How Horseshoe Crabs Got Their Shells

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a horseshoe crab named Shelly. Back then horseshoe crabs didn't have shells. The problem with this was that they kept getting eaten by every creature bigger than them. Even Shelly’s father had been eaten. So, Shelly and his mom lived alone behind some rocks in seaweed where they could hide and be safe. They had a nice little house with a yard behind it. Shelly had a jungle gym and a "sea-saw" to play on.

One day Shelly went for a walk. He saw a glowing light. He walked closer and closer until he saw it was a shiny shell. It was sort of like two giant clams shells stuck together. It was speckled brown. Since it was Mother’s Day, Shelly decided to bring the shell home to surprise his mom.

Shelly’s mom opened her present and thought it was fantastic! Shelly went outside to play on the jungle gym. When his mom went out to watch him, she brought the shell with her. It was such a superb present that she wasn't ready to put it down. But, when she got outside, the shell began to get heavy. So Shelly’s mom set it down on one end of the sea-saw. Shelly wasn't watching what he was doing and he leapt onto the other end of the sea-saw. The shell went soaring through the air. It hit the jungle gym and split into two symmetrical halves. Shelly and his mom tried to catch the shells. Instead, they both tripped and fell! They each felt something sticky on their back. When they got up, they realized this thing was also very heavy. They looked at each other and saw that the two pieces of the shell had landed on their backs and stuck there.

Shelly and her mom went back inside and tried to pull off each other’s shells. Finally, they became so tired that they slept for three hours. When they were sleeping, a predator came. It was a ravenous shark looking for food. Shelly awoke when the shark shattered a window with its tail. The shark came in through the window and tried to eat Shelly. Shelly’s instinct told him to hide under his new shell. The shark tried to eat Shelly, but the shell was too big to swallow and too hard to demolish. The shark finally gave up and left them alone.

Shelly’s mom woke up and asked what had happened. Shelly told his mom the story. She saw no teeth marks, no dents, not even a scratch. Shelly and his mom realized the shell had saved him.

They sold their house and become rich by selling sticky shells to other horseshoe crabs. And from then on, the horseshoe crab always had a shell.