The Curious Lobster

by Richard W. Hatch

  It was dusk now, and the woods were dark. The three friends stepped out on the beach.

  “Well,” said Mr. Bear, trying hard to speak calmly, “now that we have explored this island we can go home.” He looked longingly at his boat.

  “No,” said Mr. Badger, “we can’t do that. An explorer always stays a long time away from home. You know, staying away from home is the most important part of exploring, and we can’t break the rules.”

  “Are you sure that is a rule?” asked Mr. Bear.

  “Oh, yes,” answered Mr. Badger confidently. “Also, I have observed no creatures on this island, which is important.”

  “There are birds here,” said Mr. Lobster.

  “Birds don’t count,” answered Mr. Badger. “They live only in trees. They cannot claim the ground. No, we are the only creatures I have seen on the island. Therefore we must do a most important thing.”

  “Do tell us!” exclaimed Mr. Lobster.

  “We must claim this island for our own. An explorer always claims the places he goes, if no one else is there.”

  “But we don’t want this island,” protested Mr. Bear. “We want our own homes. At least, I do, and I wish I were home now. Besides, this island is worthless.”

  “We don’t know that for sure, for we have only been around it,” said Mr. Badger. “And even if it is worthless, it doesn’t matter. An explorer claims places no matter how worthless they are. That is another rule.”

  Mr. Bear groaned.

  Mr. Lobster was instantly curious to know how the island would be claimed.

  Mr. Badger went right on talking. “Since there is no one else here—”

  “There is a stealthy rustle,” interrupted Mr. Bear.

  “Invisible things do not count,” said Mr. Badger, “and please do not interrupt again. This is one of the most important ceremonies of exploring.” Then he paused, looked all around, and said in a very loud voice: “Since there is no one else here, I now claim this island to be the private property of Mr. Lobster, Mr. Bear, and Mr. Badger!”

  “I don’t want it,” said Mr. Bear.

  “Hush!” said Mr. Lobster.

  “And because of his wisdom and bravery in helping us get here,” went on Mr. Badger in the same loud voice, “I name this island Mr. Lobster’s Island.”

  There was just a single instant of silence after that solemn announcement. Then there came the most amazing cry from the woods.

  “Treason!” cried a voice. “Treason!”

  Mr. Lobster’s pride at having an island named for him was instantly shattered.

  Mr. Bear shivered.

  Mr. Badger, not being afraid of anything, made a jump and ran straight for the woods where the voice came from.

  Soon he returned, shaking his head. “I didn’t see a soul,” he said.

  “That means trouble,” said Mr. Bear.

  “Pardon me,” said Mr. Lobster, “but will you tell me what treason is? I am sure there is nothing by that name at the bottom of the ocean.”

  “Treason is really bad business—like stealing and such,” admitted Mr. Badger. “Or, if you are the absolute boss, anything you don’t like you call treason. If you have an enemy, then you call anything he does treason. It is very serious usually.”

  Mr. Lobster and Mr. Bear shivered and trembled.

  “Do you suppose we are the enemies of that creature who cried out?” asked Mr. Lobster.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” said Mr. Badger.

  “And is he our enemy?”

  “Yes.”

  “A fine situation, indeed!” exclaimed Mr. Bear. “Now how about going home?”

  “Never!” declared Mr. Badger. “That would be retreating, and a hero never retreats. We shall now spend the night here. You and I will guard the boat, Mr. Bear. Mr. Lobster can go into the water. Tomorrow something will have to be done.”

  With these words he started for the boat, and Mr. Bear, wishing he were a lobster for the night, had nothing to do but follow him.

  Mr. Lobster went into the water and hurried away to his new home. “Life is indeed strange,” he thought. “I am the kindest person in the world, and I wouldn’t harm a soul. And here I have an enemy, and I have not even seen him. I am afraid tomorrow may be a very bad day for me, for I have no idea how to deal with enemies.”

  And a little while later he said to himself, “Life is like exploring: one never knows what he will see or what will happen; and one must always have wisdom and courage. And if one’s life is successful he will discover new and wonderful things—just as explorers do. In spite of tomorrow and other troubles, I love exploring and I love life.”

