Once upon a time, near a sparkly lake, stood a giant banyan tree. Many cranes made their nests in its branches.

But, oh no! A sneaky black snake lived in a hole at the bottom of the tree. He was very bad and ate the baby cranes!

One mama crane cried sadly because the snake ate all her babies. A little crab saw her crying and asked, “Why are you so sad, Mama Crane?”

“The bad snake ate my babies!” cried the mama crane. “I wish I could stop him!”

The crab had a tricky plan. He wanted to get rid of the cranes too, because they were his enemies! He told the mama crane, “I have a plan! Put some yummy fish near the snake’s hole. A mongoose will smell it, come to eat, and fight the snake!”

The mama crane did what the crab said. The mongoose came, fought the snake, and the snake was gone! But then… the mongoose saw all the cranes in the tree. He climbed up and ate them all!

The crab’s plan didn’t work very well. It made things much worse! So remember, kids: Always make sure your plan to fix a problem doesn’t make things even worse!