I hope you feel the Trade Winds, I hope you breathe in the salty sea air, and I hope you feel the ocean tide pull at your feet as you walk the shores with me. If you listen to your heartbeat, you will hear the island drums, their beat pulsing through your own veins, connecting you to your own fables from your own family or ancestors. My goal in creating this book was to create a moment of immersion, one of cultural diversity, and one that we can all belong to. As the words fell into place, each story delivering a motto. Gradually, Fables of the South Pacific took shape. When I first saw the photo that is now the book cover, it stopped me in my tracks, as it reminded me of the many beaches I have walked over my lifetime, for we are the privileged spectators of the universal beauty that surrounds us all.