Tail Cave

The Tail Cave is the first dungeon of Link's Awakening and the resting place of the Full Moon Cello, one of the Eight Instruments of the Sirens. The entrance to the dungeon is located near the center of the Toronbo Shores. Its entrance is very much like a cave surrounded by several trees and three Mini-Moldorm statues, although its entrance is blocked by bars, which will only open once the Tail Key has been inserted into the keyhole in one of the Moldrom statues. The mysterious owl reveals to Link that the key can be found in the Mysterious Woods. Although the key is in a chest that is in plain sight in the woods, an enchanted racoon using magic prevents Link from reaching it initially. The interior of the dungeon itself is mostly blue stone flooring, red walls and contains several pits. The main tool of this dungeon is Roc's Feather, which is necessary to jump over several pits and needed to defeat the dungeon's mini-boss. The mini-boss of the dungeon is Rolling Bones, and the guardian of the instrument within this dungeon is the giant Moldorm.

This dungeon is also one of the few dungeons in Link's Awakening that contains an optional Secret Seashell. The seashell is in a secret room behind a cracked wall. Since Link cannot acquire Bombs early in the game, he will have to revisit this dungeon to acquire its Secret Seashell. As the introductory dungeon, the Tail Cave introduces a new feature to the Compass, which alerts Link to keys hidden in a room. Another new feature is the Stone Beaks and respective Owl Statues providing hints to nearby challenges.

History
The exact history of the Tail Cave is not known, such as how long it has been in existence, how the Full Moon Cello came to rest there, or how it was built. However, it is presumed that, as with all of Koholint Island, that it came into creation by the power of the deity known as the Wind Fish when he fell into an enchanted slumber that resulted in the creation of the island and all of its inhabitants. By some means, the magical Eight Instruments of the Sirens, collectively the only thing that could rouse the Wind Fish from his unnatural sleep, were sealed within eight dungeons all across the island, with eight powerful guardians to protect them and keep any that sought to wake the Wind Fish from reaching them. In this case, the Full Moon Cello was hidden within the tail-shaped cavern and placed under the guardianship of the giant Moldorm, a boss that mirrored the dungeon's theme of tails.

Link's Awakening
The Tail Cave played an integral role in the quest of the Hyrulean Hero Link when he was on a return journey back to Hyrule after going on a training journey across the sea. While returning to Hyrule, Link's ship was caught in a bad storm and was subsequently destroyed by lightning. He soon washed ashore on the mysterious Koholint Island and learned that in order for him to leave the island and thus return home to Hyrule and Princess Zelda, he would have to awaken the island's patron deity, the Wind Fish, from his deep sleep within the great egg that rests atop Mount Tamaranch on the tallest point of Tal Tal Heights. In order to do this, he is told by a wise owl that he will need the Eight Instruments of the Sirens that lie hidden across the island, the first of which resides within the Tail Cave near Toronbo Shores.

Link learns that in order to enter the Tail Cave, he needs a special key to fit into a keyhole in one of the Moldorm statues lining the path to the cave. The owl reveals that the key rests within the Mysterious Woods, just north of Mabe Village where Link met most of the human residents of the island. Going forward into the forest, Link discovers that although the key appears to be in a chest that is in plain sight, the path to the chest leads through a grove containing a strange raccoon, who casts a magic curse upon the grove that will not let anyone go forward from it, causing him to laugh and jeer at Link when he attempts to reach the chest. Seeing that he would have to deal with the raccoon before he could get the key from the chest, Link acquired some Magic Powder and sprinkled some onto the raccoon, causing him to spin wildly all around the grove before transforming into Tarin, the father of Link's rescuer, Marin. Tarin reveals that he'd eaten a strange mushroom and that it was the cause of his transformation into a raccoon. With this however, the curse on the grove is lifted, allowing Link to reach the chest and ascertain the Tail Key.

Taking the key back to the entrance of the cavern, Link fits it into the keyhole in one of the Moldorm statues, causing the iron bars blocking the cave's entrance to rise up, allowing entry into it at last. Link entered the cave in search of the first of the fabled instruments the owl had spoken of, and he found that the cave was home to many enemies that had taken up housekeeping in its interior. Deep within the cave, Link came across a strange creature known as the Rolling Bones, a small imp-like creature that attacked by rolling a spiked roller that spanned the length of the chamber, hoping to crush Link to death. Utilizing the Roc's Feather he'd found in another part of the cave, Link was able to jump over the roller and attack Rolling Bones by hitting a small orb atop its head with his sword. With the defeat of Rolling Bones, Link was able to open the way to the cavern's true boss and guardian of the instrument, the giant Moldorm. Link once again put the Roc's Feather to great use in his battle against the giant Moldorm, jumping over its body to land near the very back part of its tail, which was its weak spot. Link struck the back part of the creature's tail several times, each time causing the beast to increase its pace. Ultimately however, Link triumphed over the beast, and it disintegrated into nothingness, opening the way to the cave's final chamber. Inside, Link found the Full Moon Cello, completing the first step in his quest to get home.

After Link succeeded in gathering the other instruments and defeating the Nightmare responsible for keeping the Wind Fish locked in his slumber, the young hero succeeded in awakening the Wind Fish, but as a consequence, the world sustained by the Wind Fish's dream, Koholint Island, vanished into mere memory, the Tail Cave disappearing along with the rest of it.

Design
The dungeon appears to be carved into a cavern of pink-colored stone with a floor made up of blue and grey stone. When looked at on a map, the dungeon is in the shape of a Moldorm, which seems to be a recurring theme of the dungeon, judging by the boss, the statues outside, and the Mini Moldorms that appear in a few of the cave's chambers. The name of the dungeon, "Tail Cave", is likely a play off of the shape of the dungeon as well as its multiple references to the Moldorm, which may in turn also be a reference to the tail being the most notable trait of a Moldorm. It could also be a reference that the room containing the Full Moon Cello is located at the tip of the dungeon's "tail".

Enemies and Traps

 * Blade Trap
 * Green Zol
 * Goomba
 * Hardhat Beetle
 * Keese
 * Mini-Moldorm
 * Red Zol
 * Spark
 * Spiked Beetle
 * Three-of-a-Kind
 * Yellow Stalfos

Trivia
Mini-Moldorms and Moldorms featured Link's Awakening (as well as in A Link to the Past) are known respectively as Tail and Degu Tail in Japanese; which explains the name of the Tail Cave.