"Come quickly!" she cried. "Here is a big, big round thing with eight long arms, or legs, I don't know which they are. They keep reaching out as if they were trying to get hold of something. And its two big round eyes are looking straight at me! I'm glad the glass wall is between us. It's the worst looking thing I ever saw in all my life! What is it, father?"
"Its two big round eyes are looking straight at me!"
"Well, well!" exclaimed her father. "That is an octopus. A real, live octopus! It is a big one, too. It can easily reach six or seven feet with those long legs."
"Why is it called an octopus, father?" asked Molly. "Why haven't we seen one before, and what does it do with so many legs?"
"It is called an octopus because it has eight feet, and the word octopus means 'eight-footed.' We have never seen one before because it lives at the bottom of the ocean, and we have not visited the bottom of the ocean until to-day. I suppose it uses its feet more in catching food than it does in walking. I have heard that when it winds them around anything it never lets go."
Just then their mother called, "Come with me! I have found the strangest fish you ever heard of. If you touch the fish, it will give you a tiny electric shock. Who wants to try it?"
"Oh, I do!" cried Molly, and in went her hand to stroke the sleepy fish lazily swimming about in a small tank of water. But the hand came out more quickly than it went in.
"Oh! oh!" she cried. "My hand prickles just as if it were asleep. What a strange, strange fish! You touch it, May."
"No!" said May. "I don't want to touch it. I don't want an electric shock. I want to go back to the park and play."