The Dancing Palm Tree

A long time ago, there was famine in the animal kingdom of the south. All the animals were showing signs of starvation, except the tortoise. Somehow, when everybody else was growing thinner, the tortoise was increasing in size. All the animals would come to meet him, asking for help and begging for food but he always turned them away. You see, what they didn't know was that the tortoise had deviced a devious method of acquiring food. He would travel to the other animal kingdoms and then, with his magic, he would summon a giant, hollowed out, walking palm tree and dance into the market square and after people had run away in a panic, he would come out and steal food from the market. That was why he was looking far better than the other animals.

The tortoise kept it up for months but what he didn't know was that his day of reckoning was around the corner. News had spread from the kingdoms he had robbed to other kingdoms. There was one particular kingdom which had a hunter that was determined to know the cause of the phenomenon. He was convinced that there was an explanation behind the dancing palm tree. He didn't have to wait long before the tortoise decided to rob his kingdom.

The tortoise summoned the palm tree and danced into their market square. People ran away but the hunter hid in a small alcove waiting to see what would happen. Once the tortoise thought everybody had run away, he came out of the palm tree and started stealing food. Once the hunter saw the tortoise, he realized at once what had been going on. He jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed hold of the tortoise. The resulting scuffle and noise from the tortoise trying to escape drew the attention of people to the market. They quickly restrained the tortoise and the hunter explained what had happened. The villagers dragged the tortoise to the king and the tortoise was given a yrial and sentenced to prison.

Meanwhile, back in the northern animal kingdom, the animals were slowly recovering from the famine. They worked hard, farmed, stored their produce and even rationed food until they eventually recovered. So, if the tortoise had been willing to work hard and had not resorted to criminal activity, he would have gotten food.

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