The Crab Prince: An Entertainment for Children

by Christopher Manson

A lively retelling of a rather long Italian story that has several familiar elements. Dissatisfied with her many suitors, Rosella (a lovely peasant girl) makes friends with a giant crab in the village well. One day, curious, she follows him into the well, diving through ancient ruins to find him in his true manly form, dining with the ``ghula'' (a witch-like crone) who has enchanted him. Only the ghula's magical fish can break the enchantment; Rosella pursues the ghula over and under a stormy sea, captures the fish, and transforms her lover--who turns out, of course, to be a prince.

Genres: Picture Books, Folklore

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1991

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this at my library's bookstore and since I'm Italian and like the idea of fairytales, I thought I should buy it. I was excited to read an Italian Fairytale because I've never read one and didn't know they had fairytales. Of course the very first line mentioned that Rosella is beautiful. This is why I have such a problem with fairytales. They're always about looks and of course the girl is the most beautiful girl who ever existed in the land and everyone in the entire male species wants her. Of course she can sing too; every princess has to be able to sing. If you can't sing you're not worth crap apparently. Then the voice must be nothing short of a miracle. It sounds like "silver bells and warbling birds and laughing brooks." "Whenever she sang, everyone felt better." My, that is such a gift. To make everyone with ears feel better just with the sound of your voice. 

She's so beautiful that men of all ages ask for her hand in marriage. But to her credit, she wasn't a gold digger because she didn't accept rich men either. 

The image of her sitting on the bench outside her house with a fancy, white-wigged suitor was funny though. He was bowing to her and she was looking off to the other side, with both hands up towards him like she was fending him off. She's totally over it. It's going to take a special man to win her heart. 

Rosella was singing one day and a giant crab came out of the old well. She was scared but then thought it looked funny so she took it home and thought it would be her friend. Oh, fairytale women. Always falling in love with animals.

He helped her with her chores and danced along when she sang. He somehow found a tambourine somewhere and played that when she sang. He also rolled his eyes around and clacked his claws. Not the what image I'll say. Her parents worried about what the neighbors would think because hanging out with a giant crab is weird. 


The crab would always go back to the old well and swim for hours. Rosella couldn't stand it anymore and had to know what it was doing. It's just like other tails like East of the Sun and West of the Moon and the frog prince where the hero is cursed to live as an animal and the heroine's curiosity is almost the hero's downfall. 

What isn't the smartest and doesn't paint girls in the best of lights is that Rosella kept on swimming further down the well to the point where she couldn't breathe any more. You're supposed to start coming up for air long before you reach that point. I mean, she was about to die for a glimpse of a guy. Not a good message.

She surfaced in a cave and saw a chula, "a nasty creature who knows a lot of magic." Seems like a better description could have been used, like witch or something. She held a golden fish and touched the crab with it. All very weird and random.

He changed into, of course, a handsome young man. Is there any other kind? Well, there shouldn't be! The ghula demanded that he sing a song and so he sang Rosella's song. What happened next was infuriating. Rosella was so moved by it that she fell in love with him on the spot. Why, why, in the name of everything that is holy do fairytales in particular and books in general have instant love? That is so dangerous a message, so unrealistic and unhealthy, to teach little girls. You do not fall in love with someone instantly. You can like them, you can want them, but that is not love. Nor should it be. 

He has to sing for his supper so once he did that, he was allowed to eat the feast. The ghula had found him when he wrecked while sailing and made him into a crab except for the few hours when he has to sing for his supper. A million questions popped into my head, mainly ones that started with why, but that weren't answered. 

And omg, when he told her the fish held the spell and only someone who loved him enough to die for him can break the spell. Whoa, that is going further than any fairytale I've ever heard. And maddeningly, Rosella burst out that she's that someone! Girl, get a grip. You do not love him.

Then she ran away and swam home. Strange after an announcement like that. But she went back and got her mandolin and sang by the sea. The ghula heard her and Rosella demanded whatever she asked for in return for singing. Rosella asked for the fish and wouldn't take any of the riches, so the ghula threw it into the sea and told her to catch it. Rosella swam so far in waves and everything, made it to the bottom and realized she was going to die like her love said...Major eye roll there. 

The crab was somehow there to save her and bring her to the surface. Don't know how he knew she was in there. But she held onto the golden fish and told him to come out of his shell and he changed into the boy. She set the fish free in the ocean, so that was good at least. No word on where it came from, why it was golden, or if it was the only golden fish. 

The ghula was so mad, she was hopping around and fell into her hole and was never seen again. If she came out before, why couldn't she come out again? Isn't there another way out? 

It was actually funny when he thanked Rosella for saving his life, told her she couldn't tell anyone, and then said bye. That's what you get when you plan your whole life around a guy, esp a stranger! 

I was so mad to discover he's a prince. Why is it always a prince? Rosella was down and out about her lost love, moping at home, until the very next day he came back--wearing a crown and with no less than a full procession if musicians, servants, and soldiers. Did you have to have the servants?
 
He introduced himself as Prince Florian and asked her dad for permission. He said she's never accepted anyone and didn't think she would now but Rosella took Florian's hands and proclaimed he's the one she'll marry. He's her crab prince. 

Idk what it says that he's the richest suitor she ever had. Nothing good, that's for sure. 

They had the best wedding ever and everyone talks about it. He gave her robes to wear and a crown; they lived in a palace in his country, wherever that is. Guess he's not Italian. 

The ending was kind of clumsy to me. Right now they're living happily together, "having a wonderful time. And, if you are ever in their country, you can hear Prince Florian and Princess Rosella singing happy songs together." Odd to set it up that they're still living and we can go visit them and hear their music. I'm sure that's gonna give some kids the wrong idea. 

