A Wind Egg

Look Pliny, tell me what you think of this, I said, showing him a photograph.

Hmmm. Is it a wind egg? he asked, peering over my shoulder.

That depends whether a wind egg is a sea urchin skeleton, I replied. It is very beautiful, is it not? Look at the delicate patterns on the shell and the pretty eyelets, like broderie anglaise.

A sea urchin! said Pliny. I have written on the subject of sea urchins in my Natural Histories. Now, what was it.......oh yes, I remember. The sea urchin is famous for its intelligence.

Oh I said, and why is that?

Because, he answered, the sea urchin, having spines instead of feet, moves by rolling like a ball. Before a tempest, it collects stones and weighs itself down with them to avoid being easily shifted, and so that its spines will not be worn out with too much rolling. Whenever sailors see this they make fast their boats with several anchors.

Oh really? I said. That seems super-observant of the sailors. Wouldn't the sea urchins have been rolling around ( and trying not to ) on the bottom of the sea? Wouldn't it just have been easier to look for storm clouds?

The sea urchins begin collecting stones well before any storm clouds are visible, said Pliny firmly. Sailors would notice this perhaps in the early morning, when gathering sea urchins, or later, when eating them, they might find them to be full of stones.

You are making that up, I snorted.

Only about the sailors' breakfast, he replied. And yet it is quite probable, for sea urchins are highly prized as a delicacy, particularly the 5 ovaries, which are often coral-coloured and have a wonderful bitter taste. Furthermore, sea urchins are much sought after as a remedy for sea sickness, and an antidote to poison. But most of all, they are prized for their magical properties, and that is why I referred earlier to a wind egg, for I thought that I was looking at an ovum anguinum.

How mystifying you are! I cried. What the devil is a wind egg?

I shall tell you tomorrow, said Pliny, primly.