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The
Tortoise, Her Problem, And The Turtle
-
Oliver O. Mbamara
When Mother-Tortoise finished her story, she released her children to go about their business of the day. She had done what a mother could do. She had explained to her growing children how nature bestowed each tortoise with a body that has a heavy shell to be carried around. “I thought that you should know this, so you could deal with it when others tease you, and revile you, and insult your nature,” Mother-Tortoise concluded. She had taught her children how to accept themselves for who they are, how to face life’s challenges, and how to overcome them rather than languish in self-pity and low self-worth.
Happy-Tortoise, the elder of the two children, crawled out of the house and joined the other animals to play. It no longer bothered her when the other animals made fun of her sluggish movement. She simply ignored their tease and continued to play with them. In fact she got so used to them that their tease had no more impact on her. When the other animals noticed that Happy-Tortoise was no longer affected by the tease and name-callings, they gave up and accepted her for what she was.
The case was not the same for Lazy-Tortoise, the younger tortoise. Lazy-Tortoise saw the burden of the shell she carried around as an excuse to win the sympathy of others. She refused to do any hard work or engage in any tough play with the other young animals. She would complain to any one who would listen how the world is worst for her, and how people should always help her. The other young animals knew the disposition of Lazy-Tortoise so they enjoyed making fun of her. Lazy-Tortoise was always bitterly touched by the tease and jokes, but she refused to confront the situation, rather she became even more introverted and withdrawn.
As they grew older, the shells grew larger and heavier, but because Happy-Tortoise refused to be bothered by the shell she carried around, she never noticed that her shell had grown very big. Happy-Tortoise never felt the weight since the problem never existed in her mind. She overcame all the problems that the shell would have posed to her. As the shell grew, so did her strength. As time went on, she grew to carry the shell around easily as she went about her business.
As for Lazy-Tortoise, the weight of the shell became heavier as the days passed by because Lazy-Tortoise always placed all her attention on the shell and its impediments as she bitterly and sluggishly dragged her self around. Her limbs became dull and almost numb, her gait became even slower, while her mood was always moody. She continued to draw attention to weakness, illness, insecurity, and sympathy until all those around her grew tired of pampering her.
It got worse as they grew to adulthood and the age of independence. Happy-Tortoise moved on with life and embraced the challenges and pleasures of adulthood and maturity. Happy-Tortoise was liked by other animals in the kingdom because of how she had conquered the problem of the tortoise-shell which seemed to overwhelm her sister – Lazy-Tortoise. On the other hand, Lazy-Tortoise found it very hard to grab hold of the new age that approached. She stayed away from new challenges, and learned nothing in her youth while she spent more time in self-pity and loafing.
Soon, Lazy-Tortoise became jealous of Happy-Tortoise. She blamed everyone for liking her sister - Happy-Tortoise more than they liked her. She however failed to look at her self and correct the behavior that made her life such a misery. She was too busy blaming others and God for giving her such a heavy shell to carry around. Subsequently, Lazy-Tortoise plotted to kill her sister, Happy-Tortoise. Lazy-Tortoise was of the conception that if she could eliminate her sister, then the other animals will have no other smart and happy tortoise to compare her laziness with. “It is because of Happy-Tortoise that others think that I am a nerd and a weakling,” Lazy-Tortoise reasoned to herself.
Lazy-Tortoise then thought of a plan and waited until the day that Mother-Tortoise sent Happy-Tortoise to the big market in the neighboring village. Happy-Tortoise had to use a tiny bridge to go across the river to the market in the neighboring village. Lazy-Tortoise planned to make sure that Happy-Tortoise met her death at the bridge. On that fateful day, lazy decided to tamper with the tiny bridge so that the bridge would collapse and thereby cause Happy-Tortoise to drown. Lazy-Tortoise then waited patiently by the edge of the bridge for Happy-Tortoise to return.
