https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=The_Fisher-Girl_and_the_CrabThe Fisher-Girl and the Crab - Revision history2026-08-19T08:48:50ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Fisher-Girl_and_the_Crab&diff=117348&oldid=prev>Gotitbro: +Category:Indian folklore; +Category:Indian literature using HotCat2021-03-12T08:45:49Z<p>+<a href="/w/index.php?title=Category:Indian_folklore&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Category:Indian folklore (page does not exist)">Category:Indian folklore</a>; +<a href="/wiki/Category:Indian_literature" title="Category:Indian literature">Category:Indian literature</a> using <a href="https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/BP:HC" class="extiw" title="wp:HC">HotCat</a></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>'''The Fisher-Girl and the Crab''' is an Indian [[fairy tale]] collected by [[Verrier Elwin]] in ''Folk-Tales of Mahakoshal'';<ref>Elwin, Verrier. ''Folk-tales of Mahakoshal''. [London]: Pub. for Man in India by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. pp. 134-135.</ref> it comes from the [[Kurukh people|Kurukh]], a people living in [[Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh|Chitrakoot]], [[Bastar State]].<ref name=Carter>Angela Carter, ''The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book'', Pantheon Books, New York, 1990 {{ISBN|0-679-74037-6}} </ref>{{rp|19}}<br />
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==Synopsis==<br />
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A Kurukh couple had no children. They found a gourd by their rice field and started to eat it, but it begged them to cut gently. They found a crab inside it. The woman tied a basket to her belly, pretended to be pregnant, and then pretended to have given birth to the crab. In time, they married him off, but the girl did not like being married to a crab. She sneaked off when the parents and crab were asleep, but the crab sneaked ahead of her. He asked a [[banyan tree]] whose it was; it said it was his; he ordered it to fall down. He took out a human shape from inside it and [[shapeshifting|put]] it on, putting his crab shape in the tree. The girl met him at a dance and gave him her ornaments. He went back before her and took on his crab shape again, and gave her her ornaments, which frightened her. She went to sneak out again but watched the crab. When he had put on the human shape, she asked the trees whose it was; it said it was hers; she ordered it to fall down and burned the crab shape. When her husband could not find her at the dance, he came back, and she jumped out, caught him, and took him home.<br />
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==Commentary==<br />
Elwin noted that the crab is considered monogamous and an example of domestic fidelity.<ref name=Carter/>{{rp|232}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[The Donkey (fairy tale)|The Donkey]]<br />
*[[The Goat Girl]]<br />
*[[The Pig King]]<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher-Girl And The Crab}}<br />
[[Category:Indian fairy tales|Fisher-Girl and the Crab]]<br />
[[Category:Fictional fishers|Fisher-Girl and the Crab]]<br />
[[Category:Fictional crabs|Fisher-Girl and the Crab]]<br />
[[Category:Literary duos|Fisher-Girl and the Crab]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction about shapeshifting|Fisher-Girl and the Crab]]<br />
[[Category:Female characters in fairy tales]]<br />
[[Category:Indian folklore]]<br />
[[Category:Indian literature]]</div>>Gotitbro