The giant crab
lived in the deep waters of a lake in Oregon. He was a sad crab but everyone
only saw him as dangerous and mean. He
didn’t understand why! Typically what happened when he tried to meet new
friends, was he would show his face and everyone would freak out. Then one of
the animals would panic so bad they would end up drowning and while he was
trying to save them everyone thought he was eating them and so they built up
this hatred for him. Every day for years he did the same thing over and over
again until he thought of a new way to show them he is their friend. He would
sneak up on them and then they would have to listen to him. So, instead of
showing his face he would swim deep under the water until he got to them and he
would tap them on the foot and when he did that he realized he got the same
ugly response from them. He was so hurt and sad that he gave up and decided to
live alone forever.
One morning a
young elephant slowly wobbled down to the lake with his mother and pack. This
was his first time down to the lake and he was so excited. When he got there
his mother sat him down and gave him the long lecture on how to be safe around
the water and to look out for the crab. The elephant listened impatiently while
dreaming of how cold the fresh water will feel on his back. Finally, his mother
told him to go have fun. He watched as the big elephants stood guard watching for
the rest of the pack as he ran into the water. As he ran he noticed the crab
sitting far away to the west just sitting and watching everyone as they played
and had a blast. He decided he was going to walk over and say hi. He slowly
started walking that direction, making sure his mom did not see him slip away.
He slowly walked
up to the crab and with a brave voice said, “Hello, Mr. Crab My name is Erik
the Elephant and I wanted to know if you wanted to play with me.”
The crab slowly
turned around and with tears in his eyes said, “Are you sure you want to play
with me? No one really likes me and I don’t want to cause problems.”
The Elephant laughed
and said of course we want you! Come on!”
From that moment
on not only were the elephant and the crab best of friends but everyone
respected the crab and realized that he was not mean. The crab got to explain himself
and apologized for all of the problems that he had caused in the past.
The Moral of the
story is don’t judge a book by its cover and always accept people for who they
are. You never know when you are going to run across a crab in your life that could
end up being your best friend.
Authors Notes: I really enjoyed writing this piece. I very rarely get to write childrens stories and so this was fun for me. I also enjoyed the fact that I could put a moral at the end because I felt like the story had a meaning. I hope you enjoy it!
Authors Notes: I really enjoyed writing this piece. I very rarely get to write childrens stories and so this was fun for me. I also enjoyed the fact that I could put a moral at the end because I felt like the story had a meaning. I hope you enjoy it!
As the oldest of four children, I have read a number of kid's stories in my life, and this certainly fits the narrative in all of the ones that I've read. In your Author's Note, I would've loved to find out what story you used as the source for this re-telling. It sounds like it could certainly be an interesting one!
ReplyDeleteThis story was so good and so sweet! I love how simple it was! I think that this story can be applied in everyone's life. It's easy to just focus on a person's exterior and use that to make a quick judgement about them, so I'm glad that you incorporated the moral of don't judge a book by it's cover into the story! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cute story. I'm not sure what elephants are doing in Oregon, but kids won't question it anyway haha. I need to read some of the Jataka fables next week so I can get inspired for my own stories. Where did you get the inspiration for this story? I think you may have forgotten to include your bibliography.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great story. I really enjoyed that it was somewhat of a Jataka of your own. I really like how friendly the elephant was toward the giant crab. I thought the lesson or moral of the story that you created was perfect. Don't judge a book by its cover! I think a lot of people need to take this advice as it plays such a large part in how we live today. Great story!
ReplyDeleteThis story is kind of like The Ugly Duckling if the ugly duckling had found a friend. Your story has a better moral, I think, since the creature who's considered ugly is accepted for who he is by someone else. It's better to look for friends in people who treat you nicely already than people who would only be nice to you if you seemed attractive.
ReplyDeleteI had a great time reading this story. I love how simple and innocent it was. I like reading author's notes to see where the writer got their idea from but this wasn't the case here at all. You took a common idea as "don't judge a book by its cover" and you expanded so wonderfully. I want to know where you came up with the idea to write this story! Really great job!
ReplyDelete