Through The Tunnel
http://www.dorislessing.org/through.html
From the book jacket:
"On a winter holiday with his mother, eleven year old Jerry discovers a secret tunnel which passes form one side of a massive rock formation to the other side, many feet below the surface of the ocean.
After observing some native boys swim through the tunnel, Jerry is compelled to try it himself.
It is a very difficult and dangerous swim, but something Jerry is convinced he must do.
Putting himself in great danger, he managers to accomplish this goal and, in doing so, takes his first step in becoming a man.
Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing is a Creative Short Story about a young man facing himself and his innermost fears.
It brings us into touch with our own private courage and the need we all have to
separating ourselves from our parents so we can more clearly understand ourselves".
Comments:
This is a short story from 1954 and appears in several volumes of her collected short stories.
This particular edition seems to be a sort of children's book, published by Creative Education.
Published in
New Yorker Magazine, August 6, 1955.