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Once upon a time, there were two little boys and their wonderful mother. The children always played by the lake, and always fell into the shallow water and got all wet.

Their mother would say, "Stay away from the lake! Neither of you can swim very well."

But the children didn't listen to their mother. They thought they could both swim well enough to at least play in the shallow water. The two little boys kept on playing near the lake every day.

One day, the boys wanted to build a raft. They wanted to go sailing, but their mother said, "No! Neither of you can swim very well!" And she warned them about the danger...

"At the bottom of the lake, lives an octopus--a gigantic octopus with long, slimy tentacles, who would love to eat you for lunch!"

But the two little boys didn't listen to their mother. They weren't afraid. They laughed and laughed, thinking she was only trying to scare them, then went off to play at the lake.

They built a small raft out of wood from the yard and set it out on the lake to go sailing. It was quite a lot of fun at first. However, when the children reached the middle of the lake, their little raft fell apart! The two boys fell into the water and sank right down to the bottom of the lake.

But the children were not dead! They could not swim well, but they were unharmed. They could still breathe. They could still talk and even move about. The boys were so relieved, they laughed and laughed and screamed and screamed.

Now, while they were having so much fun playing at the bottom of the lake, a gigantic octopus was fast asleep in his cave not far from them. The cries of the children woke him up--and he was not happy about that. He decided to come out of his hole to see what was up.

When he came around the corner, Mr. Octopus spied the two little boys. "Aha!" he said to himself. "That would make a good lunch!"

The gigantic octopus sneaked up behind the children and grabbed them with his long, slimy arms. Then, he threatened to eat them! While the children began to scream, Mr. Octopus asked them if they had ever heard of him and if they knew that you should never disturb a sleeping octopus.

Suddenly, the two boys remembered what their mother had told them:

"At the bottom of the lake, lives an octopus--a gigantic octopus with long, slimy tentacles, who would love to eat you for lunch!"

The children began to cry and begged the octopus, "Please, please let us go! We want to go home to our mother. We promise we won't bother you any more!"

Now Mr. Octopus had a soft heart, so he set the children free. Shaking a long tentacle at them, he told them that they must always listen to their mother, and that they shouldn't play by the lake until they learned how to swim better. "I'll bring you up to dry land if you promise me this," he said.

"Yes! Yes! We promise!" they shouted. Then Mr. Octopus brought them up to the surface, and the children ran for home.

When they arrived at home, they told their mother what had happened. Their mother asked them if they had promised the octopus that they would learn how to swim. "And that you will listen to your mother from now on?" she added.

"Yes mother," answered the two boys. Their mother kissed them both and sent them off to bed.

Later on, when the children were fast asleep, the boys' mother sneaked out of the house and went down to the lake.

Mr. Octopus was already waiting for her. She went up to the octopus, gave him a big bucket full of fish, and thanked him for all his help.

From that day on, the two good little boys stayed away from the lake until they learned how to swim well, and they always listened to their loving mother.