Once upon a time there lived a young prince named Casper. His father ruled over the sparse isles of Myre; a wealthy, lively range composed of five islands that were surrounded by dense fogs on all sides. No one, not even the king himself, knew what lay behind those curtains of white. But no one wanted to find out either. It was a comfortable place, Myre, and why risk leaving such a beautiful land?
But Casper, he was different. Where one would normally be stricken with caution, he would but laugh and charge in head on. Even in the dawn of his youth, the boy had sought for adventure again and again. But Myre, although lively, was a quaint, small country, and soon Casper had run out of adventures to seek.
And so, he decided to venture out of his homeland.
Despite his father's warnings, Casper readied a large, sturdy ship with twenty crewmen and enough supplies to last a year at sea.
"Don't worry, father," Casper smiled, putting on his princely crown, "I shall find a new land to claim and be back before the eve of spring."
The king did not reply. The isles were a safe haven, a place of nurturing and growth. It was hard enough letting his last blood relative leave, there was no need to put off the inevitable...
As the grand fleet pulled away from the dock, the king turned his eyes away.

Not long after being enveloped by the fog, the ship hit something. Something that the fog would not let be seen. Waves crashed in a way that ocean waves were never known to do, drowning out cries as the frothy waters slowly overcame the wooden vessel.

The ship sank to a watery grave...

"Ugh..."
The sun shone, too bright, as Casper opened his eyes. Head throbbing, he gingerly positioned himself upright and winced. The boy's clothes were stiff with dried seawater and many cuts of varying depths were scattered across his bare arms. His mind was numb and all he could remember from before he'd gone unconscious was the ferocious waves that had thrust him to... wherever this was.
Shivering as he stood, despite the relatively warm weather, Casper scanned his surroundings slowly, absorbing each nook and cranny. He was on a sandy beach, not far from the shoreline, where dark, ominous waters bit at the shore. Past that, the thick fog loomed. A litter of wreckage was piled up not far from his position, large splinters of wood floated about in tide pools.
As far as he could tell, Casper couldn't see any of his crew members, and he hated to admit that the varnish on the broken pieces of wood seemed to be the same as those used on his ship.
Grimacing, Casper turned.
A glint of gold shimmered amidst the white sands. Squinting under the sun's harsh rays, Casper half walked, half stumbled toward it. There, half buried in the sand was his crown.
Shaking off the small grains as best as he could, Casper examined the finely wrought piece of gold. One of the embedded rubies had disappeared, and a rather unflattering dent was now visible.
A blacksmith will have to look at this once I get back, Casper thought, placing the broken crown upon his mess of blonde curls. ...if I can get back at all.
But then the boy smiled. Oh, yes, what an adventure this had turned out to be!

A line of crabs scurried down the beach. Each one marched behind the next.
A single crab came up to Casper, nipped at his pantleg with a claw, and then rejoined the line. Attention now on the rapid march, Casper found himself following the crabs until they abruptly stopped a little ways inland, at the face of a tall, tall cliffside.
The crabs started to file through a large opening in the rock. Casper followed.
Inside the cave sat a large blue crab. It was a huge thing, the same height as Casper, and twice that in width. It's shell gleamed in the dim lighting, and atop its head, between its two marble eyes, sat a crown, nearly a mirror image of the one Casper was now wearing.
Casper couldn't help but gasp.
"So the human has come." The large crab stared down at him. The smaller crabs that had finished entering surrounded him protectively. It seemed rather comical, seeing as how this grand king of sorts was thrice larger than all of them combined.
Contrary to what the crab had been expecting, Casper broken out in a wide grin. "I'm honored, King Crab."
"Indeed, that is I," the crab answered in as skeptical a voice as a crab could manage, "you are quite a peculiar child are you not? Does one such as I talking with you not surprise you?"
Casper shrugged, wincing just the slightest as his sore muscles moved, "Nah, I just survived a pretty weird ocean current, and all of my crew are gone. It's been a pretty eventful adventure so far." He laughed. "A crab can't really top that, sorry, King."
The large crab stirred, sending several small crabs tumbling on to their backs, "Where are you from, child?"
"Aw, Myre." Casper replied, looking the crab in the eye, "You know of it? It's somewhere in the fog now."
After a long pause, the crab nodded, "Yes, indeed, I know much about it. Many of my kin have made the voyage to those islands... Although sadly, few have returned."
Casper frowns, thinking back to the past and that day, not too long ago, when they had feasted on exquisite crab meat. A surge of guilt comes up and he gulps.
"The trip is a hard one," the king crab continues, oblivious, "survival of that section if sea, the one that it seems brought you here, is difficult. You were lucky to be spared. The waves are rarely so merciful..."
The crab suddenly shifted its eyes, baring them down on the boy, "And even after arrival, us of the crabkind live in fear of the humans that crack these shells we take so much pride in."
Casper raised a singular eyebrow, "Here, King Crab, I think I have a proposition you will be glad to accept. I will get crab off of the Royal menu if you get me back home, alright?"
The crab scoffed in a crabbish way such that only a crab could muster, "And you suppose the human king will willingly relinquish crab as a delicacy?"
"I think I've got a fair chance," Casper grinned, despite his love of boiled crab meat, and rapped a knuckle against his crown, "Being a prince has its perks."

By the next dawn, the king crab had personally swam Casper through the fog, back to Myre. At the docks, the king of Myre couldn't believe his eyes. Tears swam onto the wooden floors as he smiled and cried, his son had actually come home. It was a day to celebrate.
Casper waited until the man had gotten all the tears out before telling him about the banning of crab.
One look at the large, blue, and rather intimidating king crab with those supernaturally large claws convinced all of those in Myre to comply instantaneously.
It was a happy ending for everyone. And who knew when the next adventure would begin?