Le Crab Prince( as retold by TC)
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:44 pm
The Crab Prince is a Traditional Italian folktale----of sea--of love---and of strange magic!!!!
The Crab Prince:
There once was a fisherman who never could catch enough fish to buy food for his family. One day though, when he went to pull up his nets, he felt a weight almost too heavy to move, but he tugged and tugged and found a crab so enormous that one pair of eyes was not enough to take it all in.
" Oh what a haul at last! Now I can buy food for my children!"
He sailed home and tied up his boat in the harbor.
He took the crab on his back to the King's palace.
"I've come to see if you'll kindley buy this crab from me"
The King replied: " I shall buy your crab alive for my daughter who spends all the day beside the garden pool watching the mullets and goldfish swim about."
And with that the crab moved into the royal gardens and shared the pool with the mullets and goldfish.
The King's Daughter never tierd of watching the crab move about in the pool and she began to notice that
each mid-noon the crab disappeared far in the back of the pool where the underground spring fed from the
rocks.
One day while the daughter of the king was studying her crab there came a knock on the garden gate.
She climbed up the balcony and saw there a poor tramp asking for alms. She threw him a thick golden coin but he missed it and it bounced and rolled and --splash--
right into the ditch that was running deep with water.
Without a thought the tramp dove in the water after the coin. The ditch connected the King's garden pool through an underwater canal and the tramp held his breath and swam through to it.
He surfaced to a candle lit basin--a beautiful underground hall with tapestries and tables set for a
sumptous feast.
The tramp stepped from the basin and hid behind a tapestry. At exactly mid-noon :Bubbles began to rise from the underground pool. And soon the large crab surfaced with a skull-faced crone on his back.
She tapped the crab once with her wand and the crab became a handsome youth ---she waved to the table and the plates were instantly full of food and the glasses full of wine.
When he was finished she tapped him again and---flash--he was once again a crab.
The skull-faced crone climbed on the crab's back and
-splash--they were soon gone back into the pool.
The crab walked on his claws each day to bring the crone back and forth to the sea.
Now the tramp had made his exit, but in his frightened haste as he swam backwards: he ended up surfacing in the pool with the mullets and goldfish.
" My!" he thought " this is no good!" as he looked around at the garden.
But the King's Daughter told him it was fine and after hearing the tale of the underground hall--sent him on
his way with TWO golden coins.
The King's Daughter was a fearless swimmer and the next noon she dove into the pool and soon stood in the
hall looking at the suprised Youth( Who happened to be a prince) and the Skull Faced Crone ( who was very
angry at this!).
The King's Daughter thought as fast as a darting fish and grabbed the Prince by his hand and off they ran
and jumped into the water and swam and swam to the sea.
Now the Old Crone wasn't really all that old and she did swim and swim and even called on the help of an
octipus to propell her along.
Somehow, the two did fool the Crone and swam back to the Garden Pool.
There they hastily picked flowers and flowers from all around the garden and did throw them into the pool so that the entire surface was covered and the Skull-Crone could not find her way.
THat Summer---the King's carpenters built a teak wooden deck over the pool and sealed it forever---and
upon the deck the two were wed and lived a happy and long there after.( And the mullets and goldfish swam
off to the sea).
To this day a flower thrown in a fountain pool is lucky for love!!
The End
The Crab Prince:
There once was a fisherman who never could catch enough fish to buy food for his family. One day though, when he went to pull up his nets, he felt a weight almost too heavy to move, but he tugged and tugged and found a crab so enormous that one pair of eyes was not enough to take it all in.
" Oh what a haul at last! Now I can buy food for my children!"
He sailed home and tied up his boat in the harbor.
He took the crab on his back to the King's palace.
"I've come to see if you'll kindley buy this crab from me"
The King replied: " I shall buy your crab alive for my daughter who spends all the day beside the garden pool watching the mullets and goldfish swim about."
And with that the crab moved into the royal gardens and shared the pool with the mullets and goldfish.
The King's Daughter never tierd of watching the crab move about in the pool and she began to notice that
each mid-noon the crab disappeared far in the back of the pool where the underground spring fed from the
rocks.
One day while the daughter of the king was studying her crab there came a knock on the garden gate.
She climbed up the balcony and saw there a poor tramp asking for alms. She threw him a thick golden coin but he missed it and it bounced and rolled and --splash--
right into the ditch that was running deep with water.
Without a thought the tramp dove in the water after the coin. The ditch connected the King's garden pool through an underwater canal and the tramp held his breath and swam through to it.
He surfaced to a candle lit basin--a beautiful underground hall with tapestries and tables set for a
sumptous feast.
The tramp stepped from the basin and hid behind a tapestry. At exactly mid-noon :Bubbles began to rise from the underground pool. And soon the large crab surfaced with a skull-faced crone on his back.
She tapped the crab once with her wand and the crab became a handsome youth ---she waved to the table and the plates were instantly full of food and the glasses full of wine.
When he was finished she tapped him again and---flash--he was once again a crab.
The skull-faced crone climbed on the crab's back and
-splash--they were soon gone back into the pool.
The crab walked on his claws each day to bring the crone back and forth to the sea.
Now the tramp had made his exit, but in his frightened haste as he swam backwards: he ended up surfacing in the pool with the mullets and goldfish.
" My!" he thought " this is no good!" as he looked around at the garden.
But the King's Daughter told him it was fine and after hearing the tale of the underground hall--sent him on
his way with TWO golden coins.
The King's Daughter was a fearless swimmer and the next noon she dove into the pool and soon stood in the
hall looking at the suprised Youth( Who happened to be a prince) and the Skull Faced Crone ( who was very
angry at this!).
The King's Daughter thought as fast as a darting fish and grabbed the Prince by his hand and off they ran
and jumped into the water and swam and swam to the sea.
Now the Old Crone wasn't really all that old and she did swim and swim and even called on the help of an
octipus to propell her along.
Somehow, the two did fool the Crone and swam back to the Garden Pool.
There they hastily picked flowers and flowers from all around the garden and did throw them into the pool so that the entire surface was covered and the Skull-Crone could not find her way.
THat Summer---the King's carpenters built a teak wooden deck over the pool and sealed it forever---and
upon the deck the two were wed and lived a happy and long there after.( And the mullets and goldfish swam
off to the sea).
To this day a flower thrown in a fountain pool is lucky for love!!
The End