Introduction

Colin the Crab, the most skilful builder of the eastern riverbank, never hesitated to help his friends. After a week of hard work the blue garden pavilion of his dreams is still unfinished, and a boisterous fish family has taken over his construction site.

Colin, exhausted, buries himself under the blanket and refuses to open his curtains. Colin’s friends are puzzled. An emergency meeting is called for. It’s time for the friends to take action.

The Caring Crab

Colin the Crab was the most skilful builder of the eastern riverbank. He had built up a cosy home for himself in the bank. Little by little, rooms and balconies had started to ascend from the riverbed rocks and sand. First he had built a well-equipped kitchen and a small bedroom on top of the cellar. Already the following summer the house had received a nice veranda and a second storey.

The builder himself was quite pleased with the results, but he was tirelessly planning for new improvements to make his house all the more pleasing to his taste. Colin the Crab was very hardworking and resourceful. As soon as the morning sun started to glow in the pale sand bed of his home bay, Colin put on his orange overalls and tucked all the tools he would need in his big front pocket. Many times the sun had already set and the dusk fallen before he finally called it a day.

Sometimes on moonlit nights, Colin couldn’t bear to sleep at all but just swam around his house with his tail wiggling excitedly. He would adjust the border stones, clean the steps from algae or cut down plants that were growing rank by the waterside.

It was a mild August night. Colin the Crab sat on the roof of his house and watched the surrounding waterside meadow. The attic of Colin’s house reached to the surface of the ground, hidden in the tussocks of sedge. As beautiful as the riverside landscape was with its trees and bushes, it did not compare with the beauty of his beloved home river. The crab knew the riverbed and its bends, rocks and fallen trunks like his own pockets.

Fresh and clear water streamed to the river from the faraway hills, getting mixed with muddier waters from the riverside fields along the way. Sheltered by bays and rocks, the fish and other animals raised their little ones. There was plenty of food for everyone.