Inspiring a Culture of Character 1
The Hermit Crab Story by Todd Bassett 2
Once upon a time there was a Hermit Crab named Gus. Gus was a normal hermit crab. He had a normal crab claw and a normal crab shell. But, none of the other crabs at school were as normal as Gus. 3
One of the hermit crabs had a shell painted like a baseball. One had a beach ball shell. One had a tiger shell. Another had a shell with spinners. One shell even glowed in the dark! Gus was the most normal hermit crab there ever was. 4
Hermit crabs love to hop. Every day at school, all the fancy crabs would get into a circle and hop together. One day Gus decided he wanted to hop with the fancy crabs. Gus was an excellent hopper. Gus hopped so high that he landed in the middle of the fancy crab circle. When all of the fancy crabs saw Gus in the middle of the circle, they stopped hopping and started laughing at Gus! 5
The hermit crab painted like a baseball yelled, You re too boring! The crab with a tiger shell said, You re too plain! The crab with spinners laughed out, You re too normal! 6
All the fancy crabs laughed at Gus and called him Mr. Normal! Gus felt terrible! He didn t like getting made fun of. And he definitely did not like being called Mr. Normal! Mr. Normal! Mr. Normal! Mr. Normal! Mr. Normal! Mr. Normal! 7
That day in class, Gus teacher accidentally tripped over Gus because she didn t see him sitting on the floor. I m sorry Gus, said Ms. Hare, I didn t see you sitting there! Everybody laughed at Gus. Ha! Ha! Ha! 8
Gus felt invisible! I feel invisible, nobody seems to notice me! said Gus. After school, Gus decided to take the long way home. Nobody will notice if I m late anyways, cried Gus. Gus was very sad. 9
As Gus was walking home, he noticed all the fancy crabs sitting in a circle ahead of him. That s weird, said Gus, how come they aren t hopping? Gus decided to see what they were up to, but because they were so mean to him earlier that day, he thought he would sneak in first for a better look. 10
Gus slowly crept into the circle of fancy crabs. Nobody noticed he was there! As Gus popped his head out to see what was going on, he saw a GIANT DRAGON! AAHHH! screamed Gus. But nobody seemed to know he was there, not even the giant dragon! 11
HELP! cried the crab with spinners. HELP! cried the tiger crab. HELP! cried the beach ball crab. MOMMY! cried the baseball crab. 12
The giant dragon growled at the crabs and sharpened his claws! Which one of you fancy little crabs wants to get eaten first? he yelled. 13
Gus started to panic! What am I going to do? Gus thought to himself, We re all going to be eaten! Suddenly Gus remembered that nobody could see him. He was too normal! Whew! I thought I was going to be dragon food! Good thing I m so normal! 14
Then Gus got a weird feeling in his stomach. He felt like a huge weight was sitting on the inside of his chest! Gus knew that he was safe inside his normal shell, but all of the fancy crabs were about to be eaten!? 15
I ve got to do something! yelled Gus! Hey! said the giant dragon, Who said that? Gus was nervous but he knew he had to do the right thing. I did! yelled Gus. The giant dragon was confused! He didn t know where the voice was coming from! 16
Where Who What are you? said the giant dragon. I m Gus and I m right HERE! Gus shouted as he hopped way up in the air and landed on top of the giant dragon! 17
A talking ROCK... AAHHH! screamed the giant dragon. The dragon was so afraid that he turned around and ran away. 18
HOORAY for GUS! yelled all the crabs as they lifted Gus into the air! HOORAY for GUS! THE GREATEST HERMIT CRAB TO EVER LIVE! they called out. Thanks a lot guys, said Gus. I ll see you tomorrow at school, I ve got to get home! HOORAY FOR GUS! 19
T he End Inspiring a Culture of Character 20
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