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Long ago, and far under the sea, lived a beautiful and 

spirited mermaid named Juniper.

Juniper was the youngest daughter of the Sea King, and 

he loved her very much.

Every day, Juniper would go to the coral reef and seek 

out new adventures. She would play ball with her friend 

the octopus or have races to the surface with the 

seahorses.

One day, when Juniper was racing the seahorses, she got 

to the surface and saw a seagull on the beach.

She was about to dive under the water when the seagull 

cried out, "Wait! Don't go. You look like you are having so 

much fun. Can I play too?"

"I'm not supposed to play with strangers," said Juniper.

"But you have such a wonderful golden ball and I am all 

alone on this beach," said the seagull.

Juniper saw that he was a very lonely seagull and thought, 

"What an adventure I will have to tell my father about!"

"We will play one game of ball," Juniper said to the seagull.

So she threw the ball with all her might. It flew way up in the 

air and over the sand to the back of the beach.

Instead of playing, the seagull simply stared at the ball and 

laughed an evil laugh. When he finally caught his breath, he 

kicked the ball farther down the beach before flying up into 

a palm tree.

"Hey!" Juniper cried, "My ball!"

Juniper burst into tears because the golden ball had been a 

gift from her father and her adventure with the seagull had 

ended terribly.

While she was crying, a small, rather dirty, blue crab 

crawled along the beach and called out to her, "What is 

the matter? Why are you so sad?"

"I am sad because the mean seagull did not catch my 

golden ball. I cannot go onto the beach to get it or I will 

get stuck," she said.

The crab clicked his pincers and said, "Stop crying and 

dry your eyes. I can easily scuttle along the sand and get 

your ball, but you must do something for me in return."

"You can have whatever you want if you get my ball. I 

have seashells and pretty jewels. I even have a beautiful 

crown if that is what you want."

The crab said to Juniper, "I do not want shells or jewels or 

a crown. I simply want to be your companion. I want to 

travel the sea. I want to sit near you in the king's court, eat 

dinner with you, play ball with you, and sleep in a real bed. 

If you promise me these things, then I will bring your 

golden ball back to you from the sand."

"Oh yes!" said Juniper, "You can have anything you want if 

you bring me the ball."

But Juniper thought to herself, "What a strange little crab! 

He scuttles along the beach like other crabs and clicks his 

pincers, but he doesn't act like other crabs. They are so shy 

and hardly talk to anyone. He is so strange."

So the little blue crab scuttled along the sand and 

brought Juniper her golden ball. She was overjoyed to 

have her toy again and in her excitement, she swam 

away with it.

"Wait! Wait!" cried the crab, "Take me with you. I 

cannot swim as fast as you!"

Alas! He clicked his small pincers and scuttled into the 

water, trying to catch up. Juniper did not listen to him 

and swam home where she soon forgot about the 

strange, ugly little crab.

The next day, Juniper was sitting at dinner with the king 

when she heard the sound of tiny pincers clicking 

together. Then, a knock on the door sounded, and a 

voice cried out, "Princess, open the door for me!"

"Juniper, who is knocking at my castle door? And at 

dinner of all times!" said the king.

"Oh no!" cried Juniper, "It is that ugly crab from 

yesterday who fetched my golden ball when I was 

playing too near the beach. I thought he would stay 

there, but now he wants to come in."

The crab knocked on the door a second time and said, 

"Princess, open the door. You promised I could be your 

companion yesterday on the sunny beach. Please open the 

door."

"Juniper, did you really make such a promise to this 

crab?" asked the king.

"Yes, I did, but I thought he would have forgotten and 

stayed on the beach with the other crabs. How has he 

traveled all this way?"

"If you have made him a promise, then you must keep it. 

Go and open the door," said the king.

And so Juniper opened the door and the crab scuttled in. 

The crab followed her back to the dinner table where he 

said, "Thank you dear king for inviting me into your 

wonderful home. If your daughter would pick me up, then 

I could eat with you at the table as she promised."

Juniper started to refuse, but her father was impressed 

that the crab had traveled so far and was so polite that he 

commanded her to pick up the crab and let him eat dinner 

with them.

When the crab was at the table, he said, "Now push the 

plate closer to me so that we can eat together."

Juniper did what he asked, but the king could see that 

she wanted to refuse.

The crab enjoyed his meal very much, but Juniper could 

hardly take a bite of any of the delicious food at the table.

"I have eaten enough and now I would like to play ball as 

you promised," said the crab.

"Why don't you go play in the seaweed garden? That 

would be the perfect place to play ball," said the king.

Juniper was not happy to hear the king's suggestion, but 

she took the crab to the seaweed garden before he could 

remind her of the promise again.

"I have never been to a seaweed garden before," said the 

crab, "What an adventure this will be!"

"It's just a silly old seaweed garden, nothing exciting ever 

happens there," said Juniper.

"Perhaps today will be different," said the crab.

"You have no idea how to have a real adventure," said 

Juniper, already bored with the crab.

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