and knock with it on a certain mountain; then a black man[6] will
come out and ask you what you wish for. Answer him thus: ''Your
master, the King, has sent me to tell you that you must send him
his golden garment that is like the sun.'' Make him give you,
besides, the queenly robes of gold and precious stones which are
like the flowery meadows, and bring them both to me. And bring
me also the golden cushion.'

[6] Ein Mohr.


The old man went and did his errand. When he had brought the
precious robes, the Crab put on the golden garment and then crept
upon the golden cushion, and in this way the fisherman carried
him to the castle, where the Crab presented the other garment to
his bride. Now the ceremony took place, and when the married
pair were alone together the Crab made himself known to his young
wife, and told her how he was the son of the greatest king in the
world, and how he was enchanted, so that he became a crab by day
and was a man only at night; and he could also change himself
into an eagle as often as he wished. No sooner had he said this
than he shook himself, and immediately became a handsome youth,
but the next morning he was forced to creep back again into his
crab-shell. And the same thing happened every day. But the
Princess's affection for the Crab, and the polite attention with
which she behaved to him, surprised the royal family very much.
They suspected some secret, but though they spied and spied, they
could not discover it. Thus a year passed away, and the Princess
had a son, whom she called Benjamin. But her mother still
thought the whole matter very strange. At last she said to the