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The Tortoise and the Elephant
You have no doubt heard of the Hare and the Tortoise? Well this is an African fable from Zaire which shows that tortoises are good at winning all over the world. This story is about a trial of strength. Who do you think is stronger, an elephant or a tortoise?
As with many of our fables, it is told in the voice of a character. Can you guess what sort of African bird is telling the story?
Read by Natasha. Fable adapted for Storynory by Bertie.
I think of myself as the smartest of birds. I never trouble myself
with work or danger. I sit shrugging on a tree, or spread my shaggy
wings and flap lazily over the African plains. When I see a lion
eating its kill, I wait for it to finish, and then hop down and pick
the bones clean. Leftovers are easy and tasty meat. So you see, we
vultures live off the work of others. Is that not the cleverest way
to live?
But the other day I saw an animal pull off a trick that even
impressed a wise old bird like me. He wasn’t much to look at – just a
stumpy-legged, sleepy-eyed, wrinkly-mouthed tortoise. He did not
exactly seem like a quick thinker, but do not let his slow steps fool
you. His heavy hard shell hides a mind of cunning.
He was sleeping in the grass, when an elephant came stomping along
with his fat heavy feet. The ground was shaking, but he did not wake
up or stir his shell.
“Out of my way titch, or I’ll step on you,” called out the elephant.
“That’s fair warning,” I thought. “He’d better get out of the way
swift-like.” But the tortoise did not budge. Instead he poked his
head out of his shell and said:
“Do as you like Jumbo, I’m stronger than you are!”
“Rubbish! No one is stronger than me!” trumpeted the bigger of the two
beasts – and that’s rather understating their difference in size by
the way.
“Well I am too sleepy to move, and I don’t care if you tread on me,”
replied the little one gamely.
“All right then, you asked for it brother,” said the elephant. A
moment later he placed his foot and his six tons of weight onto the
shell of the sluggish one. Even I winced… then I wondered what
squashed tortoise would taste like. Not too tender, I thought, but
you can’t complain about the menu when you eat for free.
But much to surprise of everyone the tortoise was not squashed. His
shell could hold up even an elephant. Well that was some roof!
“Humph!” said the elephant. “You’re not strong, you’re just not
squishy, that’s different.”
“You’re just a bad loser,” said the tortoise with a yawn, before going
back to sleep.
Well that little episode caused a stir on the African plain. Soon all
the animals were gossiping about how the tortoise got the better of
the elephant. Little did we realise that there was still better to
come. Towards evening, when the sun began to head for bed behind the
horizon, the tortoise eased his way down to the river for a sip of
water. There on the banks he met a hippopotamus. The hippo smiled
when he saw the little fellow and said:
“I heard how you got the better of that fat old lump of an elephant,
but don’t be so foolish as to take me on. I am no fool. I would turn
you over before I squashed you – so don’t go getting any ideas above
your station.”
“All the same, I bet I’m stronger than you,” boasted the tortoise. I
was listening in to this conversation, and this time, I thought that
triumph had gone to the little fellow’s head. He was boasting too
much, and his pride would surely lead to his fall. You can’t go around
taking on all the biggest and heaviest animals and expect to live for
long – or so I thought. The hippopotamus clearly thought the same.
He replied, “That’s a bet I’d like to take.”
“Well you see that rope left by the boatman after the crocodile
invited him for lunch. We will use it for a tug-of-war.”
“You’re on,” said the hippo.
“What does he think he’s doing?” I wondered. “How can that geriatric
shell-dweller possibly win this trial of strength with the tubby river
beast?”
The hippopotamus picked up one end of the rope, and the tortoise the
other. There was plenty of slack in it, and it only seemed natural
that the tortoise should take his end up the river bank and over the
other side.
“Don’t pull until I shout ready,” he called out. Now I saw what he
was up to. On the other side of the bank, he met the elephant.
“Hey fatso,” said the tortoise. “I’ll give you a chance for a rematch.
How about a tug of war?” And the elephant, who was still smarting
from his earlier loss, was only glad too agree.