  There Is Serious Trouble

  WHEN MR. LOBSTER woke up in the morning the first thing he did was to catch a large breakfast. He had an idea that it was going to be a busy day, perhaps a very hard day, and he knew that he would feel stronger in an emergency if he had had a good breakfast. “For,” he told himself, “even wise persons sometime have emergencies, but no wise person starts the day without breakfast when he is at home, and I am temporarily at home. A good breakfast is the best beginning to almost any problem, and I think that today is going to be a problem.”

  He felt rather full under his shell when he started for shore, with the result that he crawled slowly and contentedly, admiring the seaweed and shells along the way, and stopping to chat with a large crab who said that he was visiting in those parts.

  Mr. Badger and Mr. Bear were waiting by the boat. Mr. Badger was looking very brisk and determined. His eyes were especially bright. Mr. Bear did not look eager at all.

  “I shall stay on my boat,” said Mr. Bear. “This boat is my property, and no one can accuse me of treason while I am on my own property. I don’t like this treason business, and I say we sail for home.”

  “I say that we have a meeting to decide what to do,” said Mr. Badger.

  “No, thank you,” said Mr. Bear. “Our meetings all end the same way: you have an idea, and we have to do what you say. I don’t understand it, but that’s the way it always is.”

  “Some persons are natural leaders,” said Mr. Badger modestly. “And I’ll bet that if I have an idea Mr. Lobster won’t be satisfied until he knows what it is.”

  Mr. Lobster knew very well that Mr. Badger would have an idea, for Mr. Badger was full of ideas. And Mr. Lobster was curious already, for even a good big breakfast does not change curiosity in the slightest.

  “If you have an idea,” he said, “I do want to know it. I have had a very pleasant night, but now that I am ashore again I realize that I have an enemy and I am not contented. I wonder what I shall do.”

  “An enemy must be conquered,” said Mr. Badger firmly.

  “I would rather change my enemy into a friend,” said Mr. Lobster. “Couldn’t we do that?”

  Mr. Badger scratched his head and thought for some time. Then he said, “I never thought of that before, but I believe it is a very wise suggestion. Mr. Lobster, you still amaze me with your wisdom.”

  “I love peace and contentment,” said Mr. Lobster, “as you already know; and I don’t see how we can have peace and contentment and an enemy at the same time.”

  “Very true,” agreed Mr. Badger. “And now the very first thing to do is to find our enemy so that we can change him. I say that we immediately search this island and find him.”

  “There you go!” exclaimed Mr. Bear. “That’s your idea, and a dangerous one, too! It just means looking for serious trouble, as if we did not have enough already. Don’t you know that enemies always fight? That is what an enemy is for.”

  “I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Lobster, “but if we do not fight, then certainly the enemy cannot fight all by himself, and so nothing unpleasant will happen.”

  “Mr. Lobster is right,” said Mr. Badger. “He is always right.”

  Mr. Bear sighed and growled softly. He saw that no one wanted to go home with him. It gave him a rather lonely feeling to think that his friends never seemed to f
ollow his ideas, and he wished desperately that he could do some brave thing or have some great idea that would make Mr. Badger and Mr. Lobster think he was courageous and clever. He wanted so much to be important, and he did not feel important at all.

  Mr. Lobster was not exactly afraid, but the joints in his shell were a little shaky when he thought of actually seeing an enemy face to face. It would be a new experience, and not the kind he wished for. The question was: Would it be a pleasant experience in the end? However, thinking over Mr. Badger’s idea of searching the island, he was sure of one thing: he was terribly curious. He said to himself, “I have done strange things before to satisfy my curiosity, and I know that I shall do this. For I wonder what my enemy looks like. And I wonder why he shouted ‘Treason.’ And I wonder what he will do when we find him.”

  Then Mr. Badger interrupted his wondering.

  “Well, Mr. Lobster,” Mr. Badger was saying confidently, “I suppose you vote to search the island.”

  “Yes, I do,” answered Mr. Lobster, realizing that it was a most important decision.

