I love a good folk tale. Today during my Bambara lesson my language tutor told me this one, and I understood enough of the story to make sense of it. (yay! I am making progress!) So here is my retelling of a traditional African story:
Many of the
forest animals were friends. Turtle
learned that two of his good bird friends would be having their wedding up in the
sky. Turtle really wanted to go to the
wedding, but since he didn’t have wings it seemed impossible to get up
there. One of his bird friends got the
other birds together and they all agreed to each give one of their feathers to
Turtle. Turtle gathered all of the
feathers together, and then he was able to fly up to the bird wedding in the
sky.
The festivities took place over several days. When the birds and Turtle arrived, they were asked their names by the host. Turtle said that his name was “You All.” The host cooked some good food and gave it to the guests saying “Here is some food for you all to eat.” Turtle said “Did you hear that? The food is for me!” And he ate all of the food without sharing. This happened again and again in the same way for the next few meals. The birds were very angry with Turtle, and they each decided to take back the feather that they had given. Turtle was left with no feathers, so he could not fly back home.
When the wedding was finished and the birds were ready to go back to the forest, Turtle pleaded with them, “Will you please give a message to my wife? Tell her to take everything soft out of the house, like our mattress, couch, and pillows, and pile it all together in our yard.” Turtle was planning to jump down from the sky and he wanted a soft place to land. But the birds were still angry, so the message they said to Turtle’s wife was, “Turtle wants you to put all of the sharp and hard things together in a pile in the yard.”
So Mrs. Turtle took the cooking pots, knives, and metal tools and piled them up in the yard. Turtle jumped down from the sky and his shell shattered into pieces when he hit the pile. Mrs. Turtle picked up the pieces of Turtle’s shell and brought them to the cobbler who sewed the pieces back together. And this is why a turtle’s shell looks the way it does.
The festivities took place over several days. When the birds and Turtle arrived, they were asked their names by the host. Turtle said that his name was “You All.” The host cooked some good food and gave it to the guests saying “Here is some food for you all to eat.” Turtle said “Did you hear that? The food is for me!” And he ate all of the food without sharing. This happened again and again in the same way for the next few meals. The birds were very angry with Turtle, and they each decided to take back the feather that they had given. Turtle was left with no feathers, so he could not fly back home.
When the wedding was finished and the birds were ready to go back to the forest, Turtle pleaded with them, “Will you please give a message to my wife? Tell her to take everything soft out of the house, like our mattress, couch, and pillows, and pile it all together in our yard.” Turtle was planning to jump down from the sky and he wanted a soft place to land. But the birds were still angry, so the message they said to Turtle’s wife was, “Turtle wants you to put all of the sharp and hard things together in a pile in the yard.”
So Mrs. Turtle took the cooking pots, knives, and metal tools and piled them up in the yard. Turtle jumped down from the sky and his shell shattered into pieces when he hit the pile. Mrs. Turtle picked up the pieces of Turtle’s shell and brought them to the cobbler who sewed the pieces back together. And this is why a turtle’s shell looks the way it does.
Chuckle!! :)
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