How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful pond made by a King for his young princes to have fun and play in. They would swim and sail their little boats, enjoying the cool water. One day, the King decided to add some fishes to make it even more fun.

The princes were very excited and went to see the fishes. But among the fishes, there was also a Turtle. When the princes saw the Turtle, they got scared and thought it was a strange creature. They ran to their father and shouted, "There's a monster near the pond!"

The King told his people to catch the so-called monster and bring it to the palace. When the boys saw the Turtle, they screamed and hid. The King loved his sons very much, so he told his people to get rid of the Turtle.

"What should we do with it?" they asked.

"Crush it," one person suggested. "Cook it over hot coals," another person said. They came up with many different plans until an old man, who was always scared of water, said, "Throw it into the pond where the water falls over the rocks. It will surely die there."

The Turtle heard this and stuck its head out, begging, "Friend, why such a terrible plan? The other ideas were bad, but throwing me into the pond! Please, don't be so harsh!"

When the King heard the Turtle's plea, he told his people to follow the old man's plan and throw the Turtle into the pond.

As soon as the Turtle hit the water, it started swimming away, happily thinking to itself, "Ah, these people don't know how safe I feel in the water!" It happily swam back to its old home. And so, the clever Turtle saved its own life.