The Golden Crab

A poor fisherman catches a golden crab that can talk, and takes it home. The crab turns out to bring good luck, filling its plate with gold each evening, and the fisherman grows fond of it. One day the Crab asks the fisherman's wife to go to the King and request the hand of his younger daughter in marriage. The King, suspecting the Crab might secretly be a prince, does not refuse outright — instead he sets impossible tasks: first a wall of blooming flowers taller than his tower, then a garden with fountains spraying gold, diamonds, and brilliants. Using a magic golden rod, the Crab makes both appear overnight, and the King agrees to the wedding.

After the marriage, the Crab reveals his secret to his new wife alone: he is really an enchanted prince, cursed to live as a crab by day and a man only at night, and able to turn into an eagle whenever he wishes. The Princess keeps this secret faithfully for a year, even when her mother, suspicious of her strange happiness, questions her about it. When the King holds a tournament so his daughter might choose a husband among visiting princes, the Prince secretly rides in each evening and throws her an apple — first silver, then gold — while warning her each time never to reveal that the mysterious rider is really the Crab.

At the second tournament, the Princess's mother shakes her in anger for seeming to favour no one, and in her fright the Princess blurts out the truth: "That is the Crab himself!" Furious at not having been told sooner, her mother rushes to the Princess's room, seizes the empty crab-shell, and burns it in the fire. The Prince does not return, and the heartbroken Princess is left alone.

Meanwhile, an old man chasing a dog that stole his bread stumbles into a hidden underground palace, where he secretly watches twelve eagles transform into young men at a great feast. One of them — the Prince — sings a mournful verse cursing the "cruel mother" who burnt his golden shell. Hearing that the ailing Princess can only be comforted by stories, the old man visits her and describes what he saw. She begs to be taken there, and at the next feast, hidden behind a picture, she recognises her husband and rushes to embrace him.

The Prince explains that his enchantment must continue for three more months. The Princess chooses to stay with him until then, sending word to her worried parents through the old man. When the three months finally end, the Prince is freed from the spell for good, becomes a man permanently, and the couple returns home together to live happily ever after.