Olwethu, the octopus, rested under the ledge of rock in a large pool near the beach. She was afraid. She had never been this far from her own pool out on the reef. She always felt safe on the reef, tucked away far from the shore and humans. But a few days ago, her cousin, Oscar, had dared her to go on an adventure with him to explore the pools near the beach. “It’s so boring here. I want to see the world. Swim away with me, Olwethu,” he had said.

Olwethu had begged him not to go, but Oscar never listened to her and always did just what he wanted. Now, he had been gone for some days. That’s why Olwethu had decided to look for him. Her search had brought her to this pool near the beach where, at last, she had found sea creatures who could tell her what had happened to Oscar. “He was far too curious for his own good,” said the starfish sadly. The sea anemones waved their tentacles in agreement, “We warned him to be careful of colourful things dangling in the water,” they said. The hermit crab stuck his head out of his shell and said, “The fisherman was so happy to have caught an octopus.” Olwethu was very sad.

She would have to return to her pool on the reef alone. Then, as she floated under the ledge, thinking about how much she missed Oscar, she suddenly heard human voices. When Olwethu peeped out, she saw a little girl, her mother and her granny at the edge of the pool. They were staring down into the water. As Olwethu ducked back under the ledge, she heard the granny call out, “Viwe, look, there is an octopus! Can you see it under the ledge?” Olwethu quickly changed colour so that she would blend in with the rocks and sea weeds around her. But Viwe had seen her. “Yes! Look, I think it’s trying to hide,” she said, pointing to where Olwethu was.

Remembering what had happened to Oscar, Olwethu decided to make a dash for safety. Quick as a flash, she slipped out from under the ledge to hide in the shelter of a bigger rock. But to her horror, the little girl waded through the water and sat on the big rock right above where Olwethu was hiding. The girl was holding something brightly coloured in her hand, but Olwethu didn’t know what it was.

Olwethu had always loved bright colours. Her own pool back on the reef was so colourful. It was filled with red anemones, shiny chitins, green seaweeds and many beautiful starfish. Olwethu could understand how Oscar had been drawn to the brightly coloured float that the fisherman had used to catch him. From her hiding place Olwethu saw the bright pink object slipping down into the water and past her.

Without thinking, she gently slid one of her tentacles around the object and, when nothing happened, she began to wind a second tentacle around it. Then she heard the little girl call out, “Look, Mama, the octopus has got my snorkel.” Olwethu got such a fright that she tightened her grip on the object. The little girl reached down and grabbed her snorkel. Feeling the tug on it, the little girl gave it a tug too.

“Mama, the octopus won’t let my snorkel go!” said Viwe, starting to panic. “Oh no,” thought Olwethu suddenly, “I am being just as silly as Oscar was! If I’m not more careful, I am going to get caught too!” Quickly, she let go of the object. The snorkel popped out of the water with a splash, and Viwe nearly fell off the rock backwards into the water. Gogo laughed, “What a lucky girl you are, Viwe

. You saw an octopus and nearly caught one too!” “Yes,” said Viwe excitedly, “and the octopus nearly caught my snorkel!” What a lucky escape I had, thought Olwethu as she started to swim back towards her pool on the reef. Sucking in water and squirting it out, she was soon shooting through the water and away from danger. In the distance, she heard Viwe’s granny say, “Wow! Look at that octopus move, Viwe! It’s speeding through the water like an aeroplane flies through the sky.” But Olwethu didn’t stop to hear what Viwe said. In fact, she didn’t stop swimming until she got back to the safety of the reef.

Get story active! 

•  Have you ever been on an adventure? How did you feel? Why? 
•  Draw a picture of an octopus. An octopus can change colour! So you can colour it in an interesting colour or pattern.
• Make a poster for a missing person. Draw a picture of the missing person and write their name, age and a description of their appearance below the picture.