  “That settles it,” said Mr. Badger. “You and I are going anyway. If Mr. Bear insists on staying here, he may.”

  “Oh, no, I’m coming,” said Mr. Bear. “I am practically resigned to my fate. I felt it in my bones it would turn out this way.”

  Mr. Badger led the way until they were in the woods. Then the three friends spread out and walked along slowly, three abreast, and looking around at every step. Every little while Mr. Badger would say “Hush!,” and they would stop and listen. But they saw nothing, and no one heard the stealthy rustle behind them. The island seemed deserted and still.

  When they had walked to the middle of the woods, where it was stillest and shadiest and the leaves were thickest, Mr. Bear called out loudly:

  “Is there anybody here who claims this island?”

  There was no answer.

  So they started back toward the beach. Everyone was somewhat nervous by now, not knowing how soon the voice would cry out, or the rustling be heard behind them.

  “Maybe he is really invisible,” remarked Mr. Badger.

  Mr. Bear shivered at the thought.

  They kept on walking for hours, until once more they could look far ahead and see the ocean through the trees.

  “Who owns this island?” called out Mr. Badger.

  There was not a sound in reply.

  “If no one owns this island we claim it again,” shouted Mr. Badger.

  “Treason!” The cry came from right behind Mr. Bear, and he jumped straight up in the air and growled at the same time.

  “The enemy!” cried Mr. Badger. “We have found him!” And he ran to the very place the cry had come from.

  There were only low bushes not thick enough to hide any creature, and yet when Mr. Badger got there not a creature was in sight. They all looked around, but the place seemed absolutely empty.

  Mr. Badger cocked his head and looked up among the branches of the trees. There was no one up there.

  “I don’t like this,” muttered Mr. Bear.

  Mr. Lobster crawled over to investigate. He was nearer the ground than the others, and he saw things that they overlooked. When he walked on the beach he noticed all the colors and patterns in the sand; and in the woods he noticed the veins in the leaves, and the blades of grass, and all the small things that larger creatures would never notice at all. And now, as he crawled about under the bushes near where Mr. Bear and Mr. Badger were, he saw something that they had missed.

  “Look!” he exclaimed.

  There was a large hole in the ground.

  “That must be where he lives,” said Mr. Badger. “Let us speak to him.”

  “Do you think we need to?” asked Mr. Bear.

  “Yes,” answered Mr. Badger. “Now that we are here, we must settle this matter. Let us all get ready.”

  The three friends moved away a respectful distance from the hole and all stood waiting. It was an exciting moment. Mr. Bear’s back hair was up. Mr. Lobster was so excited and curious that he couldn’t keep his joints quiet, and his shell trembled in every possible place.

  “Whoever you are, please come out!” called Mr. Badger in his loudest voice.

  “We are not fighting!” called Mr. Bear hastily.

  There was a pause. Everyone held his breath.

  And then, without a sound, came a head and two gleaming eyes, and then a tremendous snake up from the blackness of the hole—a snake feet and feet long. The creature coiled himself and lifted up his head and ran his tongue in and out, so that he was fearful and wicked to see. Then he hissed.

  At that awful sound Mr. Bear, who had been sitting up, fell over backwards in a heap; but he very hurriedly scrambled to his feet and exclaimed:

  “We are not fighting, please!”

  The snake simply looked at them, his head swaying back and forth in the most evil manner. Then he hissed again.

  Mr. Lobster was fascinated. He found himself moving his long feelers back and forth in exact time with the swaying of the snake’s head.

  Mr. Badger’s hair was standing up straight now, and his eyes had a glint in them, a glint of red. But he didn’t move.

  “So,” he said calmly. “A snake.”

  “How dare you!” exclaimed the creature. “How dare you insult me in my own home! It’s treason! Can’t you see that I am no snake, but a serpent? Who ever saw a snake my size?” And he hissed in a most disgusted and outraged manner, and his head kept swaying back and forth.

  “I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Badger. “It was a slip of the tongue. I am not afraid of anything, for I happen to be a badger, but I did not mean to insult you. Of course you are a serpent, and the finest specimen I have ever seen.”

