The Orange Fish Who Couldn't Swim

In the deepest part of Sparkle Lake lived a tiny fish named Bubbles. Bubbles was bright orange, like a little piece of sunshine swimming through the blue water. But Bubbles had a secret problem.

He couldn't swim.

All the other fish zipped and zoomed through the water like arrows. But Bubbles just flopped and wobbled. His orange scales would shimmer with embarrassment whenever anyone watched.

One day, Bubbles floated near the surface of the water and saw something unusual. Green leaves were floating above him. Spinach leaves from a garden nearby!

Bubbles took a tiny nibble of the spinach leaf. Suddenly—ZOOM! His fins began to wiggle and wiggle. Before he knew it, Bubbles was swimming faster than any fish in the lake! His orange body became a blur of color.

'This spinach is magical!' Bubbles exclaimed, spinning in happy circles.

But then he noticed something sad. His friend Tilly the Turtle was crying. Tilly had dropped her favorite shiny pebble in the deep, dark part of the lake where she couldn't swim down to reach it.

Bubbles looked at his remaining spinach leaves. He could use them to keep swimming fast forever. Or he could help his friend.

Bubbles didn't think twice. He wrapped the spinach in a special waterproof leaf and swam down into the deep water. The spinach helped him move faster than ever! He grabbed Tilly's pebble and zoomed back up.

'Thank you, Bubbles!' Tilly said, her eyes shining. 'You're the best friend ever!'

Bubbles smiled, his orange scales glowing in the sunlight. He had learned something wonderful that day. True magic wasn't in the spinach at all. The real magic was helping a friend.

From that day on, whenever Bubbles needed to swim somewhere important, he always saved a little spinach for emergencies. But most of the time, he didn't need it at all—because knowing he had made a friend happy gave him all the power he needed to soar through the water like the little orange star he was meant to be.