Giant Crab - And Other Tales from Old India

by W.H.D. Rouse

Once upon a time there was a lake in the mountains, and in that lake lived a huge Crab. I daresay you have often seen crabs boiled, and put on a dish for you to eat; and perhaps at the seaside you have watched them sidling away at the bottom of a pool. Sometimes a boy or girl bathing in the sea gets a nip from a crab, and then there is squeaking and squealing. But our Crab was much larger than these; he was the largest Crab ever heard of; he was bigger than a dining-room table, and his claws were as big as an armchair. Fancy what it must be to have a nip from such claws as those!

This went on for a long time, and the Crab grew bigger and bigger every day, fattening on the animals that came there to drink. So at last all the animals were afraid to go near that lake. This was a pity, because there was very little water in the mountains, and the creatures did not know what to do when they were thirsty.

At last a great Elephant made up his mind to put an end to the Crab and his doings. . . .

109 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Rouse is known for his plain English prose translations of Homer's ancient Greek epic poems Odyssey (1937) and Iliad (1938). He is also recognized for his translations of Plato's Dialogues, including The Republic, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.

William Henry Denham (W. H. D.) Rouse (30 May 1863 – 10 February 1950) was a pioneering British teacher who advocated the use of the Direct Method of teaching Latin and Greek.

Born in Calcutta, India on 31 May 1863, Rouse gained a double first in the Classical Tripos at the University of Cambridge, where he also studied Sanskrit. He became a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge in 1888.

After brief spells at Bedford School and Cheltenham College, he became a schoolmaster at Rugby School, where he encouraged Arthur Ransome - against his parents' wishes - to become a writer. Ransome later wrote, "My greatest piece of good fortune in coming to Rugby was that I passed so low into the school ... that I came at once into the hands of a most remarkable man whom I might otherwise never have met. This was Dr W.H.D. Rouse."

Rouse was appointed headmaster of The Perse School, Cambridge, in 1902. While in charge, he restored it to a sound financial footing following a crisis. As a teacher he believed firmly in learning by doing as well as seeing and hearing: although the curriculum at the Perse was dominated by classics, he urged that science should be learned through experiment and observation. He was a strong personality, described by the archivist of The Perse School as the school's greatest Headmaster: "Rouse was strongly independent to the point of eccentricity. He hated most machines, all bureaucracy and public exams." He retired from teaching in 1928.

In 1911, Rouse started a successful series of summer schools for teachers to promulgate the Direct Method of teaching Latin and Greek. The Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching (ARLT) was formed in 1913 as a result of these seminars. Also in 1911, James Loeb chose W. H.D. Rouse, together with two other eminent Classical scholars, T. E. Page and Edward Capps, to be founding editors of the Loeb Classical Library.

Rouse died in Hayling Island on 10 February 1950.

Obituary: The Association for Latin Teaching

Reviews

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet little book, amazing illustrations. The tone can get a bit cutesy and cloying (typical of kids books for the period), and for some of the stories I was pretty confused what the lesson was supposed to be, but on the whole an enjoyable and fun read.

[Jessica Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Admittedly it is advertised as 'dumbed down', but....

....there is dumbed down and there is stupid. Not only is the text awful, but if the title hadn't had 'India' in the title, you would think the tales had come from a tropical northern Europe. Skip it. There has to be better books