Finny's Ocean Friends

Finny is a small yellow fish.

He lives in the blue sea near a big coral reef.

The coral reef is very beautiful.

It has red, pink, and orange colors.

Small fish swim around the coral all day.

Finny has a small home inside the coral.

His home is safe and warm.

Every morning, Finny swims out to look for food.

He eats small plants and tiny sea animals.

Finny is happy, but he feels lonely sometimes.

He wants to have friends to play with.

All the other fish in the coral reef swim in big groups.

They have many friends.

But Finny is always alone.

One sunny morning, Finny decides to look for new friends.

He swims away from his home in the coral reef.

He goes to places he has never seen before.

First, Finny swims to the sandy bottom of the sea.

The sand is white and soft.

There are many shells on the sand.

Some shells are big, and some are very small.

Suddenly, Finny sees something moving in the sand.

It is red and has big claws.

Finny swims closer to look.

"Hello!" says Finny. "Who are you?"

The red animal looks up.

"I am Shelly the crab," she says.

"I live here in the sand. Who are you?"

"I am Finny," says the little fish.

"I live in the coral reef. I am looking for friends. Do you want to be my friend?"

Shelly smiles.

"Yes! I would like to be your friend. But I am busy now. I am looking for my lunch."

"What do you eat?" asks Finny.

"I eat small pieces of food that fall to the bottom of the sea," says Shelly.

"But today I cannot find any food. I am very hungry."

Finny wants to help his new friend.

"I know where there is good food," he says. "Follow me!"

Finny and Shelly swim together to a place where many fish eat.

There are small plants and tiny animals everywhere.

Shelly is very happy.

"Thank you, Finny!" says Shelly. "You are a very good friend."

After Shelly eats her lunch, they swim together to explore more of the sea.

They swim past big rocks and tall seaweed.

The seaweed moves in the water like trees in the wind.

Near the seaweed, they see something very strange.

There is a cave in a big rock.

In front of the cave are eight long arms moving around.

"What is that?" whispers Finny.

"I think it is an octopus," says Shelly quietly.

The octopus hears them talking.

He comes out of his cave.

He is purple and has big round eyes.

"Hello," says the octopus. "I am Ollie. Why are you whispering?"

"We didn't want to bother you," says Finny politely.

"That's very nice," says Ollie.

"Most fish swim away when they see me. They think I am scary because I have eight arms."

"I don't think you are scary," says Finny.

"Your arms are very interesting. What can you do with them?"

Ollie is happy that Finny is not afraid.

"I can do many things! Watch this!"

Ollie uses his arms to pick up eight different shells.

He throws them in the air and catches them all at the same time.

Then he uses his arms to make pretty patterns in the water.

"Wow!" says Finny. "That is amazing!"

"Can you teach us?" asks Shelly.

Ollie teaches Finny and Shelly some simple tricks with shells.

They have a lot of fun playing together.

"Do you want to be our friend?" asks Finny.

"Yes!" says Ollie happily.

"I have been lonely for a long time. It will be nice to have friends."

The three friends swim together to see more of the ocean.

They swim up toward the top of the water where the sunlight is very bright.

Near the surface, they hear a beautiful sound.

It is like singing, but not from a person.

The sound comes from somewhere nearby.

"What is that beautiful sound?" asks Finny.

"I think it is a dolphin," says Ollie.

"Dolphins make sounds like that to talk to each other."

They follow the sound and soon they see a gray dolphin swimming alone.

She looks sad.

"Hello," calls Finny. "Are you okay?"

The dolphin stops swimming and looks at them.

"Oh, hello. I am Dolly. I am looking for my family."

"We were swimming together this morning, but I got lost when we were playing hide and seek."

"That sounds scary," says Shelly. "How can we help you?"

"I don't know," says Dolly sadly.

"The ocean is so big. I don't know where to look for them."

Finny thinks for a moment.

"We can help you look! Four friends can search better than one."

"That's a great idea," says Ollie.

"I can climb on the rocks to see far away. Shelly can search on the sea floor."

"Finny can look in the coral reefs. And Dolly, you can swim fast to cover more area."

Dolly's eyes become bright with hope.

"You would really help me?"

"Of course!" say all three friends together.

They make a plan.

Ollie climbs onto the highest rock he can find.

Shelly searches along the sandy bottom.

Finny swims through all the coral reefs.

Dolly swims quickly in big circles.

After searching for an hour, Ollie calls out loudly.

"I can see something! There are dolphins near the big island!"

All the friends swim quickly toward the island.

Dolly swims the fastest because she is excited.

When they reach the island, Dolly sees her family!

They are swimming around looking worried.

"Dolly!" calls her mother. "We have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I'm sorry I got lost," says Dolly.

"But I made three wonderful friends who helped me find you."

Dolly introduces Finny, Shelly, and Ollie to her family.

Her family is very grateful.

"Thank you for helping our daughter," says Dolly's father.

"You are very kind friends."

"We are happy we could help," says Finny.

From that day on, the four friends meet every morning to play together.

Finny is never lonely anymore.

Shelly always has friends to help her find food.

Ollie has friends who think his eight arms are amazing, not scary.

And Dolly knows she has friends who will always help her when she needs them.

They explore new parts of the ocean together.

They play games with shells and seaweed.

They help other sea animals who are in trouble.

One day, they find a baby turtle who is lost.

They help him find his way back to the turtle nesting beach.

Another day, they help a seahorse who is stuck in some old fishing net.

Finny learns that having good friends makes everything better.

When you help others, they want to help you too.

When you are kind to others, they are kind to you.

Every evening, the four friends swim together to watch the sunset through the water.

The light makes beautiful colors in the sea - gold, orange, and red.

"I am so happy we are friends," says Finny.

"Me too," say Shelly, Ollie, and Dolly together.

And they all swim home to their different parts of the ocean, knowing that tomorrow they will play together again.

Finny swims back to his coral reef home with a big smile on his face.

He is not lonely anymore because he has the best friends in the whole ocean.