Reading Notes: The Giant Crab Part A

The Giant Crab is personally to me a major story from this reading that I found really interesting. It starts off at this lake in the mountains where a giant crab lived. This wasn't any ordinary crab though. He was the biggest crab that had ever lived, as he was bigger than a dining room table and had armchair sized claws. This crab was a loner, who lived in the lake by himself. There were many different animals though that lived in the mountains by the lake and they needed water to drink. From tiny foxes to huge elephants, there was a variety of animals. The crab though was very hungry all the time though, so whenever an animal would come up to the water's edge, the crab would grab the animal with his claw. After drowning the animal, it would make for a tasty dinner for the giant crab. This went on for what seemed like forever. The crab only grew in size from his feast. The animals were running out of water though and didn't know what to do, until one day an elephant decided to stand up to the crab.

All the elephants created a plan to trap the crab while they were near the water's edge. The crab grabbed onto one the elephant's leg and tried to pull him in. The wife of this elephant begged the crab to let her husband go. The crab found the elephant to be very attractive, so he asked her for a kiss. The elephant pretended to be pleased, so the crab let go of the other elephant and made his way toward her. The elephant who had been released then let out a giant trumpet sound and launched himself onto the crab's back. The elephant weighed too much for the crab shell, so it fell apart into tiny pieces. The animals all rejoiced and went on with their happy life.

Source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales by W. H. D., Rouse


(Crab: wikimedia)