The story of the Crab and the Butterfly

We begin with:
REJECTION

Once upon a time there was a Crab.
He was quite a handsome crab, his shell a healthy red and his pincers glinting in the moonlight.
The other crabs avoided him though for he was very weird.

All the crabs knew that they belonged at the crags next to the sea, neither too deep where the dangerous water dwellers lived or away from the sea where noise, lights and horrible dryness awaited.

But Crab was odd. The Crags did not feel like home to him. He  wanted to travel.
He had tried, again and again to go to the deep sea and had many adventures like when  he braved through the forest of seaweed where every step raised a cloud of murk and countless eyes watched from the shadows or the time when he saw the deadly but beautiful dance of the jelly animals or even the time when he slept in a brown shoe.

But then one day, when he had gone deeper than he had ever done before destiny caught up to him.
Before he could tell something was wrong it was crushing him, his handsome red shell cracking under the enormous strain.
His eye stalks turning wildly to see what was the enemy and how it would be beaten or fleed.
But there was nothing there...

That night, when Crab waddled out to the crag, he lacked his usual determination and spirit.
The other crabs glared at him because they always thought he was cursed, now he looked cursed too.
Amidst many clicks and clacks some raised their pincers and issued challenges.
But Crab didn't pay attention to them.

He knew that the Sea had rejected him.
It would not let him go any deeper although he tried until it snapped his eye and broke his back

He tried to go forward until his shell was no longer red but grey and there were holes cracking all throughout.
He faltered when his eye stalk snapped and dangled on the soft sand.
He wept (as only odd crabs can do) when the sea turned into a river which pushed him back to where he belonged, on the crag next to the sea for now and forever.

Painfully slowly he at last arrived at his small hole. He crawled in and slept.



Out of despair comes:
DETERMINATION


Through many tides the crabs heard the sounds coming from the small hole but such were these sounds that all feared to approach  Some claimed that Crab was cursed and as such he was turning to a sea dweller or even a jelly animal. The older crabs scoffed at this but wisely kept back nonetheless.

Then one day, when the dry-bright in the sky was almost hidden by grey and the crabs we're talking about who was bigger and how food used to be better back in the old days, Crab emerged.

The crabs ran away and jumped behind cover for he had, indeed, been transformed.
In place of his once handsome red shell there was a huge silver object with strange colors patterning it.
If the crabs could understand the language of the object makers (they could only read their language which was made out of hundreds of shapes of claws and shells) they would have read "Coca-Cola" but they could not and, let's face it they had more worrying things to focus on.

Crab turned, looked at the Sea for a long moment then turned his back to it.
Both of his eye-stalks stood proudly even though one was tied up with a plastic band to the other.
While he could not see out of it somehow it managed to look as determined as the rest of his armor.
"If the sea will not have me, I will venture to the Dryness" Crab announced.
With only a slight limp and not another look back Crab sidled to the noisy dryness.
His bearing was confident and he gleamed a blinding white as he charged (well, sidled) into the unknown.

That was the last time the crabs saw Crab but even now, almost thirty hundred tides later they still clack the story of the Crab who was Odd.
Just after the talk about who was bigger and how food used to be better back in the old days that is.
Of course.


Dreams give birth to:
INVENTION

The Dry-bright was getting stronger and Crab felt the first pangs of dryness.
He knew from the stories that he would turn to dust if he did not keep wet.
But Crab was a smart crab.
With his pincer he caught the lid of the silver can and let out some water to pour on him.
The dryness disappeared immediately and according to his calculations, the water he had stored was enough for at least another tide (or two, arithmetic is not a crabs strong point).
After that he did not know what he would do but he would not go back.

His Destiny awaited him.







To be continued...










Charalampos Koundourakis





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