How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful pond that a King made for his young princes to play in. They would swim and sail their little boats, enjoying the cool water. One day, the King decided to add some fish to the pond to make it even more fun.

The princes were very excited and went to see the fish. But among the fish, there was also a Turtle. When the princes saw the Turtle, they got scared and thought it was a strange creature. They ran to their father and shouted, "There’s a monster in the pond!"

The King told his helpers to catch the "monster" and bring it to the palace. When the princes saw the Turtle, they screamed and hid. The King loved his sons very much, so he told his helpers to get rid of the Turtle.

“What should we do with it?” they asked.

“Crush it,” one person said. “Cook it over hot coals,” another person suggested. They came up with many ideas until an old man, who was afraid of water, said, “Throw it into the pond where the water flows over the rocks. It will die there.”

The Turtle heard this and stuck its head out, saying, “Please, don’t throw me into the pond! The other ideas were bad, but throwing me into the water is too much!”

When the King heard this, he told his helpers to follow the old man’s plan and throw the Turtle into the pond.

As soon as the Turtle hit the water, it started swimming away happily. It thought to itself, “These people don’t know how safe I feel in the water!” The clever Turtle swam back to its home, safe and sound.