Kids · 2 minThe Tortoise Who Talked Too Much

Once upon a time, beside a lotus pond full of pink flowers, there lived a tortoise named Kambugriva. He was kind, he was cheerful, and he talked. He talked when he woke up, he talked while he ate, and he even talked in his sleep. The frogs said he could talk the leaves off a tree.

His two best friends were a pair of white geese, Sankata and Vikata. Every morning they came down to the bank, and every morning Kambugriva told them everything that had happened since the evening before. The geese only nodded. With Kambugriva, nodding was the safest thing to do.

One summer the rains did not come. Day by day the pond grew smaller, until the lotus leaves lay flat on the mud. "We must fly to the big lake beyond the hills," said Sankata. "But I cannot fly!" cried Kambugriva, and for once he had nothing more to say.

Vikata thought for a while and came back with a strong, straight stick. "We will hold the two ends in our beaks," she said. "You hold the middle in your mouth. We will fly, and you will fly with us. There is just one rule. Whatever happens, do not open your mouth." "Of course!" said Kambugriva. "I can be very quiet. I am famous for it. Ask anyone. Ask the frogs." The geese looked at each other.

Up they went. Over the dry fields, over the mango trees, over the roofs of a little village. Kambugriva held the stick very tightly. It was the longest he had ever stayed quiet in his life.

Down below, the village children saw them and began to shout. "Look! Look! The geese are carrying a tortoise! What a silly sight! Is it a flying plate?" Kambugriva's cheeks grew hot. A flying plate? He was a tortoise of good family. He had to tell them so.

"I am NOT a pl…" he began, and the stick was gone.

Down he tumbled, round and round, and landed with a loud PLOP in the soft mud of a village pond. He was not hurt at all, only very, very muddy. The geese flew down beside him, and they laughed until their feathers shook. "You were quiet for exactly as long as it took to cross one village," said Sankata.

Kambugriva wiped the mud off his nose and smiled. "It was a very good village," he said. Then the three friends walked the rest of the way to the big lake, slowly, together, with Kambugriva talking all the way.

And from that day, whenever the little ones by the lake began to chatter at the wrong time, the old tortoise would tell them his story and say: "Keep your mouth shut when it matters. The rest of the time, talk as much as you like."