The Shark and the Octopus

Once upon a time, somewhere miles and miles beneath the surface of the ocean, there lived a young octopus named Nina. Nina spent most of her time alone making strange creations out of rocks and shells. And she was very happy. Then on Monday, the shark showed up.

"What's your name?" asked the shark.

"Nina," she replied.

"Do you want to be my friend?" he asked.

"Okay. What do I have to do?" said Nina.

"Not much," said the shark. "Just let me eat one of your arms."

Nina had never had a friend before, so she wondered if this was what you had to do to get one. She looked down at her eight arms and decided it wouldn't be so bad to give up one. So she donated an arm to her wonderful new friend.

Every day that week, Nina and the shark would play together. They explored caves, built castles of sand, and swam really, really fast. And every night the shark would be hungry, and Nina would give him another one of her arms to eat. On Sunday, after playing all day, the shark told Nina that he was very hungry.

"I don't understand," she said. "I've already given you six of my arms, and now you want one more?"

The shark looked at her with a friendly smile and said, "I don't want one. This time, I want them all."

"But why?" Nina asked.

And the shark replied, "because that's what friends are for."

When the shark finished his meal, he felt very sad and lonely. He missed having someone to explore caves, build castles, and swim really, really fast with. He missed Nina very much. So he swam away to find another friend.