Week 12 Storytelling: Don't Be Like the Giant Crab

       A man brought his son home one day after school. Setting his keys and wallet on the counter, the man sighed in exhaustion after yet another parent-teacher conference discussing his son’s “disruptive” behavior which was “distracting all the other kids.” At first, he and his wife thought this was just normal child behavior. After all, many children are hyperactive. Give any of them sugar, and they’ll be bouncing off the walls! However, their son’s 1^st grade teacher did not think so, which was the reason why the son was sent home today with the dreaded pink slip (the seventh on this month). Taking a drink out of his coffee cup, the man begun his stride to his son’s room to talk.

       Once he reached the opened bedroom door, the man leaned against the door frame, looking at his son who was sitting at the edge of his bed.

       “Son,” the man said, “what is going on in school?”

       Looking down at his hands, the son shook his head softly – afraid to look his father in the eyes.

       Sighing, the man decided to use a gentler voice. “Son, what’s going on?”

       Slowly looking up, the boy confessed, “They keep taking my blocks. The kids. They keep taking them so I take them back. The teacher – she’s mean. She yells at me.”

       The man thought for a moment. Then he said, “Have I told you the story of the Giant Crab?”

       The boy shook his head “no.” And so the man began to recite a poem.

- - - - - - - - - - 

There once was a Giant Crab who lived in a lake.

From Lions to Tigers, he made all quake.

He nipped.

He snipped.

The crab made all into a nice, delicious steak.

Meanwhile, the Majestic Elephants were enraged,

And so a revenge strategy was staged.

One distracted.

One enacted.

The giant crab was crushed and cracked and disengaged.

The animals lived happily ever after,

Using the crab’s claws as drums thereafter.

They cheered.

They leered.

Now the lake and mountains filled with joy and laughter.

- - - - - - - - - - 

       “Do you understand, son?” The man said. “You have to learn how to share and not be mean to others. Don’t be like the Giant Crab. Don’t be greedy… Or even crabby!”

       The boy laughed at his father’s lame attempt at a joke.

       With the ultimate seal of a pinky promise, the man made the boy promised to behave in school. No matter what happened, he must always consider the feelings of others and never be like the Giant Crab – alone, greedy, and mean. If something were to bother the boy, he has to talk it out and be the respectable man his father always knew he will be.

       The boy did as his father taught him, and never came back home with another pink slip again.

       When both the boy’s teacher and mother asked why his behavior drastically changed, the man took a drink from his coffee cup and simply said “He didn’t want to be a crab.”

The Man & His Son

Author's Note:

       I had a lot of fun writing this story and making up poem/nursery rhyme for the story "The Giant Crab." This story was influenced by a variety of factors. The first factor was the original story itself that talked about a giant crab who took over a lake (which was one of the only sources of water for all the animals in the mountain), ate any animal who came to take a drink from the lake, and was destroyed by the majestic elephants who wanted to save all the animals. Another factor was based on a little boy I met while I was volunteering today (who's name will be excluded from this Author's note because of volunteer and HIPPA regulations). This little boy was a troublemaker kind of kid who was easily distracted and easily distracted others. He was the type to get pink slips almost every day, although he was a bright child with great potential if he actually cared. I felt that if he had a little push from a parental figure, he would try to fix his attitude and positively change for the better!

Bibliography:

       Rouse's "The Giant Crab & Other Tales from Old India"