When a family picked up a beautiful shell at the beach, they had no idea somebody was already living inside… and that somebody was about to go on a very unexpected adventure.
Shell-Vis Presley was a very small hermit crab who lived beside the sea.
His home was Kidd’s Beach in East London, where the waves rolled onto the shore, little rock pools sparkled in the sunshine and crabs like Shell-Vis could spend their days doing important crab things.
Shell-Vis had found himself a rather lovely shell to live in. It fitted him perfectly, kept him safe and went everywhere he went.
There was just one problem.
One day, a family visiting the beach spotted his beautiful shell and thought it would make a wonderful keepsake. They picked it up, packed it with their things and travelled all the way back to Johannesburg.
They had no idea that the shell already belonged to someone.
Imagine their surprise when they arrived home and discovered a tiny pair of legs appearing from inside!
There was a hermit crab in their holiday shell.
And he was a very, very long way from home.
Related Stories
The Petrol Attendant Who Saved the School Run
The Bicycle That Brought Two Friends TogetherThe family knew immediately that they had to help, so they contacted the Randburg SPCA. The people there cared for animals every day but even they had never had a visitor quite like this one.
They called wildlife vets for advice and made sure their tiny guest had everything he needed while they worked out how to return him to the sea.
They also gave him a magnificent name.
Shell-Vis Presley.
Soon, people began sharing the story of the little crab who had accidentally gone on holiday to Johannesburg. One of the people who saw it was a woman named Tracy, who lived near Kidd’s Beach and often helped animals in need.
She knew she wanted to help get him home.
Her friend Sheila was travelling from Johannesburg and offered to bring him with her. Everyone began making plans, but there was a problem: Shell-Vis could not travel on the flight.
Shell-Vis was not exactly a normal passenger.
He had no suitcase.
No boarding pass.
And very little chance of reaching the overhead locker.
Luckily, lots of people had heard about his adventure by then, and they were determined to help. HOT FM and Airlink joined the rescue mission and suddenly Shell-Vis had his very own travel team.
He was carefully packed with the water and oxygen he needed to stay safe, and before long, the little hermit crab who had accidentally travelled hundreds of kilometres away from the ocean was flying back towards it.
When he arrived in East London, Tracy was waiting for him.
That night, Shell-Vis stayed safely beside her while she checked on him again and again. She was worried about her tiny guest after his enormous journey but Shell-Vis made it through the night perfectly well.
The following morning, Tracy and Sheila took Shell-Vis back to Kidd’s Beach.
Back to the waves.
Back to the rocks.
Back to the place where his adventure had begun.
They found a rock pool and gently placed him near the water but Shell-Vis did not immediately scuttle away. Maybe he was wondering whether these humans were about to send him on another holiday.
Tracy and Sheila waited patiently before moving him into a slightly deeper rock pool. This time, Shell-Vis began to settle in.
Tracy stayed at the beach for the rest of the day and kept returning to check on him. When it was finally time to leave, she went back one last time and discovered something wonderful.
Shell-Vis was surrounded by a little group of crabs.
“It was almost like he was telling them bedtime stories,” Tracy said.
And if he really was telling them about his adventure, he had quite a story to share.
He could tell them about the family who discovered their mistake and chose to fix it. He could tell them about the SPCA team who cared for a creature they had never cared for before. He could tell them about Tracy and Sheila, who gave their time to help him, and about all the people who shared his story until the right helpers found him.
He could tell them that although he was only a tiny hermit crab, people decided his life mattered.
Kindness is not measured by the size of the creature receiving it.
Helping someone does not have to change the whole planet to be important. Caring for one animal, helping one person, fixing one mistake or doing one good thing still makes a difference.
This is part of our “4 Kids” section. Articles that have been adapted for kids! The original “grown up” article can be found here.
by 
