And Finally, To Sleep

A young harlequin octopus named Lenny lived in a sea full of beautiful fish.

Octopuses are magical water creatures. Most of them can choose the colour they want to be at any given moment: red, orange, brown, yellow, or black. But a few species have other attributes. Like Lenny. Her body is patterned with stripes and spots. And what’s more, her species is known for its intelligence and gregarious nature. Which is probably why Lenny chose to imagine herself as being completely pink!

All octopuses are weird and wonderful. They have arms, but those arms are not anything like ours — there are rows of suckers along their entire length. And there are eight of these appendages, all around their body. Lenny really liked her arms, they helped her function. Thanks to them, she could easily swim, eat and play.

One night, however, those arms wouldn’t let her sleep. They wriggled and flapped about and simply would not settle down. Hoping to solve this, Lenny swam over to her mother, who was resting under a stack of pebbles. Little Lenny nestled up close to her.

But, as cuddly as this was, Lenny’s arms still wouldn’t calm down. Some wriggled from side to side, others tickled Lenny’s mum’s octopus cheeks.

“Gee, what a tickle. I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep with that going on,” said her mother. She held Lenny’s arms in her own arms, and recited a poem:

Appendages one, two, three

It is dreamtime in the sea.

Appendages four, five, six

Let’s fall asleep, no more kicks.

For here my daughter Lenny lies

With a sleepy smile and tired eyes.

Appendage seven, appendage eight

Dream-away now, playtime can wait …

Her mum gently intertwined her arms with those of Lenny’s, one…