Polpo loves Davey

So, the first few meetings hadn’t gone exactly… well, they hadn’t gone well, had they?

Sandy had told him that she was sure that Davey would like him. After all, they got on so well together, didn’t they? And surely a carefree cheerful soul like Sandy would have a carefree and cheerful father, and the three of them could have a lovely day splashing around the rock pools and it’d be lovely, right? Right?

Davey, it turned out, was the very opposite of Sandy, and had not approved of the way that Mr Octopus liked to splash his tentacles in Sandy’s mane. Apparently this was both incredibly rude and also far too forward, and it indicated that Polpo, instead of a cheerful stallion who just wanted to be friends with his new friend’s Dad, was actually a conniving - but ultimately stupid - stallion out to steal Davey’s precious daughter, whose behaviour should not be tolerated. And maybe Polpo had vague intentions of stealing away Sandy at some point, but hey, that was probably ages away and he'd be sure to tell Davey about it.

Things did not improve when Polpo and Sandy started playfully shoving and nipping at one another, and when Polpo blew bubbles in one of Sandy’s rockpools. Apparently the fact that this tickled was not acceptable.

That was the first time that Davey had chased him away.

Polpo wasn’t one to be put off by a nip on the rear though. Davey just needed buttering up a little, and in Polpo’s mind the very best way to do that was with seaweed.

Polpo liked seaweed. Sandy liked seaweed. Davey was covered in seaweed so surely he would like it too? And so it was with a dedicated and careful air that the blue stallion had gone about his business diving to pick coloured kelp and  swimming out to gather floating popping weed and bundling it all together - with Mr Octopus’s invaluable help, tentacles were much better at that sort of thing than hooves - into something that resembled.. Well, it was difficult to say what it resembled other than a large amount of seaweed essentially tied together with some more seaweed.

Polpo and Mr Octopus had trotted through the surf carrying their bounty with a great sense of pride and placed it triumphantly at Davey’s feet. It bobbed there, the long strands of kelp tickling at Davey’s legs for a moment before the swell of the surf dragged it away.

That was the second time that Davey had chased Polpo away.

Sandy had like the seaweed, she said afterwards, but she just didn’t think that her Dad was the kind to appreciate gifts.

“He’s more the rufty tufty type,” she said, “he’s not so interested in things.”

So Polpo resolved to prove himself as rough and tumble as anyone else in the ocean. Mr Octopus did not really approve of this, being a gentle soul, and it wasn’t really in Polpo’s nature either, but if it meant winning Davey round then that was what he’d do. He’d prove how strong he could be and how he was definitely a respectable companion and defender for Sandy. Not that she needed defending, but if that’s what Davey wanted, that’s what he’d get - and Polpo did think that maybe that was what Davey wanted. To be honest, it was quite difficult to tell.

It seemed he was wrong again, as when he charged up to Davey then reared up to show off his fighting prowess, Davey seemed to take it as an actual direct challenge. Polpo might have wanted to appear big and strong - but Davey was actually big and strong.

That was the third time.

Oh well. He’d find a way to make Davey like him eventually. It was just a matter of time.