The Tortoise and the Birds

Once upon a time in a village in Nigeria, there lived a cunning Tortoise. The Tortoise was always coming up with schemes to trick the other animals out of their food.

One day, word came that the King of the Heavens was throwing a great feast and all the birds were invited. The Tortoise, hearing this, felt envious. He wanted to attend the feast, but he had no wings to fly to the heavens.

So, he came up with a plan. He approached the birds and said, "Friends, I have a suggestion. We are all creatures of the same land. Why don't you take me to the heavens with you? I promise I will behave myself."

The birds were skeptical because they knew about the Tortoise's trickery. But the Tortoise pleaded and pleaded, and eventually, the birds agreed to take him. They each gave him a feather, and with those, he made wings.

Before they set off, the Tortoise told the birds, "As we are going to meet the King, we should all have royal names. I shall be called All-of-you." The birds agreed and they all took royal names.

When they reached the heavens, the feast was grand and the food plentiful. When the King of Heavens asked the servants to serve the food, he said, "Serve the food to all of you."

The Tortoise, using his royal name, claimed all the food saying, "The King said all the food is for 'All-of-you', and that's me!" The Tortoise gobbled down the food, leaving the birds hungry.

The birds were angry at being tricked. They took back their feathers from the Tortoise, leaving him stranded in the heavens without any way to fly back home.

The Tortoise, realizing his greed had gotten him into a terrible situation, begged a bird to send word to his wife to prepare a soft landing for him. But the birds instead spread false words, and his wife prepared a hard landing.

With no other choice, the Tortoise jumped down from the heavens and landed on the hard ground. His shell cracked from the fall and it serves as a reminder of his greed and trickery.