One Friday afternoon after a week’s hard work, making sure all the flowers in Garden valley are painted beautifully and no leaves are lying around, Raspos and Melba decided to go fishing for the weekend. Actually, Raspos just said he would go with to keep Melba company. He doesn’t like fishing at all, sitting there the whole day, looking at the water and waiting for a fish to bite is not Raspos’ idea of fun. He would rather catch up with some sleep again during their weekend away.
The two friends decided to go to Crystal waters, as there are lots of fish in the river and Melba could keep himself busy there for hours. Raspos took a picnic basket, his tent, pillow and a blanket for the night. He climbed on Melbas’ back and off they went.
When the two friends got to Crystal waters, they first put up the tent, and then decided to eat something before the big fishing starts
“Raspos,” asked Melba, “what are you going to do while I am fishing?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me Melba,” said Raspos. “I packed my pillow, which means that I can catch up with some sleep I lost during this weeks’ hard work” he explained to Melba.
“I brought two fishing rods” Melba shouted as he walked down to the river.
The water was so clear the Melba could see all the fish swimming in the river. He tried to look for a good fishing spot where he could sit for the day. Melba saw a big rock close to the water and decided that that would be the perfect place to sit.
Raspos, not far from Melba, watched him as he was setting up his fishing spot.
He saw Melba casting the line into the water and went to sit on the big rock. All of the sudden, the big rock started to move and Raspos saw how scared Melba was not knowing what is happening. Raspos stood up and ran down towards the river where Melba was screaming for help.
“Help, Help!!!!” cried Melba.
“Why are you crying for help, if I am the one who is being sat on?” a deep voice asked.
It was Torri Tortoise, the oldest tortoise in Garden valley. He was on his way to cross the river when he felt someone making themselves comfortable on the top of his shell.
“Are you blind?” asked Torri, with an angry voice. “Is it because I am old that you decide to sit on my shell?”“I am old and not in the mood for your games, Melba!” Torri shouted.
“The two of you don’t care about other animals in the bush”, Torri carried on.
Raspos and Melba both just stared at each other, not knowing what to say.
Raspos started explaining: “Sorry Torri, I am sure Melba just thought you were a big rock, he didn’t know it was you that were so close to the water. We are here for the weekend to fish, we are very sorry that we didn’t see you there.”
“Please don’t be angry” Melba asked. “Like Raspos said, we are only here to fish, not to make any trouble for ourselves or other animals.” “We care about all the animals in the bush” Melba tried to explain.
“Ok, Ok!!” Torri said, “Apology accepted.”
“There is, however, something that you can do for me you know.” Torri started.
Right at that moment, Raspos knew that his time for sleep has gone when Torri asked for help.
“Of course we will help you Torri,” said Melba
“What is it we can help you with?” asked Raspos.
Torri started to explain to the two of them, that he too, wants to be as fast as the rest of the animals. He explained to them that his shell is holding him back when he tries to walk and that sometimes the shell makes it very hot inside. Torri asked the two friends if they could try and get the shell off of him.
When Raspos told Torri that he doesn’t think it is a good idea for a tortoise to get rid of his shell, Torri started yelling and told them that they don’t care about other animals in the bush, again.
Torri was so mad when the two friends didn’t want to help him that he walked off into the bush.
A few minutes later, Raspos and Melba heard a terrible cry in the direction which Torri walked off to. They ran to see what was going on and from where they were standing, they could see Torri lying on his back, trying to get back onto his feet. The two friends rushed over to help him.
Torri explained to them that while he was walking, a jackal came up to him and tried to eat him. The jackal bit his shell and when he couldn’t reach Torri’s body, he pushed him over on his backside. Torri pulled himself into his shell and the jackal couldn’t get to him at all. The jackal pushed him around a few more times and when he couldn’t do anything further, he decided to give up and disappeared into the bush.
“I would never say that you don’t care about other animals again,” Torri said to Raspos. “If it wasn’t for you, by not wanting to help me get rid of my shell, the jackal would have eaten me.”
“Yes,” said Raspos, “everything we have and how we are created, are there for a reason.”
“Always be thankful for what you have” said Melba.
Torri thanked them once again and even offered to go back to the river with them. He told Melba that while he, Torri, is going to take a nap, Melba could sit on him and try to catch some fish.
The three of them went back to the river, Melba sitting on his “rock” and trying to catch a fish and Raspos finally getting some sleep.
