The Sorcerer’s apprentice!

“Take that! And that!”Akoni the crab brandished his arms fiercely at his enemy. Surprisingly the creature, whatever it was, seemed least bothered about the stinging weapons he held in his pincers.

It came sweeping at him, a large transparent mouth with a wide stomach of criss-crossed black lines, and a tail that seemed to stick out of the water.

Akoni scuttled away a little further, grumbling and scared at the same time. He looked at the flower-like, pinkish-yellow pretty creatures in his claws, which made him look like a cheerleader with pom-poms. “Stinging sea anemones, pah!” he spat in disgust. “No one’s afraid of you. That creature is right after my life!”

The Sea Anemones made no reply to Akoni, but they discussed it between themselves.

“Do you think our sting isn’t strong enough?” the one in the right claw said to the other.

“Says who? This silly crab? Don’t you remember how happily he scrapped up all the bits of food from between our tentacles and had a wonderful meal yesterday?” said the anemone in the left claw.

“Ah, you’re right! It’s our sting that got him the food!” said the one in the right claw again.

The anemones looked more or less like pretty underwater flowers, but were actually dangerous animals under the sea, which lived a stationary life. They had lots of tentacles that floated in rhythm with the waves, attracting unsuspecting fish that were given a poisonous sting as soon as they touched the tentacles. The sea anemones then devoured them.

Somehow, the crab seemed immune to their sting, and the crab found this to be highly convenient when it came to his own survival. He plucked off an anemone or two and carried them around in his pincers, brandishing them furiously at his predators, who immediately backed off, not ready to receive the anemone’s poisonous sting!

Another advantage was that the anemones attracted prey of their own, some of which the crab ate, making the anemones quite annoyed.

The anemone in the left pincer said, “This crab lives off on our leftovers and our protection, and then says we aren’t any good!”

The other anemone grumbled too. “What do we get out of all this? Nothing! Serve him right if he’s caught by that holey monster.”

The “holey monster” that was after Akoni was nothing but a small fishing net. Akoniscuttled away some more, but the waters were shallow, and the monster seemed to show no signs of tiring.

It finally caught him in a huge sweep, and he found himself entangled in the net. But he wouldn’t let go of the anemones even then!

“Yes, that’s the one, right there in your net”,came a voice from above the waters. “That’s the crab I want.”
The voice belonged to a wizened man dressed in flowing robes that were faded and ragged.

His hair and beard hung in matted dreadlocks, and he had ash smeared on his forehead, and colourful streaks on his cheeks. He wore several necklaces and bracelets of cheap, coloured beads, and some of his teeth were broken.

Yet, when he smiled, he seemed to entrance his onlookers with a certain power. The fisher boy who caught Akoni looked up at the man in awe. “Is that all you need, holy man?” he asked. “That crab’s too small, you can’t even make a decent meal out of him.”

The ‘holy man’ smiled. “The crab isn’t for eating, boy”, he said mysteriously, and held out a small bowl full of water for the boy to drop the crab inside. “Thank you. Now I shall be on my way.” The old man walked on, and the fisher boy was joined by his friends.

“What did he ask you to do?” asked one friend. The fisher boy scratched his head. “He just wanted that small crab”, he said, in a puzzled tone. “He just wanted me to catch one and give it to him.”

“Did he tell you anything else?” said another. “Maybe, a magic spell in return for your help?”

“Magic spell? Of course not! What are you talking about?” said the fisher boy in surprise.

“That’s a sorcerer, you fool”, said another friend. “It’s sorcerers who use those crabs. They have mystic powers. It’s good that he didn’t tell you anything more though. Best not to mix with that sort— they could curse you anytime.”

The sorcerer, meanwhile made his way to a secluded spot with his catch. Akoni was frightened and upset. He had thought he would be killed, or cooked and eaten. But here he was, trapped in a small pool of water, all by himself.

As the sorcerer set him down, Akoni wondered what he was to do, and how he could escape.

As the sorcerer brought his face close to the glass bowl, Akoni edged away, waving his anemones up and down. The sorcerer laughed. “That’s right , my pretty”, he said. “Do that when I say my spells… and the village folk will be impressed.”

Akoni continued to wave his pincers till he felt tired. The man didn’t seem to want to put a finger or a hand in, and Akoni couldn’t give him a sharp pinch till he did. But what was that? Something was wriggling down. Worms!

“You’ve done enough for now”, said the sorcerer. “Here, have some food.” He kept dropping worms and tiny beetles, and the crab managed to eat some. The anemones managed to get some scraps too.

Akoni wondered why his captor had given him food. But he rested, though a bit wary.

The next day on, the sorcerer went around the village, claiming to have magical powers to cure any ailment, and to cast out evil spirits. As the sorcerer danced in a frenzy, chanting nonsense spells, poor Akoni would get worried too, and start moving to and fro brandishing his anemones, just in case it was an aggressive move by his captor against him.

The poor, illiterate villagers bowed to the sorcerer, and looked with wonder at the crab in the bowl, that seemed to act as possessed as the man himself.

This went on for weeks and months, until Akoni felt comfortable with the whole routine. He had to dance around for a while, with his anemones, after which he would be given food. Everything was fine until one day, the sorcerer dropped a second crab into the bowl. Akoni was furious with the newcomer.

It was only slightly smaller than him, but it didn’t have any anemones, and it was always eyeing Akoni’s. The day it first came, Akoni had a bitter fight with it, after which it kept a distance. Unfortunately, the new apprentice wasn’t one to stay like Akoni.

Once, when the sorcerer lay snoring on the beach, and Akoni fell asleep in the bowl, the new crab stole one of Akoni’s anemones and scuttled out of the bowl into the sand, and escaped. When Akoni awoke, he found himself left with just one anemone.

“Why, the thief! How dare he!” Akoni ranted and raved. The sorcerer was as disappointed as Akoni when he saw that the new crab had escaped and the old one had just one of his bright “pom-poms”.

Akoni had got used to this easy life now, and he worried if the sorcerer would get rid of him because of his anemone being stolen. In a hurry, he tore apart the one anemone he had into two pieces, and held one in each hand with nervous anticipation.

The anemone muttered. “He loses one of us, so I am forced to divide and grow by this stupid crab.”

But the Sorcerer smiled, satisfied, and continued his journey with Akoni.