THE HERON, THE FISHES AND THE CRAB

Far away in the mountains, there was a small, quiet lake. The fish which lived  in the lake were very happy until a heron came to live nearby. Which his long beak, he caught some of the fish every day and ate them. As soon as a fish swam too close to the surface of the water, the heron caught it.

But time passed, and the heron become old and too slow to catch many of the fish. So he thought of a trick.

"What a pity, my beautiful fish, that you don't know of the danger that is so near," he said loudly.

"What danger is there -  except your sharp beak?" asked the fish from a safe distance. 

"That is not true," said the heron as he smiled to himself. "Today I heard the villagers say they were going to empty this hake and take all the fish out."

When they heard,  this the fish were very frightened. "We will all die. This is the end of the world."

"Don't give up hope," sid the heron, "I'll help you. There is another lake on the other mountain. It has clear water and is even bigger than this lake. If you like, I'll carry each of you over there on my back." 

The silly fish had now forgotten the sharp beak of the heron and were glad that he could help them.

"I must do it slowly as I am old. I can only take a few of you each day," said the heron, who was happy that his plan worked. Every day, he took two or three fish out of the lake and flew away with them over the mountain.

A rather clever crab also lived in the lake. He didn't trust the old heron. one day, he sharpened his claws and then asked to be taken to the new lake. He crawled on to the heron's back and up they went. When they were high above the mountain, the heron suddenly dived down and tried to throw the crab of his back. But the crab held on firmly with its legs. They passed a stone which was covered with fish bones. Immediately, the crab knew where the bones had come from.

"You dreadful creature!" he said to the heron. "You cheated the fish and you brought them here and ate them."

Then he pinched the heron's back with his sharp claws and he pulled of the feathers from the heron's neck. The wounded heron returned to the ground at once and the crab crawled away.

When the crab returned to the lake, he told the fish what had happened. He told them about the pile of bones he had seen on the  on the rock. then the fish saw how foolish they had been and they thanked the crab for saving their lives. 

Once again, the lake became quiet and peaceful and the heron never came back again.