  The snake stopped swaying for a moment.

  “Fine words, indeed!” he said. “But I am too wise to pay any attention to flattery.”

  “We are explorers,” said Mr. Badger in a polite way. “I am Mr. Badger. There is Mr. Bear and there is Mr. Lobster.”

  “I have seen you all before,” said the snake unpleasantly. “In fact, I have seen too much of you.”

  “Pardon me, but were you the stealthy rustle?” asked Mr. Lobster.

  “I was.”

  “And did you cry ‘treason’ last night?”

  “I did! How dare you claim this island when it is mine? If that isn’t treason, I’d like to know what is!” The snake was angry now, and his tongue darted in and out, and he hissed fiercely.

  The three friends were silent.

  Mr. Lobster sighed, and after a moment of thought said, “I suppose I have lost my island then.”

  “Lost!” exclaimed the snake. “How can you lose something you never had? This is my island. It has always been my island, and it always will be!”

  “Oh, I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Lobster.

  There seemed to be nothing for the three friends to do. Everything they said was wrong. The snake, who was really tremendous and very long, was swaying back and forth in a most threatening manner, his shiny eyes watching them carefully, and the wickedest expression on his face. It looked as though the three friends had found the most dangerous enemy possible.

  IT LOOKED AS THOUGH THE THREE FRIENDS HAD FOUND THE MOST DANGEROUS ENEMY POSSIBLE.

  Mr. Lobster’s head was now swaying back and forth just like the snake’s, he didn’t know why, and he had a queer feeling under his shell, and his mind was filled with wonder. He was sure that he was getting dry, and he wanted to hurry back to the ocean, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the snake’s shiny eyes.

  Mr. Bear began to moan softly to himself in an unhappy sort of way that showed that he felt unusually miserable.

  Mr. Badger, whose eyes were still alert and gleaming, and whose hair was still standing up straight, was thinking as hard as he could but saying nothing.

  It was a most awkward and unpleasant moment.

  “Well,” demanded the snake, “are you going to leave my property?�
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  “We were going home,” muttered Mr. Bear. “I said long ago we ought to go home.”

  “I feel a little dry,” Mr. Lobster managed to murmur.

  Then Mr. Badger spoke.

  “Of course,” he said, “we are all sorry that we claimed your island, but you must understand that explorers always claim whatever they find, and we are explorers. We did not know that you were here. We are going to return to our boat now and decide what to do, and we shall call on you tomorrow.”

  “Decide!” screamed the snake. “You will decide! You will leave my island this minute! You will all leave this very day!” And he hissed so that Mr. Bear and Mr. Lobster both expected something terrible to happen at once.

  “We shall decide,” said Mr. Badger in his calmest tone, just as though the snake had said nothing. “I must also tell you that we are all heroes, and heroes are never afraid.” Mr. Badger looked the snake straight in the eye. “We shall see you tomorrow,” he concluded.

  The snake hissed terribly.

  Mr. Badger started to walk away very slowly, with his legs very stiff.

  Somehow Mr. Badger’s courageous words and his action made it possible for Mr. Lobster to take his eyes from the snake, and he too started to crawl toward the ocean.

  Mr. Bear came along grumbling and muttering.

  “I knew it,” he was saying. “Mr. Badger can always get us into serious trouble. Claiming the island is what did it. I knew we didn’t want it anyway. Now I guess I was right for once, and it is high time we took my boat and went home.”

  “We shall see,” said Mr. Badger.

  There was something strange about Mr. Badger’s tone, something like anger, which was not like good-natured Mr. Badger at all.

  “You don’t mean that you are really going back to see that serpent again, do you?” asked Mr. Bear.

  “No one can threaten me,” said Mr. Badger. “It is true that we cannot claim this island, since it is the serpent’s, but as we only claimed it by mistake and explained it all politely the serpent should have been courteous. Also, since he does not need all the room on the island, he should have invited us to visit. Instead he told us to get off—and, what’s more, he hissed. That was the same as a threat, and threats make me angry.”