Now the tortoise hid in hollow near the top of the bank and called out
“Ready!” Both the huge lump animals pulled the rope, neither knowing
who was on the other end. First the hippo gave way a few steps, and
then he pulled the elephant back. Neither could win victory until at
last the rope snapped in the middle. The reputation of the tortoise
was sealed. All the animals now thought that that the little one was
invincible. The rumour went round that he could do witchcraft. Only I
had seen both ends of his rope trick.
I thought I had seen it all, but I have to say that the tortoise could
teach me a thing or two about using the strength of others. He let
those two beasts fight each other and drain their force, while he sat
in his shell. He was the strongest of all the animals, but it was his
brain, not his muscles, that brought his victory.
And don’t forget we have loads of stories from around the world on
Storynory.com, including fables by the Greek writer Aesop
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Dear Bertie I like the story but I heard a different one but this one is better. It’s great so bye ..
O
Love it
the vulter talks way to much
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I really like it
I don’t like this story
The story is lovely
The story is lovely.
Is it exciting please tell me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I haven’t read the story but i think it’s exciting !!!!
Soooooo funny hahahahaha
Soooooo funny
Perfect example of the most important thing to make sure that you can also be able to do things that you can do
I really agree with Mahsa, Grace, and Asthma. I think this was a really cool story. It was very sad. I loved the tortoise. He was my favorite
It is ok book
士大夫第三方
Wow! What a cool tortoise! I like this story
i love it so funny! so cute
So nice
what happend to the tortoise and the hare
You sai tortoise wrong it’s pronounced tor-tis hoped this helped loyal listener awesome •*A*•
dangggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
oh my gosh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
its my fist time it cool
funny,exiting and …
Thanks Natasha this story is fantastic!!!
i love elephants so i had to love this story
It’s just what I want to say in stories telling celebration which my Chinese school celebrate every year
TO: Aundrea Stevens 5th Grade Teacher
You need to teach outside of the box a little. These stories are not for a grade level. They are universal. They are for educational enjoyment. Most any age can understand and gain from these stories, if they are read to them. Most 5th graders should be able to read these themselves with little to no trouble. Let your students listen and/or read at their leisure and let the learning happen. It will. They might even enjoy themselves.
I loved the story.It was great. The turtle was smart
and clever.He used his brain.The only thing was that
I wish it was longer.
impossible
I was very good
Hi! I learned of this site through an educational technology class. I love it! However, I would find it hard to use in the classroom without knowing the lexile or grade level. It is very important that students are reading at their level and listening to their own level or challenging levels. I would appreciate using this site more if I could have a way to direct my students appropriately in 5th grade. Thanks so much for all you do!!! Aundrea Stevens 5th Grade Teacher.
[...] Jeg introducerede tree of life, dog kun for at kunne vise hvordan en hippopotamos ser ud. Det skulle jeg nemlig brug for at kunne fortælle historien om skildpadden, flodhesten og elefanten http://storynory.com/2012/06/26/the-tortoise-and-the-elephant/. [...]
i like thiis tory
i like alot it is a good story
almost mp3 file on almost story are error. please fix that. I am from Indonesia.
I really like stories like that thank you natasha and till next time
Wow!!! This story teaches me a moral :
Brains are stronger than brawns !!! :)
I like 100’000 times .It’s so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)” thank you so much
Great story!Diction is also very good.it helps me with my English :)Greetings from Serbia!
Great story
this story is out of the world
Iam so impressed also by the voice of the narrator
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) coooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllll
i like this
this is the best story everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
vultures
thanks so lot ! how much i love it , i can’t say
it was soooooooo osame
i love it
I really liked this story. My favorite part was how the turtle used its brain to trick the other animales. My favorite character was the vulture. I enjoyed listening to the story. It made me laugh.
Hello I’m from Vietnam nice to meet you!
its okay. i guess. OK
Great job!!
I like it.
actually you missed some of the lines while you were reading the story.
please do a bertie story next& make it good. please
hippo vs elephant . winner elephant. ps tortise gets creamed
I love this story 1000 time’s.It is a very good story LOL
i love this story 1000 TIME
This story reminds me of the Hare And The Tortoise!
this is for my daughter who was born blind and she will love tis thankyou
Goooood and cool
CooL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cool
I really like it^^
this is good realy good thanks
I like it.