As Lazy-Tortoise waited, she saw a group of young animals returning from the market. She quickly dug a hole to hide herself under the fallen leaves that have accumulated under a nearby tree. In her hurry to finish before the other animals would come upon her, she did not dig enough hole to cover her entire body, but she hoped it would. So when the animals approached, they easily saw the shell of Lazy-Tortoise protruding from under the leaves. Laughing at the ridiculous posture of the tortoise with her head under the leaves, the animals pulled Lazy-Tortoise out of the partial hole. They teased her again and again, wondering what she was doing at the place alone with head stuck under the leaves. “You lazy loafer, what are you doing here with your head buried under the leaves, looking for food?” teased the Goat. Lazy-Tortoise could only blame her clumsy shell, but she refused to say what she was doing at the edge of the bridge.
The other animals continued to bother Lazy-Tortoise, until she could take it no more. Hoping to make them leave her alone, Lazy-Tortoise came up with a big lie that she hoped would convince the other animals to leave her alone. “Our mother had put her eyes aside while she slept,” Lazy-Tortoise began. “But when my sister, Happy-Tortoise woke very early in the morning to leave for the market, she mistakenly collected our mother’s eyes with her thinking it was the money our mother had left for her to go to the market with.” Asked what she was then doing with her head under the leaves, Lazy-Tortoise explained that she was searching everywhere, even under the leaves and inside every hole to see if Happy-Tortoise had dropped the pair of eyes anywhere by any chance.
The other animals were so moved by the story that they decided to help the tortoise get to Happy-Tortoise before Happy-Tortoise would exchange the eyes of Mother-Tortoise with some distant stranger. “We know you are slow, so we will help you get to the market as quickly as we can,” suggested the dog. The other animals unanimously agreed with the dog, and before the tortoise would have the chance to convince them otherwise, the other animals have lifted Lazy-Tortoise onto the tiny bridge and they all headed back towards the market. A lot of other passersby animals on their way to or from the market that have gathered, were very willing to help recover the eyes of Mother-Tortoise. Still looking for a way out, Lazy-Tortoise requested that she be left alone to walk on her own, bringing up the rear. “Go ahead, you know what to do when you get there before me,” Lazy-Tortoise urged the other animals.
It happened that all the animals mounted the bridge at the same time. The weight was very heavy for the tiny bridge. The fact that Lazy-Tortoise had earlier tampered with the structure of the bridge did not help matters. By the time the crowd of animals got midway into the bridge, it was shaking and meaning to collapse. As the wind intensified, the other animals panicked and in the ensuing pandemonium, the bridge collapsed. Almost every one made it safely across except Lazy-Tortoise who was bringing the rear. She went down with the wreckage.
The other animals assumed that Lazy-Tortoise must have died, but some simply decided to continue to the market in order to stop Happy-Tortoise from giving away the eyes of Mother-Tortoise. They hoped to at least salvage the eyes instead of wasting time looking for Lazy-Tortoise under the river. “If she is alive, she would swim out to the surface,” said the Sheep. The rest of the animals and those that subsequently came to cross the river mobilized themselves, and started working on repairing the fallen bridge.
Under the river, Lazy-Tortoise struggled to survive, but she could not swim. She had always stayed away from all sporting activities including swimming because she always pretended to be sick or weak in order to win the sympathy of others. As Lazy-Tortoise grappled and gasped for air, the Queen-of-the-river came to her and offered her the chance to live but only if Lazy-Tortoise would serve the Queen and the river. “Choose now,” The Queen-of-the-river said to Lazy-Tortoise. “Live and become my servant or refuse to serve me and meet your death,” the Queen-of-the-river demanded. Lazy-Tortoise had no choice, so she chose to live and serve the river and the Queen-of-the-river. The Queen-of-the-river decided to turn the limbs of Lazy-Tortoise into fins to enable Lazy-Tortoise swim in the river, and she then gave Lazy-Tortoise a new name - Turtle.
©Oliver O. Mbamara,
2003
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Oliver Mbamara is an Administrative Law Judge with the State of New York.
He is also a filmmaker and a Published Poet and playwright. For more on Oliver, please visit
www.olivermbamara.com
For background/research reference on this
piece, click on this link
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