The Wily Tortoise, Imonikhe Ahimie [books for new readers TXT] 📗

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

 

This book was first published as part of a Kindle eBook in 2013. That book is no longer available.

The story here has been edited, expanded and reformatted for reading on multiple eBook formats and is issued as a free eBook in 2015

Text copyright © 2013 Imonikhe Ahimie

Text copyright © 2015 Imonikhe Ahimie

All rights reserved.

 

FOREWORD

 

The Tortoise is the most popular character of all the varied characters that abound in the folklore of the Nigerian peoples. The exploits of the Tortoise, whether in all-animal stories or in stories that have an animal-human mix, are without compare in all of the folklore that originates from The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

Indeed, in all of Nigerian folklore, there may be as many Tortoise stories as there are all other stories combined. In different circumstances, the Tortoise is associated with wisdom, selfishness, just low cunning or, even, kindness.

 

In this adventure, our hero cajoles the Eagle to allow him to follow to an island bristling with the most beautiful palm fruits in creation, but not even the Tortoise could have imagined what his greed for those luscious palm fruits would lead him through!

THE GREAT FAMINE

 

Once upon a time, there was a very great famine in the animal kingdom. So severe was the dearth of food that large numbers of folk had died as a result of the severity of the famine. As for those who were yet in the land of the living, the king and his nobles, the farmers and the traders, the freeborn as well as the slaves, every single one of them was no more than a mere shadow of his or her former self.

 

Well not quite everyone, for the Eagle and his family were in better shape than they had ever been. Whilst the other folk wasted away each passing day as they bemoaned a cruel fate, the Eagle was finer than ever and each passing day saw him grow finer and finer still. His plumage shone in the burning sun as he flew along in majestic fashion and every time that he took his evening constitutional, every other animal stared at his well-rounded stomach with unabashed envy.

 

This state of affairs was extremely galling to the rest of the animals, especially as the Eagle roundly refused to share with anyone the secret of his well-being; all entreaties in this regard were met with an amused look and a firm no. But, pressed as they were by hunger, the other animals were determined to discover the Eagle’s secret whether or not he was cooperative or not. So they mandated the other birds to follow the Eagle at all times so that they could discover his secret and every animal could share of the benefit in these so difficult times.

 

The birds tried, oh, they really tried; but their attempts to discover the Eagle’s secret were futile. Even before the famine had so weakened the folk, the Eagle was amongst the swiftest of all birds and there were few that could match him in speed and endurance. In their reduced state, all attempts by the birds to trail the Eagle ended as dismal failures. And so the situation remained: as the famine showed no signs of abating, every other animal continued slowly wasting away by the day while the Eagle grew ever more and more robust.

THE TORTOISE INTERVENES

 

Such was the situation when the Tortoise decided that enough was more than sufficient. He was determined to search out the Eagle’s secret.

 

“I’ll discover his source of food or I’ll die in the attempt!” he declared to his wife, and forthwith he set about his self-determined task.

 

Now the Tortoise was one of the wisest persons upon the face of the earth, the very wisest some folk declared unequivocally, and, when he put his mind to it, he could be extremely persuasive indeed. So off the Tortoise went to call on the Eagle in order try to weasel out of that close-mouthed bird the secret of his source of food and, I must tell you, the Tortoise’s reputation for persuasiveness remained fully intact after his encounter with the Eagle that day.

 

Although the Eagle had stoutly resisted the entreaties and blandishments of every other person who had approached him in an effort to share of his secret, he was no match for the master. Finally, pleading only that the Tortoise would keep the information solely to himself, the Eagle told all.

 

Far away in the middle of the wide, wide sea was an island garden. This garden was without compare in terms of beauty and fertility and it was filled with the most beautiful and bountiful palm trees ever seen; these wonderful trees were beyond what the mind could imagine. Each palm fruit was as large as a hen’s egg! It was this garden, which the Eagle had discovered during his travels in the days before the famine, which had proved to be the saving grace for the Eagle when the famine struck. It was not, the Eagle explained to the Tortoise, due to any hard-heartedness on his part that he had refused to share his secret with other folk. But the island was a small one and if the starving hordes of animal-kind were to descend upon those fruit-heavy trees then they would be denuded of fruits in a twinkling of an eye and the later situation would be worse than even the one in which they all now found themselves.

 

As the Eagle spoke, the Tortoise’s eyes grew wider and wider as he visualized this paradise on earth. He hastened to assure the Eagle that he did not hold it against him that he had kept this wonderful knowledge a close secret. Indeed, the Tortoise declared, he would have done precisely the same if he had found himself in the Eagle’s situation. It was surely better that a portion of animal-kind survived rather than that the whole of animal-kind should perish as a result of some misplaced ideas of kindness. However, the Tortoise continued, the addition of just one more person and his family could hardly result in the kind of depletion that the Eagle feared. If the Eagle would allow him to benefit from this wonderful knowledge, he could assure the Eagle that he would rather die than reveal this knowledge.

 

The Eagle was not averse to this suggestion, especially as his conscience had preyed on him severely when he had felt that he could not share his good fortune with all the other unhappy, starving animal folk. But, he asked, how would the Tortoise get to that island of delights? As he had said, the island was located far away in the middle of the deep blue sea. As far as he knew, there was no way by which the island could be reached dry-foot. Now this was a problem and, for some time, both the Tortoise and the Eagle sat in brooding silence. But the problem that would keep the Tortoise stumped for long had yet to come into being.

 

‘I think I have a solution”, the Tortoise cried in such jubilant accents that the Eagle was startled out of his reverie. “I will construct a pair of wings for myself!”

 

The Eagle stared at the Tortoise with a somewhat dubious look. A pair of wings! Was the Tortoise going out of his mind? But before the Eagle could utter a word, the Tortoise went on.

 

“Oh, my friend, I can see that you’re thinking that I’ve finally taken leave of my senses; not that the effects of this prolonged period of hunger are not sufficient to cause one to finally lose whatever senses he once possessed”, with a smile.

 

“No, dear Eagle, I haven’t taken leave of my senses just yet. I do not expect that the wings I construct will enable me to fly. However, if I attach a pair of wings to myself, then I can ride on your back and by flapping the constructs I can reduce the amount of work that you would have to do. In this way, we will both be able to go to and return from this garden of delights that you have described.”

 

After careful consideration, the Eagle admitted that the Tortoise’s proposal were meritorious and ought to meet the requirements of both of them journeying to and from that island of delights. So, agreeing to meet up with one another at the Eagle’s house first thing the next morning, the Tortoise, after thanking the Eagle once again in the most effusive manner, went off to set about constructing his wings.

THE TRIP TO THE ISLAND

The construction of the wings did not present any great difficulty for there was an abundant supply of stray feathers lying all over the place as the effects of the famine had caused most