A Savannah Dream For The Sun Crabs

By Joel Perrot

Somewhere in the Antilles...

The sun crabs have lost their peaceful life. Unhappy about their fate during the Easter holiday, they were really tired of bearing the cost of unscrupulous hunters who do not have any pity capturing all the little sun crabs! The savannah that Kika loves so much ends up disfigured and devoid of its crustaceans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ILLEMOUN LLC
• Release date: Apr 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736364413

Book preview

A SAVANNAH DREAM

FOR THE SUN CRABS

Translated from Guadeloupean

Joël Perrot

To Kiliyàn, who always has one or two stories to tell ahead of his dad.

Thanks to God. Thanks to my Ancestors. Thanks to my wife and my family. Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to making this book possible. Also thanks to any of you who will purchase this book.

Translation of: On rèv savann pou krab solèy.

Dépot légal : décembre 2017

Text copyright © 2017 by Joel Perrot

Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Joel Perrot

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

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www.illemoun.com

ILLEMOUN LLC

ISBN : 978-1-7363644-0-6 (Hardcover)

ISBN : 978-1-7363644-1-3 (Ebook)

Here was a little boy who finds everything interesting. His name was Kika! And he was living on the outskirt of the Tanne village. Very close to his house, there was a canal visible in some areas and not visible in others while crossing through the village till it merges with a much bigger one. On the other side of the canal, a savannah where many sun crabs live stretches away.

It happened that every Easter, there was a changing face of the savannah because juveniles from the village were capturing little sun crabs. At that period, as early as nine o'clock in the morning, once breakfast is over, Kika would go sit on the bridge across the canal. It was his routine every time there was no school. A moment to meet with himself. And he was sitting there to figure out what to do, especially after he had already played all the games known to him.

Kika's feet were swinging under the bridge, but not the slightest of ideas rushed through his mind. Blimey! Things appeared rather unusual that morning! Let's see! He started to sing while keeping the same rhythm with his feet:

"Left foot, right foot.

Left foot, right foot. One! Two!

Left foot, right foot.

Left foot, right foot. Three! Four!"

Still no idea. Then the pleasure Kika felt when his dad and uncle were rebuilding that bridge came back. He could remind himself of his dad repeating insistently:

Hurry up! Be careful not to hurt yourself.

Kika had a good memory. He entirely could reconstruct how they have built that bridge.

"Left foot, right foot.

Left foot, right foot. Five! Six!

Left foot, right foot.

Left foot, right foot. Seven! Eight!"

The canal's water streamed gently down under the bridge, clear and limpid. Kika was watching the guppies swim under the water. They hide in the canal’s charas once they see tilapias approaching.

***

It was on a Wednesday; the older children were not there. Kika had all the morning to him alone. He has stopped watching the guppies and the tilapias playing hide and seek. He decided then to go to the savannah towards two youths he just saw coming.

They were capturing crabs in that savannah right in front of his house on the other side of the canal. When he got there, Kika found that they were not using the traditional tricks he