Reading time: 4 minIn a distant lagoon near the great ocean lived a flamingo called Ringo. He had magnificent plumage and shone in the most beautiful pink.
He was large and had a strong, firm beak. The other birds in the lagoon admired Ringo for his exotic appearance.
Ringo considered himself lucky. He spent his life strutting through the warm waters of the lagoon day after day, looking for his favorite food with skill and sophisticated technique.
Its diet included mussels, crabs and crayfish of all kinds. It owed its magnificent, colorful plumage to the many valuable minerals in these shellfish.
One morning, as the sun slowly began to rise over the lagoon and the water shimmered in the most beautiful colors, Ringo discovered a beautiful purple crab. It was large and had strong claws.
“This is going to be a real feast,” Ringo said happily, noticing that his stomach was already growling. Quiet as the wind, he bent down and then snapped it shut in one swift movement.
But just before he could penetrate the surface of the water, he suddenly heard a voice: “Good morning beautiful flamingo. What brings you to me?” Astonished and amazed at the same time, Ringo looked around the lagoon. But there was no one to be seen far and wide.
Ringo paused for a moment. He was surprised that the crab – which was actually his prey – had addressed him so directly. “Well… I was actually about to eat you. After all, you’re my favorite food,” Ringo answered the crab honestly.
The crab smiled gently and replied: “I see… then I must have been pretty lucky. But tell me, beautiful flamingo: do you actually know what we crabs do? Do you even know what we do all day?”
Somewhat embarrassed, Ringo replied: “Well, what are you crabs supposed to do? You bury yourselves in the sand and hide, and one day you’ll be found and eaten by me or my fellow crabs.”
The crab grinned. “I almost thought so. So you don’t know much about us crabs. We’re not just there to let you and your long-legged friends look for us and eat us. We spend most of our time keeping the lagoon, our common habitat, clean.”
Ringo’s interest was now piqued. “And how do you little creatures do that?” The crab explained to Ringo that there are more creatures in the water than you might think possible. “They are tiny, but there are a lot of them. We filter the water and eat old plant remains and algae. If we didn’t do this, the water would be cloudy and toxic.”
Ringo was impressed and puzzled at the same time. He had never before considered that crabs had any purpose other than to end up in his stomach over time. “So you’re like the gardeners of the lagoon?”
The crab nodded and began to involve Ringo even more deeply in the conversation. The two talked until the sun was high in the sky and the surface of the water dazzled Ringo’s face.
The crab knew that it was now getting very exhausting and hot for Ringo. He bravely seized the moment and suddenly suggested: “Maybe you should spare me and think about whether we could work together to ensure that the lagoon remains a beautiful place?”
Ringo raised his head thoughtfully towards the horizon. He wanted to think for a moment about what the crab had just suggested to him. “Well, you crabs already have an important task…,” Ringo began to say and just as he was about to look his new friend in the eye, he saw a large cloud of sand suddenly appear under the surface of the water.
Ringo’s eyes hurt. The surface of the water blinded him so much that he could no longer see the crab. As the churned-up sand slowly began to sink to the bottom of the lagoon again, Ringo realized one thing: the crab had disappeared.
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