The Hermit Crab Finds A Home.

Tales from paradise

The serpent took a journey to the coast to take in the sea air and to see and hear the ocean waves crashing against the shores of this new world.

The snake slid between the slick rocks along the shore, to search the rockpools for a rare morsel not typically found in his tree.

Presently, the snake encountered a large, sparkling pool filled with a cornucopia of delicious little fish and tasty shrimp. The snake coiled his body in preparation to strike into the clear waters, when suddenly a huge snapping claw broke the surface.

A great, barnacled crab lunged from the pool, snapping and clacking his great pincers.

The snake recoiled from this assault, but soon discovered that he was not the target for this tirade of terrible claws. With a lumbering fuss the great crab clambered out of the pool snatching and grabbing at the wide plate of his armoured back.

The snake retreated to a safe distance and coiled onto a slick, smooth rock to watch for a time.

How the crab muttered and grumbled as he tugged at the flotsam that clung to his shell. How he flexed his legs and arms against the confines of this fortress.

Eventually, the snake tired of this spectacle and interrupted the crab in his agitation.

“Are you quite alright?” enquired the snake.

The crab ceased his grumbling and grabbing and his many jointed legs danced to swing the great platter of his body towards the snake.

“Of all the gifts each beast has been offered, the armoured refuge that protects my body is that of which I am least grateful”, explained the crab.

“I am well acquainted with the giver of such gifts,” replied the serpent “and do not expect that He would deliberately antagonise one so gifted.”

The great crab could not resist but return to his scratching and itching.

“This irritating redoubt so constrains our growth that we must discard it or be crushed within our salvation” the crab explained. “Once we grow beyond this armoured keep, we must itch and scratch and grab to escape these walls, only to grow another, anew”.