at all and kept flying. After a few hours, the legion looked back and Patrick could not be seen.
"We'll wait here," said Manta ray.
And the legion of manta rays waited for hours. The hours turned into days. and the days turned into a week.
"We have been waiting here for over a day! Where is my husband?" cried Manti Reyes.
"Perhaps he got attacked by an octopus! We must find him at once!" yelled Manti's sister.
"Silence! If Patrick is truly to become part of our legion, he must make this trek himself, free from assistance," said Manta Ray.
A couple of minutes later, Patrick came flapping towards them, saying,
"Guys! Sorry I was late! but look what I found!"
Out of his pocket, he pulled out a cool rock.
"What the hell! We waited for a whole week and you were out there looking for a rock? That's it! I've had it with you! I want a divorce!" yelled Manti Reyes.
And with that, the divorce was settled then and there. Patrick would gain half the legions as was the law at the time, the wife must pay husband support, and Patrick flapped away down to bikini bottom with his rock.
Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).
Author's notes:
The story is an adaption of Raven's marriage to the geese. In the story, Raven, our shape-shifting protagonist, marries a geese. They end up flying somewhere and for a really long time. Raven eventually gets tired out and slows down and stops a couple of times. Eventually, he even tells the geese that the reason for his slowing down is because of an injury to the heart awhile back during the war. However, the geese saw no evidence of this.
Raven was in some sense a trickster. he did shapeshifted his way into the ranks of the geese, and then possibly lied about his injuries.
For my story, I replaced raven and the geese with Patrick and manta rays. However, I added a twist,. Patrick stopped because he found a cool rock. And that's how Patrick found his home in spongebob squarepants.
