The Legend of
Soli the Purple Crab


Stuck in the cold wet bucket the three crabs kept pushing each other around to get to the top position. The bottom crab was the most irritated cause the other two were on top of him competing for higher ground. As the other two were about to reach the top the bottom one knew that if they got out he wouldn’t have anyone to step on for him to reach the top so he took his big claws and pulled both of them down. So no crabs got out.

Soon thereafter a couple more crabs entered the bucket and added to the chaos competing for the best position. Reasoning with each other was not an option only stepping on each other and pushing each other down, competing for the top was all these crabs understood. Blinded by the rage of competing for the top. As soon as one made it the others would take their big claws and pull him back into the bucket.

Again a couple more crabs entered the bucket but one of them was somewhat smaller, younger and a purple-ish color as compared to the other red crabs. His name was Soli. As the bigger crabs were busy fighting with each other inside the bucket Soli was bouncing off of them staying on the top. The bigger crabs hardly even noticed him because they were too busy pulling each other down.

Soli still on top bouncing off all the bickering, pushing, and shoving from the other crabs thought this was ridiculous and yelled out “Wait a minute! Stop! Listen to me” as the other crabs continued to fight.

Soli then yelled at the top of his lungs "STOP IT!" and they all paused for a moment and looked at Soli with angry faces.

Then Soli in his young sounding voice said “Don’t you think if we help each other we can climb on each other and pull each other out?”

The other crabs looked at each other and one mentioned "How can I trust these guys when they keep pulling me down?" Then another said "You stepped on me first" and before Soli could reason with them the crabs were right back at it fighting, pushing, shoving, and bickering.
It was obvious that Soli couldn't reason with the bigger red crabs and continued to jump and bounce off of them as they were fighting with each other. As soon as Soli could jump on the highest crab he sprung himself free and leaped out of the bucket as the other crabs didn't even notice Soli and kept fighting amongst themselves.

Once outside of the bucket Soli was able to escape back into the ocean to safety still puzzled about the other crabs.

Soli learned a valuable lesson that day and shared his experience with other crabs he encountered who were willing to listen. Every season fisherman would trap crabs and every season Soli showed other crabs how they can work together and escape from the buckets.
As seasons passed and Soli grew bigger and wiser he was trapped many times and everytime Soli was able to reason with the other crabs who were willing to listen and they all made it out of the bucket okay. His popularity grew among some of the crabs as they congregated around Soli never worring about getting trapped again. In fact they were looking forward to it sometimes so they can get the fisherman's bait for food and escape out of the buckets afterwards.

Curious thing started to happen to those crabs who listened to Soli as they developed their reasoning skills, their shells started to turn the color purple just like Soli's shell. It turns out the their shells are a direct reflection of their inner self. Purple being the combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, is believed to be the color of good judgment. It is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment and the truth. It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple is the color of wisdom.

Seasoned fishermen often speak of the legendary purple crab. Few claim to have seen them some don't believe they even exist because no one has ever caught one. But we know that these crabs are just too smart to be caught and it's all because of Soli the purple crab. While the red crabs continued to fight and pull each other down, Soli and the rest of the purple crabs prospered below the ocean in harmony, peace, and in safe SOLI-tude..... THE END

Message to the parental CRABS:

It's funny how people don't know much about their own culture. Well on second thought it's actually not funny it's tragic and you wonder why we need ethnic studies in schools. The least parents can do is pass down stories to arouse curiosity and provoke interest in the children. Share stories of their culture that teach morals, learn values, and develop principles so that kids will recognize these stories in real life situations.

A story very familiar in my culture is the Philippine crab story and from what I remember it goes something like this:

There were two fisherman with buckets of crabs and one fisherman said to the other that you should cover your bucket or the crabs will get out. The other fisherman told him not to worry because they're Filipino crabs and they'll keep pulling each other down.

Obviously this story insinuates lack of unity and jealousy with no hope for progress for the crabs so I wrote the story below as a children's story for parents to share with their kids in hopes that our children will learn about morals and values, and develop strong principles. I made up the story with a happy ending to give hope to our children and to have faith in our fellow crabs, er, I mean our fellow human beings. ;-)