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Long ago, and far under the sea, lived a beautiful and 

spirited mermaid named Emma.

Emma was the youngest daughter of the Sea King, and 

he loved her very much.

Every day, Emma would go to the coral reef and seek 

out new adventures. She would play ball with her friend 

the octopus or have races to the surface with the 

seahorses.Her pet dolphin Abbie always came. 

One day, when Emma was racing the seahorses, she got to 

the surface and saw a seagull on the beach.

She was about to dive under the water when the seagull 

cried out, "Wait! Don't go. You look like you are having so 

much fun. Can I play too?"

"I'm not supposed to play with strangers," said Emma.

"But you have such a wonderful golden ball and I am all 

alone on this beach," said the seagull.

Emma saw that he was a very lonely seagull and thought, 

"What an adventure I will have to tell my father about!"

"We will play one game of ball," Emma said to the seagull.

So she threw the ball with all her might. It flew way up in the 

air and over the sand to the back of the beach.

Instead of playing, the seagull simply stared at the ball and 

laughed an evil laugh. When he finally caught his breath, he 

kicked the ball farther down the beach before flying up into 

a palm tree.

"Hey!" Emma cried, "My ball!"

Emma burst into tears because the golden ball had been a 

gift from her father and her adventure with the seagull had 

ended terribly.

While she was crying, a small, rather dirty, blue crab 

crawled along the beach and called out to her, "What is 

the matter? Why are you so sad?"

"I am sad because the mean seagull did not catch my 

golden ball. I cannot go onto the beach to get it or I will 

get stuck," she said.

The crab clicked his pincers and said, "Stop crying and 

dry your eyes. I can easily scuttle along the sand and get 

your ball, but you must do something for me in return."

"You can have whatever you want if you get my ball. I 

have seashells and pretty jewels. I even have a beautiful 

crown if that is what you want."

The crab said to Emma, "I do not want shells or jewels or a 

crown. I simply want to be your companion. I want to 

travel the sea. I want to sit near you in the king's court, eat 

dinner with you, play ball with you, and sleep in a real bed. 

If you promise me these things, then I will bring your 

golden ball back to you from the sand."

"Oh yes!" said Emma, "You can have anything you want if 

you bring me the ball."

But Emma thought to herself, "What a strange little crab! 

He scuttles along the beach like other crabs and clicks his 

pincers, but he doesn't act like other crabs. They are so shy 

and hardly talk to anyone. He is so strange."

So the little blue crab scuttled along the sand and 

brought Emma her golden ball. She was overjoyed to 

have her toy again and in her excitement, she swam 

away with it.

"Wait! Wait!" cried the crab, "Take me with you. I 

cannot swim as fast as you!"

Alas! He clicked his small pincers and scuttled into the 

water, trying to catch up.Emma did not listen to him and 

swam home where she soon forgot about the strange, 

ugly little crab.

The next day, Emma was sitting at dinner with the king 

when she heard the sound of tiny pincers clicking 

together. Then, a knock on the door sounded, and a 

voice cried out, "Princess, open the door for me!"

"Emma, who is knocking at my castle door? And at 

dinner of all times!" said the king.

"Oh no!" cried Emma, "It is that ugly crab from 

yesterday who fetched my golden ball when I was 

playing too near the beach. I thought he would stay 

there, but now he wants to come in."

The crab knocked on the door a second time and said, 

"Princess, open the door. You promised I could be your 

companion yesterday on the sunny beach. Please open the 

door."

"Emma, did you really make such a promise to this crab?" 

asked the king.

"Yes, I did, but I thought he would have forgotten and 

stayed on the beach with the other crabs. How has he 

traveled all this way?"

"If you have made him a promise, then you must keep it. 

Go and open the door," said the king.

And so Emma opened the door and the crab scuttled in. 

The crab followed her back to the dinner table where he 

said, "Thank you dear king for inviting me into your 

wonderful home. If your daughter would pick me up, then 

I could eat with you at the table as she promised."

Emma started to refuse, but her father was impressed that 

the crab had traveled so far and was so polite that he 

commanded her to pick up the crab and let him eat dinner 

with them.

When the crab was at the table, he said, "Now push the 

plate closer to me so that we can eat together."

Emma did what he asked, but the king could see that she 

wanted to refuse.

The crab enjoyed his meal very much, but Emma could 

hardly take a bite of any of the delicious food at the table.

"I have eaten enough and now I would like to play ball as 

you promised," said the crab.

"Why don't you go play in the seaweed garden? That 

would be the perfect place to play ball," said the king.

Emma was not happy to hear the king's suggestion, but she 

took the crab to the seaweed garden before he could 

remind her of the promise again.

"I have never been to a seaweed garden before," said the 

crab, "What an adventure this will be!"

"It's just a silly old seaweed garden, nothing exciting ever 

happens there," said Emma.

"Perhaps today will be different," said the crab.

"You have no idea how to have a real adventure," said 

Emma, already bored with the crab.

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