I flipped the page expecting there to be an explanation of the origins of the fairytale, but there was nothing. I don't know any more about this story than I did when I started. I found it a weird version of a fairytale that's been done in better ways. The choices and items in the story were too strange for me to get behind and I had so many questions about the story and characters, none that were answered. A very flimsy and random story with dangerous themes. 

It had an annoying theme of repeating words. I hate repetition. I don't see the purpose at all because it's just really annoying. 
"The crab helped Rosella carry loads and loads of firewood, and buckets and buckets of water."
"Rosella watched and watched, but she could never see what it was doing down there."
"Down and down she swam."
"She swam and swam and swam.."
"So Rosella played and sang, and played and sang, and played and sang until it was late in the day."
"Very, very well!" said the ghula. "I am very, very pleased!"
"She swam and swam and swam after the precious golden fish."
"The ghula made more wind and more waves, and more wind and more waves, and more wind and more waves!"
"--she sank deeper and deeper and deeper into the water."
"And the water became darker and colder, and darker and colder, and darker and colder!"
"The water became brighter and warmer, and brighter and warmer, and brighter and warmer until..."
"The ghula saw what had happened, and she was so vexed that she hopped up and down, and up and down, and up and down until.."

So I wasn't that crazy about the writing. The repetition drove me crazy and the story was way too weird.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A retelling of an Italian fairy tale.

Faithful and aquatic version of a woman saving a man trapped in shapeshfiting -- though in the other version I have read the heroine's a princess, and there are some other details that were added to spruce it up, they work well. Pictures are nice if not spectacular.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Men would propose to her and she would say “no thank you, not today,” because for some reason, she didn’t like any of them enough to marry. Not even if they were rich.’
I don’t think that sentence should be in there, as if you should marry someone because they’re rich.

It was odd she would say “not today” to her suitors as if they asked her to go play outside. Or like they should try again and maybe she’d say yes. It was a weird response to a proposal.
The boy looked too young, shorter than her. She looked like a young woman and he looked like a kid.

The prince being a crab is definitely a new take on the tale, that’s for sure.

It worked out better that the girl saw the crab as a young man and then fell in love with him, rather than the typical Beauty and the Beast, where she falls in love with the beast before knowing he’s human.

When Rosella sees a ghula, a creature who knows magic, turn the crab into a prince, she asks him to sing for her or she won’t feed him supper. He sings one of Rosella’s songs, which I thought was cute. He was so sad he cried as he sang.

After the ghula falls asleep, Rosella runs to the boy and she finds out that the golden fish controls the spell and only someone who loves him enough to die can break the spell. I expected time to pass and for her to realize she’d die for him. Not to immediately announce “I am that someone!”
These fairy tales are always so fickle the way the characters easily fall in love, and without knowing each other.

I thought she would come back and plan to steal the fish from the woman, so I was really surprised when the next day she sings by the water and the ghula hears her. She likes her music so much she tells her to keep singing. Rosella relents but only if she’ll give her anything she wants. I think she’ll say she wants the prince to be turned into a man permanently and released, but she asks for the golden fish.
This felt coincidental. What if the ghula didn’t hear her? What if she didn’t ask her to sing? What if she didn’t agree to anything you wanted?

I’m glad Rosella didn’t take all the gold and jewels the lady was giving her, because for a second I thought she would. It was feeling a little gold-diggery.

Out of spite the ghula throws the fish into the ocean.
She keeps swimming far out, in the wind and swells, until she catches it. The fish takes her down to the dark depths but she doesn’t let go until she reaches the bottom, which is actually the crab prince she lands on.

She thinks she’s going to die, just like the crab prince said she would have to do for him. But this wasn’t what I thought it would be. I thought she would die in the actual act of saving him. Like jumping in front of him and protecting him from the ghula or something. But she was just holding onto the fish the whole time. That's just my problem for expecting something different.

The crab carries her to the shore, where she touches the fish to his shell and tells him to come out of his shell.

There was some humor in here: ‘She fell into her hole and she was never seen again! And no one was sorry about that.'

I thought what a punk he was for taking off after she saved him and saying “dear, dear Rosella! You have saved me, and I thank you a thousand, thousand times! But you must tell no one of what has happened. Goodbye!” and runs down the beach. She calls out “wait! You haven’t told me your name!”
I'm surprised she didn't think he'd used her or something, and wasn't hurt about it.

He comes back with musicians and soldiers and servants to her house to propose. It was funny her dad said “you may as well go right back home, young man! My daughter has never said yes to anyone before, and I think she never will.”

I liked the line that their wedding was so wonderful people are still talking about it. And right now they’re living happily together, and if you’re in their country, you can hear them singing happy songs together.

They looked similar on the last page, their noses, eyes, and mouth, so they looked more like siblings.

Kids probably won’t notice but it didn’t make sense that there’s a hole at the bottom of the well, and it opens to a chamber. Suddenly she’s not underwater, and I didn’t know how that was possible. Then she goes down to the beach to sing, and the ghula somehow hears her. Then she pops up from a hole on the beach. There’s a lot of convenient holes around, it seems.

I didn’t like the repetition in here, with lines being said three times. ‘More wind and more waves, and more wind and more waves, and more wind and more waves!’

‘She hopped up and down, and up and down, and up and down.’
This continued throughout the book.

This was ok, definitely a unique tale on the traditional Beauty & the Beast. It ended up feeling more convenient and simple, and I was disappointed because I thought it would go differently. But very cool to read an Italian fairy tale, because I haven't done that before.