The Battle of the Crabs

One day the land crabs had a meeting. One of them said: "What shall

we do with the waves? They sing all the time so loudly that we cannot

possibly sleep well at night." "Do you not think it would be well

for all of us males to go down and fight them?" asked the eldest of

the crabs. "Yes," all replied. "Well, to-morrow all the males must

get ready to go."

The next day they started to go down to the sea. On the way they met

the shrimp. "Where are you going, my friends?" asked the shrimp. The

crabs answered: "We are going to fight the waves, because they will

not let us sleep at night."

"I don't think you will win the battle," said the shrimp. "The waves

are very strong, while your legs are so weak that your bodies bend

almost to the ground when you walk," and he laughed. The crabs were

so angry at his scorn that they ran at the shrimp and pinched him

until he promised to help them in the battle.

When they reached the shore, the crabs looked at the shrimp and said:

"Your face is turned the wrong way, friend shrimp," and they laughed

at him, for crabs are much like other people, and think they are the

only ones who are right. "Are you ready to fight with the waves? What

weapon have you?"

"My weapon," replied the shrimp, "is a spear on my head." Just then

he saw a large wave coming, and ran away; but the crabs, who were

all looking towards the shore, did not see it, and were killed.

The wives of the dead crabs wondered why their husbands did not come

home. They thought the battle must be a long one, and decided to go

down and help their husbands. As they reached the shore and entered

the water to look for their husbands, the waves killed them.

A short time afterwards, thousands of little crabs, such as are now

called fiddlers, were found near the shore. When these children were

old enough to walk, the shrimp often visited them and related to them

the sad fate of their parents. And so, if you will watch carefully

the fiddlers, you will notice that they always seem ready to run back

to the land, where their forefathers lived, and then, as they regain

their courage, they rush down, as if about to fight the waves. But

they always lack the courage to do so, and continually run back and

forth. They live neither on dry land, as their ancestors did, nor in

the sea, like the other crabs, but up on the beach, where the waves

wash over them at high tide and try to dash them to pieces.