Once upon a time there was a kingdom on the other side of seven mountains and seven seas. And that kingdom was located on the coast of the big sea, the Ocean .And the King of that kingdom has built a huge castle on the coast of the Ocean and was there with the royal family and the servants very often .The king had a daughter .She was a little beautiful princess .Every morning royal servants were taking the little princess to the coast and she was playing on the sands. The royal naval guards and the fishing vessels were sailing in far from the coast, on the waters of the ocean .The royal army ships were guarding the whole surrounding waters and the coast, and the fishermen were fishing to make sure the royal family has plenty of seafood in their kitchen daily .Very often the Little princess was observing the fishermen’s hard work, and every time they pulled out the full net, she was looking screaming with joy:
-So many fish, so different, big and small, they are a lot …
The fishermen and the servants were looking at the girl and feeling happy from her happiness .Everybody was happy because, they make their princess happy with their job , and importantly they all knew that the mother , the queen , died during giving birth to her , so she’s been raised without her mother . And only the king and the little princess knew how it felt being raised without a mother.
And there was a really big catch one of those days, and with the fish there was an amazing creature. It had a hard cover like a turtle, and very suspicious eyes. It had ten legs. You couldn’t tell if it had ten feet or eight feet and two hands .Yes, eight feet and two hands. It looked like one of those hands was longer than the other one. Those hands were opening and closing like a pliers, and they seem to break everything on their way. You could describe it in short, as an ugly little beast.
Next thing you see , that little beast got up on its feet , pushed one fish one way , another fish another way , and walking over the rest of the fish was trying to escape back to the ocean . The net was tough to cut with the claws, but anyway it was trying very hard. When the princess saw the beast, the interest made her to approach the net, full of catch with the beast in it. She asked the fishermen to get her closer to the unknown creature, and they did. But the beast seemed not to understand friendship, humanity or kindness … The princess wanted to touch and to caress that creature. But the creature jumped and attacked little girl with its plier like hands through the fishing net and hurt princess’s little a tender hands. The royal daughter got very scared and suddenly screamed and lost consciousness. The royal servants immediately took the girl back to the castle and called the royal doctors and wise men. In the meantime, the beast managed to cut a hole in the net, jumped back into the ocean and disappeared in the deeps of the dark waters …
The princess stayed unconscious for a long time. She was afraid to open her eyes, her little hands were hurting and she was crying …
The royal doctors came, brought some medicine, and gave some advice. Days were passing, but the girl was not recovering. Her hands were not hurting any more, but she was not opening her eyes, thinking that the beast will be back and attack her again.
The little princess was not recovering, so the king was crying secretly. He ordered to bring all the doctors from all over the world. But nothing helped.
These news spread all over the world and all the people were praying for the princess’s well-being and for her quick recovery. Christians were praying, Muslims were praying, Buddhists and Hindus were praying, Jews and all other religious and non-religious people in the world. And the only thing they ask to God, was for the princess to get better soon.
And then came one old man. He had an interesting personality. You would for sure notice him and pay attention at him in the crowd. He had a nice white beard, long white hair, and smiley face. He was taken to the princess by the king’s order. He was talking to the girl with nice words and interested in her experience.
-Do you know what kind of creature is it? Do you know how they are called?
When the princess heard his kind voice, she opened her eyes immediately. Everyone was amazed .The old man was a wise person. He had passed through a lot and had seen a lot in his life, and the princess kind of felt that. The girl called her father and told him that lately she was seeing that old man in her dreams and that she immediately recognized him. The king was astounded and asked the wise man if he could heal the little princess and promised to give him the half of his kingdom and the wealth .The old man was listening to the king with a kind smile and by refusing all the gifts he said:
-Dear King. Years ago I was one of the fishermen of your father, the old king. You were a little child prince and often playing on the sands of that same coast. One day our fishing vessels were far from the coast and there was a big storm. Most of the ships capsized, only my ship survived and the big waves took us to the coasts far away from here and we were stuck in the sands and dirt . The ship was half broke and there was no way to fix it. I and the survivors wondered in those coasts for a long time, finally found a place called Coastland and lived there for years. And then recently I heard the news about little princess, my King’s granddaughter, and decided to come to help her. My king had thought that all of his fishermen had died. And then, years later when I learnt about my king’s, your father’s death, I didn’t want to come back. But now I’m here to help to find a treatment for your little princess.
