The Child's Story: Why Does the Tortoise Have a Shell?

It is told that a tortoise called Miyub was walking along the side of the road when she saw an old woman called Agadi. She drew near her and called out, saying:
Agadi... Agadi... what have you done to yourself? You look thin and wasted.

Agadi looked at Miyub and said: That is only natural... Have you not heard that all the people, King Benin among them, are fasting seven days and seven nights?... This is the sixth day, and I feel a fierce hunger. Said the tortoise: Can nothing be done for your sake? The old woman answered: Nothing, my daughter... nothing at all. At that, sorrow showed on the tortoise's face, and she stood silent at her side.

That night the old woman allowed the tortoise to sleep in her hut, and told her wondrous tales of the great city, and told her that the king would give a splendid banquet at the end of the fast, which would be filled with every kind of gaiety and delight.

The tortoise wanted to attend that banquet, but when she asked the old woman to show her the way to the city, she answered her: No, my dear Miyub, it is very far, and you will never be able to reach it... you would have to pass through a thick and fearful forest... and besides, the banquet is for human beings only, not for animals.

But Miyub had made up her mind to attend it. So she began her journey and set out walking in earnest. After a little while she met, at the side of the road, Ini the gazelle, and she called to him at the top of her voice: Ini... Ini... you swift runner... you handsome and comely one — wait, for I have glad news for you.

Ini stopped and pricked up his ears, and Miyub began to sing as though she were the happiest of creatures... Then Ini came up to her and said: Why are you so happy, Miyub, and where are you going? She answered him: Have you not heard that the king is giving a banquet for all the animals? I am on my way to it... The gazelle cried: Good heavens! Then I shall go too. Said Miyub: Will you carry me? You are swift of foot, and I can show you the way.

So the gazelle carried her on his back and traveled with her a long distance. After a few hours Ini and Miyub felt a sharp hunger; but Miyub the tortoise contrived, by her cunning and deceit, to lead the gazelle to the leopard's den.

When Olu the leopard saw the two of them approaching his den, he crouched back and roared. Ini stopped in his tracks, seized with fear and alarm, and Miyub leapt from his back and hid herself in a burrow... The leopard roared once more, then sprang upon poor Ini and tore him to pieces. Then Miyub put her head out of the burrow and said: O leopard Olu, I have brought you Ini, the swift and beautiful; if you eat him all and overlook my share in him, you will be a greedy glutton and an ingrate. Olu growled, but he divided the gazelle's flesh with the tortoise. When they had eaten their fill, Miyub said to Olu: I have come to you with a glad message: the king has invited all the animals to a banquet. If you carry me on your back, I will show you the way, and we shall arrive there at the end of the days of fasting, before the hour of the banquet.

Olu was greedy by nature, so he accepted the tortoise's proposal and carried her on his back, and traveled with her until they came to the bank of a river. Then Miyub said to Olu: I fear the water and dread it, so I beg you not to leap across the river with me, lest I fall in and drown... An idea has come to me... Do you see that huge tree on the opposite bank? A rope hangs caught in it, and on one of its branches perches Uzu the bat. I will ask him to bring me the other end of the rope; then I will tie it around your neck and walk along it across the river. The foolish leopard quickly agreed to this idea; the bat brought the end of the rope, and the tortoise crossed to the opposite bank.

Scarcely had her feet touched the ground when she whispered in the bat's ear, saying: Listen, Uzu, I have a secret I want to share with you; but I will not disclose it to you unless you carry me on your back and fly me to the top of the tree. A moment later the bat was soaring through the air with the tortoise on his back, while the leopard remained tied to the tree. Not much time passed before a hunter came by bearing a sharp spear that flashed in the sunlight, and with it he pierced the poor leopard... As for Uzu, he fared no better, for Miyub told him the tale of the king's feast and persuaded him to fly her many miles over the green forest.

When they reached the outskirts of the city, she asked Uzu the bat to bring her down onto a small bush, for with her two sharp eyes she had seen the king standing in the courtyard of the temple, devouring food from a dish that had been prepared for the eagle god — when he was supposed to be fasting. The tortoise drew near the king and cried out at him: I saw you! I saw you!... The king fell on his knees in abasement and submission, and began begging the tortoise not to betray him, promising that if she kept the secret he would honor her on the day of the banquet and care well for her. So she promised him.

But did she keep her promise? We shall see.

The tortoise joined the king's retinue, and they set off toward the city. When they arrived, the king sent secretly for his sorcerer, who prepared a charm for him, and he placed it in the bowl from which Miyub was to eat on the day of the feast.

The next day the banquet began with singing and dancing, and Miyub sat down, before her a bowl full of potatoes, her favorite food of all. Joy and delight possessed her, and she ate and lost herself in eating — yet the food never grew less... for she was eating from the enchanted bowl... But she went on eating until she was glutted and could take no more... Then she rose to go out. She had scarcely taken a few steps when the bowl followed her. She stopped and fixed it with a glance full of doubt and suspicion. Then she walked a few steps more, stopped suddenly, and looked — and found it still behind her... This did not please her, so she set off running through the streets of the city, crying: The king ate of the forbidden food in the courtyard of the temple!... Yes, he ate of it, and I saw him with my own eyes!...

But no one paid her words any heed, for all the people were laughing at the top of their voices, and the sound of their laughter drowned out her voice, so they did not hear it.

Miyub kept running through the streets, the bowl following her wherever she went, until the tortoise stumbled and fell into a hole. The bowl fell right after her and landed upon her back, where it settled and stuck fast. The tortoise tried to rid herself of it, but in vain. And from that time on, the tortoise has had the hard back that you all know.