Continuing where we left off last week, the mother cow and the moon prince escape under the cover of darkness to the lake at the forest’s edge….
As the mouse had told her, the cow could see hundreds of crabs crawling about, this way and that, near the lake. She told them the back story of the unfortunate prince and the kind crabs promised to take care of him.
“Don’t worry. The little one will be safe here with us,” they assured the cow. The crabs hid him under a ledge by the lake side and got him fish to eat, now that he no longer had to live on milk alone.
But before long, the evil queen took one of her walks and saw the now familiar silvery light by the side of the lake. When she went closer she was in for another surprise. This time the little moon prince lay blissfully asleep and all around him were creepy crawly crabs, who guarded him fiercely. They looked at her with their all-knowing, beady eyes and she ran for her life.
Of course we know where she would go straight to – the king’s chambers. This time she did the drama queen act. “I’m seriously ill... the shaman says the only way I can be cured would be to eat crabs from the lake. I’ve to eat just crabs, nothing else! Morning, noon and night!”
The king was too sleepy to notice that his wife was perfectly fine. “All right, we’ll have the lake drained tomorrow and catch all those crabs for you,” he yawned, “go sleep now. I’ll have the men sent at dawn, don’t worry.”
Our friend, the mouse, was right under the king's bed as the conversation happened and he lost no time in scampering off to the lake side. “Danger alert, dear crab friends! That evil second queen will get this lake drained tomorrow and you’ll all end up on her dining table! Take the boy to the other side of the lake where lives a kind merchant. He’ll take care of him and you can live peacefully on that side too.”
The crabs took the boy across to the other side and found the merchant. “This child is the full moon prince, the heir apparent. His step mother is trying hard to get him killed. We need you to take charge of him as she is coming after us. You’ll help us, won’t you?” asked the crabs, their pop-out eyes looking very solemn. The merchant was taken aback at the strange sight of talking crabs, but he recovered quickly. He was a generous and good man.
“Don’t worry about the little prince. I’ll take care of him,” he assured them. “Just make sure that nobody notices the bright full moon on his chest,’’ said the crabs. That would be a difficult task especially in the nights as we know by now. So it was happily settled then and the boy grew up under the merchant’s care. The crabs too lived close by on that side of the lake.
Many years went by and the evil second wife ceased worrying about the full moon prince as he was never seen again. Her crescent moon son stood a good chance at succeeding his father to the throne. Our merchant, meanwhile, had got into the tea business. King Khoedi-Sefubeng, who learned of this exotic drink being sold on the other side of the lake, sent one of his trusted aides to get some.
The man was received courteously by the merchant who was delighted to hear that he was finding a royal customer. As he was returning the royal aide happened to see a young man bathing in the lake. It was late evening and it was hard to ignore the silvery glow of the disc on his chest. There was no mistaking who this could be! The aide could not believe his eyes. Could it be the moon prince? He returned to the King and told him about the strange boy. Personally, he had never believed the story of the puppy born to Queen Morongue anyway.
The King, on hearing this, decided to find out for himself who the mystery boy was. Disguising himself as an old man, he went over to the other side of the lake to the merchant’s house. As he sat talking to the merchant, he saw a young man. He was, tall, handsome and of noble bearing. This had to be him, thought the king.
The boy was walking across the courtyard, clad in a white shirt. In that part of the world it was uncommon for young men to wear an upper garment like that. He approached the boy and asked him who he was and where he was from. The youth, who still had his crab guardians looking out for him, was very much aware of his own story. He related the story of his birth and how he miraculously survived under the old mattresses with the mice looking after him and later growing up with the mother cow and later the crabs.
“Can I ask you to take your shirt off son?” asked the king and the boy did so. Shining brightly on his chest was a full moon! Delighted, the king embraced him and revealed his true identity to his son. “You’re my own son, the full moon prince! Come with me, we’re going back to the palace!”
The king rewarded the merchant handsomely. He was also appointed the royal supplier of tea. Queen Morongue was reinstated as queen and the evil second queen was banished from the kingdom altogether.