Carlos the Crane

After having known how Wawa the Crab came to be living by the pond, it’s time you all knew the story of Carlos; and how and where he lived before he arrived at the pond of iStoryTree. The story follows…

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Carlos the crane was born on the bank of Orange River. His uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins danced on that day, welcoming him to the world. He was milky-white in color, with a few orange streaks on his neck. ‘Oh, he is so beautiful!’ exclaimed one of his cousins. ‘He is,’ said Carlos’s father proudly.

On an unfortunate day came the floods. It killed Carlos’s parents and relatives. Carlos was only two months old then. Left with no one, he migrated to a different place – river Black.

River Black was full of black cranes. Although confused in the beginning, Carlos soon realized that they were, after all, his kind. The black cranes were in awe with the beautiful little Carlos. They welcomed him with open arms. The black cranes had a leader – Sandhill.

Sandhill was a big, black crane, who had lived by the Black river since his birth. It was his home. Upon seeing Carlos, he flew up to him and asked, ‘Hey there, little one, where are you from?’ Then Carlos told him his sad story. ‘I am an orphan now,’ he said in the end. ‘Not at all, little Carlos,’ consoled Sandhill, flapping one of his wings on Carlos’s back. ‘We are your family now.’

Carlos began a new life with the black cranes. Sandhill treated Carlos like his younger brother. He taught Carlos how to fish. Soon Carlos became an expert at catching fish. In the beginning, unlike Sandhill and other cranes, Carlos never caught fish unless he was hungry; he was not greedy.

As days and weeks went by, Carlos, too, became like the rest of the cranes: greedy and wicked. He caught fish when he was not hungry; he picked fights with the other cranes; sometimes he picked fights with Sandhill, too.

Sandhill grew tired of Carlos and his wicked behavior. He gave him a warning one day: ‘If you want to stay with us, you have to behave properly. Else, leave this place immediately.’

‘Oh, Sandhill, don’t be so harsh. You know I am a good boy. I promise I will behave,’ pleaded Carlos.

The wicked Carlos didn’t mean a word he said. When Sandhill and other cranes were sleeping, Carlos flew to the middle of the river, and stood on a small rock. He waited for his friend, Crocky the crocodile, to come.

‘Listen, Crocky,’ Carlos said when Crocky came by, ‘Sandhill will come to this rock tomorrow evening. When he does, you catch him and kill him. In return I want plenty of fish.’

Crocky salivated at the mention of Sandhill. Black cranes are so tasty, he thought.

‘All right. I will give you plenty of fish. You bring me Sandhill,’ said Crocky.

The next evening Carlos asked Sandhill to go with him to the middle of the river. When Sandhill asked what the matter was, Carlos said he wanted to talk something in private. Sandhill agreed.

When the two cranes flew to the middle of the river, Crocky was waiting under the water. The moment Sandhill landed on the rock, Crocky came up with his mouth wide open. Before Sandhill could realize what was happening, Crocky had already taken a bite of the crane’s meat.

The next day, as promised, Crocky brought plenty of fish for Carlos to eat. Carlos was very happy. No one could control him after that. He grew stronger by the day. The black cranes didn’t object to anything Carlos did, for fear that he might bring his friend Crocky.

The arrangement with Carlos and Crocky continued for a long time. Every day Carlos took one of the black cranes to the middle of the river for the crocodile. In return, Carlos got a lot of fish to devour. As the wicked crane got all the fish without trouble, he grew lazier by the day. 

 

The black cranes started vanishing one after the other. Soon came a day when the river was left without any black cranes. Carlos said to the crocodile, ‘Crocky, my friend, there are no cranes left for me to give you.’

‘All right, my dear Carlos. If you can’t bring me cranes, I can’t give you fish,’ said the crocodile, and swam away.

The black cranes were only greedy, but Carlos was greedy and wicked and evil. Now, he was also lazy. Left with no choice, he decided to fly away to another river.

One day when he was flying up in the air, he noticed a small pond below. Upon landing, he noticed a lot of fish. ‘There are plenty of fish here,’ he thought, smiling wickedly.  ‘I should make my home here.’

This is how Carlos the crane came to be living by the iStoryTree pond.

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Wawa the Crab

Now that you all know what iStoryTree is and how fascinating it is, it’s high time we talked something about the first story: Crab and Crane.

Jennie will of course narrate the whole story to you; and Read to Me option will do the same, too. But then something troubled our minds: how did the lead characters of the story – the crab and the crane – arrive at the pond? Where did they live before that? What made them choose the pond? We put these questions to our research team and asked them find out. They took their time, but they came up with the answers in the end. The facts they dug up startled us to the core. Read on. Let’s start with the crab.

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Contrary to popular belief among other creatures, Wawa wasn’t born in the pond. He was, however, born and brought up in a sea. He was only three months old when the tragedy struck: on a fateful full moon day the high tides threw him out of the sea. For the unfortunate event made him an orphan, Wawa cried continually for three days, not knowing what to do and where to go.

Wawa went back into the sea and tried to find his family. But he couldn’t. It was only then he realized the vastness of the sea. The more he stayed in the sea, the more depressed he became. The thought of his parents made him sad. Not wanting to suffer anymore, he decided to come out of the sea.

For over a week he walked on the beach, without any reason, without any purpose. He tried to make friends with other crabs, but to no avail. The other crabs didn’t welcome him. Instead, they picked on him whenever they needed some entertainment. ‘Hey there, little one, come here,’ they used to call him. When Wawa approached them, they sent him back again: ‘All right, now go back,’ they said and laughed. Wawa was disappointed. He cried for a while. And then he wiped his tears and made up his mind: ‘I won’t ever cry again. I will find my friends one day,’ he said to himself.

As time passed by, Wawa became brave and courageous. He decided to abandon the sea and its surrounding completely, and started walking away from what was once his home. He neither had a plan nor a destination. He had no one to guide. He was left with nothing. He, however, had only one companion: his instincts.  

Three weeks later he happened to see a pond. For the little pond was full of interesting species, he took a liking to the surrounding the moment he arrived. Looking at Wawa’s walking style – he walked sideways and backwards (as most crabs do) – other creatures laughed at him. Among all the creatures, it was the frog that laughed more. In spite of this, Wawa didn’t mind. He found warmth and happiness in their laughter.

He stood silently for a minute, and then, he began to imitate the frog by hopping. With a tiny body and tiny claws, he looked funny. And this time, the other creatures laughed with him. The frog hung his head, and hopped and sat on a nearby rock. ‘All right, all right, stop laughing,’ he said.

‘Hi, I am Wawa,’ said the crab.

‘I’m Rafe,’ said the frog.

Thus began their friendship. Although the fish were scared of Wawa in the beginning, they warmed up to him later when they realized he was harmless. Soon Wawa made friends with every creature in and around the pond.

Together they played and swam and made fun of each other and had a happy time. It was during this time of their merriment that Carlos the Crane arrived.

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