Long ago, turtles used to live both on land and in water. A hunter once caught a turtle. He took the turtle home and asked his wife to cook him for dinner. The turtle said, “You cannot cook me unless you take me out of my shell and the shell is the hardest part of my body.” The hunter said, “We will break your shell with sticks.” The clever turtle said, “That will not help at all. Why don’t you dip me into the sea and loosen up the shell instead?” The hunter and his wife took the turtle to the sea. They threw him into the water and waited. However, the turtle swam away and shocked both of them. The turtle teasingly said, “I fooled both of you. I can actually swim very well in the water. I think I will spend the rest of my life in water, safe from hunters.”
The Hunter and the Turtle