The king was gleaming, with tears in his eyes he came and gave a big hug to the old wise man.
-You will get the half of my kingdom if you heal my girl.
The old man says:
-These creatures are not beasts. They are called “Crabs”, the ocean’s tenderers. They look like river crabs, only bigger in size. The front two feet have big claws, back ones have small claws. The evolution starts with eggs, kept near the belly legs. They start having eggs when 5 years old, and they live up to 20 years. They live in the freezing waters of the oceans and seas, under the stones, reefs and dirt. They hunt at night and hide daytime. Crabs can be up to 50 centimeters long, and can weight up to 11 kilograms. American Crabs – up to 60 centimeters long, and weight up to 15 kilograms. They live along the coasts of North America. If we go and find that creature, catch and bring it to show to the princess, and she sees it, and also touches the crab, she will not be afraid any more. And if we can make her taste the tender meat inside of the legs, of those creatures , crabs , she will fully recover and be the same smiley , joyful and happy girl she was before , the beauty of this coast and the flower of your royal garden .
-What do you need to catch that creature, Crab?
Asked the king to the wise man, immediately, giving some other orders to the servants to the right and left.
-I would need a small boat, and two or three experienced fishermen, to catch them. We should go to open seas at night .Those lawless creatures’ hunt at night, but tonight they will be hunted, said the wise man.
The order of the king was blasted. The boat got ready immediately with the best fishermen and some royal guards. The old man without losing a moment began to sail to the deep waters of the big ocean.
The old man was feeling young again, he remembered the old days when was fishing with his friends. They were not with him now, it was sad for him. But he had a mission, so no feeling should bother him. He stood strong and started giving the orders. Everyone was following the orders, right and left .When they’ve approached the crab hideouts; they noticed crabs started their usual night hunt. The old man was prepared. They threw the metal boxes and thick nets into the water. The crab catching boxes and nets began to fill with crabs. And it doesn’t matter how hard the crabs tried to escape, they didn’t have chance, because the wise man knew his job.
The boat returned in the morning, full of crabs and fish. The fishermen emptied the boat and started the cleaning of the fresh catch. The wise old man was controlling the whole process. He grabs one of the crabs, and took it to the little princess. Approaching her, he told her that it is safe to touch it. The girl tried to reach it carefully, a little scared, and the beast again wanted to catch the girl’s hand with its claws, so the old man pulled it back. And then again a couple of times, till the princess had the confidence to touch it and even to play with it.
The royal cooks brought the crabs, already cooked nicely. And the old man started to teach the girl and everyone else, how to break the reddish crab legs and separate the meat from the hard shell .The cooks had made different delicious sauces and juices. The wise man tried one himself, and then gave a piece to the girl. After a couple of bites, the princess was doing it herself and was offering it to the others. The king was the happiest person in the whole world, when he saw the girl playing again and a smile on her face. He tried the delicious crab meat himself, and actually liked it a lot. The dinner got bigger and bigger , the fishermen , the guards , servants and the villagers , everyone was enjoying it .So the king’s next order was : “ From now on , our fishing ships will hunt for the crabs too , and I announce this man , my father’s head fisherman , the commander of the crew of the royal fishing vessels . From now on the royal kitchen should have these delicious crab legs as an everyday dish. Every fisherman and everyone in my kingdom will have right to try this dish. Let everybody know, what we have been missing, by not eating these delicacies for so long. I want this order to be spread all over my kingdom and outside of it“.
-Dear king. All your orders are to be done, except one. I don’t need any piece of your wealth; let it be for you and your people. The fact that you let all your people taste the delicious crab legs meat is enough for everyone to feel like they too, have their piece, of the half of your kingdom.
Said the wise man …
The little princess was playing and dancing around the tables full of crab legs and seafood … Everybody was happy.
And this was one little story about little princess and the crab …

Story by H. G.