How the tortoise got its shell!!!

We had to choose an animal and write a story about the how they got one of their physical attributes.

I chose Tortoise (which apparently is different from a "turtle" in certain characteristics).. and wrote a story about how it got its shell!!!

I enjoyed researching about tortoises and all the mythologies attached to it. I have a new found appreciation for them and they are like MY favourite animal..

So here it goes..

In the beginning, on an island named Galápagos Island, which means “the Land of the tortoises”, there lived a giant tortoise name Akupara. In those days, tortoises didn’t have a shell and they could move around quickly with ease.

However, Akupara, was a very, very, very, lazy tortoise. He was also considered a very wise Tortoise. Whenever any animal was having a dispute on the island, they would approach Akupara for a solution. The advice given by Akupara would be apt for the situation and all the creatures would walk away be satisfied.

But there was one problem. Inspite of all his knowledge, Akupara was not keen to help any of the animals.

For e.g.: One day when Akupara was having a nice warm bath, the mouse came running to him. The mouse squeaked and said “Hey Akupara, the lion, who once had let me go, got entangled in a net of a hunter. I don’t know how to save him and even if I do, he might eat me. Akupara annoyingly replied, “Why don’t you just bite the net and run away?” The mouse thought that was a good idea, did what Akupara suggested and became famous for its bravery.

On another occasion, Akupara was having a nice breakfast of green leafy vegetables. When a fox came running and said “Akupara, For a long time, I have been trying to jump and reach a bunch of grapes and how much I try to jump, I am not able to reach them." Akupara who didn’t like to be disturbed, got irritated and replied “Well, foxy, maybe, the grapes could have been sour”. The fox kept quiet, thought for a moment, smiled and said, “Yes, the grapes were sour” and happily walked away in satisfaction announcing the same to every creature on the island.

Now Akupara, felt that all the animals were taking it for granted. While all the animals were used to asking Akupara for help, it would try to avoid them all. One day Akupara got fed up. And thought, enough, is enough. Just because I’m smart doesn’t give all the animals the right to make use of my intelligence whenever they want. So, in a fury of rage, Akupara wanted to go somewhere, where no creatures would bother it.

It looked around on the island and didn’t know where it could hide since the island was filled with animals everywhere. Then it turned to the ocean, and decided to go into the ocean. It dived into the bright blue ocean. It swam deep and deep, until it reached the bottom of the ocean. By then, Akupara was tired and it lied on the mud floor of the ocean and in a few minutes, it dozed off. It slept for days and nights together inside the ocean.

Then suddenly, one day, Akupara felt the sun rays glaring on its face. It slowly opened its eyes and noticed that it was floating in the middle of the vast blue ocean. It also felt something different under its body. It had to reach the island. So floating away, Akupara finally managed to land on the Galapagos Island. It started to walk and shrug off whatever the heavy thing was on its back. How much ever Akupara shrugged, the thing would not budge.

Apparently, when Akupara was lying lazily on the bottom of the ocean, the mud and the water had mixed and formed a layer on its back. When Akupara was floating the layer it hardened more and took the form of a huge domed shaped shell.

Akupara tried to topple upside down and break the shell, but the shell got cracks all over it and nothing else happened. It had completely fused into Akupara's back. Akupara not only got stuck with the shell on its back, it also had to be very patient since it could not move around asquickly as it used to. It could make only slow movements because of the weight of its new shell.

Akupara noticed that all the animals coming towards it and thought that they were angry with it for having avoided them so long, but to its surprise, all the animals were very concerned about it and were sorry that they disturbed it all the time.

Akupara learned a valuable lesson on that day, that having intelligence wasn’t enough, if it couldn’t use it was effectively, for helping itself and other creatures.

Since then, Akupara would always listen calmly to all the animals and give valuable advice with the huge shell on its back.