One of my favourite stories to listen to was the story of the tortoise and other animals, each with its own moral lesson to learn. I had storybooks filled with tales about the tortoise and the animals, and it was always fun reading them late into the night. The tortoise was such a cunning and selfish creature, never putting others first, especially when it came to goodies.
One of the stories that taught me a good lesson was the one where the tortoise overheard the birds talking about a banquet in the sky. He quickly went to meet them, begging them to let him go along. The only problem was that he didn’t have feathers to fly, so out of their kindness and love, each bird donated a feather for the tortoise to join them. He was overjoyed — little did they know he already had an agenda. Of course, none of his actions ever came without some cunning trick or selfish motive in the end.
When they arrived at the banquet, everyone welcomed them warmly. When it was time for refreshments, the tortoise came up with an idea that everyone thought was fun and good. He suggested that they all pick nicknames for themselves, and the birds agreed. Everyone chose a name, and when it got to his turn, the tortoise said his name would be “Everybody.”
When the first meal was served, the tortoise asked whose it was, and they replied that it was for “everybody.” That was how the tortoise ate the whole meal. They brought the second and the third, and he ate everything again because the servers kept saying the food was for “everybody.” The food was meant for all of them, but he acted cunningly and took advantage of the name he chose.
When it was time to return home, the birds were angry because they hadn’t tasted any of the food at the party. They decided not to give him their feathers again. So, they all left, leaving him alone. Before they flew off, the tortoise begged them to tell his wife to bring out all the soft items in the house so he could land on them when he jumped down from the sky.
When they got back home, the birds told his wife the opposite of what he said. So, she brought out all the hard items in the house. When the tortoise finally jumped, he fell on them and got badly hurt, shattering his shell.
This story taught me a great lesson as a young girl. We should always consider the consequences of our actions before trying to harm anyone. No one knows what the future holds, and just because of what we eat today, we shouldn’t jeopardise our tomorrow, especially when dealing with others.
When people do good to us, we should do good to them in return. And most importantly, the golden rule remains true: do unto others as you would want them to do unto you, because the way we treat people today is often the way we’ll be treated in the future.
Image Credit to Chatgpt