Reading Notes: The Cunning Crane and the Crab

I really enjoyed reading the story of the crane and the crab. There is a good moral in that those who make a living in deceiving others often end up paying the cost of such deceit later down the road. I think would be interesting to use this moral from the story to create a totally different story with different characters and circumstances based on the same main message.

The story began with a crane promising to carry fish to a lake to save their lives. He took one fish and then returned it so that he would convince the other fish to be carried to the lake. A possible story could have a character somehow gaining the trust of those who it plans to deceive later on. The story continued with the fish being taken and eaten one by one instead of being safely transported to the lake. A twist on the story could have the characters that were tricked being taken advantage of. The story concludes with the crane trying to trick a crab, but the crab foiled his plan by refusing to be carried in the crane's mouth and he pinched off the crane's neck once he swath he was being deceived. A story could end with the character who was trying to trick the others being caught up in his deception and punished.

Another interesting take would be to have the characters who are similar to the fish that were prayed upon catching on to the deceit and foiling the crane's plan from the onset. Or, perhaps, there could be a group of fish who knew better than to trust the crane and they ended up saving the fish after some fell for his tricks. There could even be another character introduced that somehow interacts as a go-between for the fish in the pool and what is happening to them at the lake. Perhaps a lizard or a turtle sees and goes to the pool to alert the fish. There are many ways that the story can contain the same moral with different characters or plots.

Bibliography: The Giant Crab and Other Tales by W. H. D. Rouse.

Image of a Crane. Source: Pxhere