Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-11922000-20161023013240/@comment-3041334-20161023141536

The merfairy said, "the shell matters not, best heed what's inside" as a riddle. Riddles are statements, questions or phrases that have double meanings. The double meaning of what the merfairy said was that the teeny mermaid inside of Shellie's shell [https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/figuratively-literally/ was not literally what they were looking for. The merfairy meant it figuratively.] She meant that Delphine was figuratively inside of Shellie because that's part of who she is.

The things the teeny fairy said are based on real phrases. Hope this helps!
 * 1) "A sand crab in the hand is worth two in the shell." is based on "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", which means "it is preferable to have a small but certain advantage than a mere potential of a greater one."
 * 2) "All's fair in love and puffer-fish bowl." is based on "all's fair in love and war", which means "Unpleasant behavior is acceptable during love and conflict."
 * "A bit of coral saved is a bit of coral earned." is based on "a penny saved is a penny earned", which means "money not spent may be spent later, or may earn interest in the meantime".