1 Picture 1 Story Week #32

A WISE TORTOISE

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Years ago, the kings of Calabar governed all the creatures within their territory, from the footless fish to the many-legged centipede. If the sovereign was strong, peace prevailed under a weak ruler, the beasts, following man's bad example, wrangled among themselves.

Therefore, when Eyamba, the wise, became king, he was determined to enforce order and proclaim that all unnecessary fighting must cease. Any man who disobeyed would be executed. For offending animals, the punishment was death by poisoned arrows, fire, and traps.

Nevertheless, many years of quarrelling had soured their tempers and thought. The king's rules were not openly broken, but the forest resounded the yelping, snarling, neighing, trumpeting, barking, roaring, bellowing, baying, grunting, spitting, screaming, squeaking, chattering, hooting, cackling, buzzing, humming, hissing and rattling, till life was a burden to quiet creatures.

Of all these, the tortoise suffered most because he was peculiarly quiet and peaceable. For these reasons, he made a small hut which he carried with him everywhere so that when he chose he could retire into it and think quietly.

One afternoon, Udo, the tortoise chief, was sitting at the mouth of his burrow under a palm tree, a tree favoured by his kind because it keeps away chattering monkeys and other pests. It so happened that twenty elephant, following Okuni, a huge tusker, came into the clearing near by and after they had fed noisily, began to discuss the jingle dings. Up and down they tramped the ground quaked beneath them and their trumpeting set every leaf astir.

Gradually, the tortoise became annoyed and at the end of several hours he had grown very angry. Taking advantage of a lull in the hubbub, he crawled from under the palm tree, placing himself before Okuni and shouted,
"A word with you, Windbag!"
Swinging his trunk aloft, Okuni thundered,
"Miserable four-footed smell, how dare you address me that way?"
"Lower your tone and your absurd trunk" the tortoise replied. "Let me tell you once and for all, I will not endure more of your noisy gossiping, which is worse than monkey chatter. Remove yourself and your people from here".
Okuni raised his enormous front feet and hit it on the empty ground after the tortoise had retreated into his shelter.
Other elephants bursted into a loud laughter.
"Listen to me little wit" Udo called out, "It is not wise to provoke me further since I am stronger than you."
Okuni's huge ears stiffened with surprise, and when he answered his tone was much less confident, "Surely the gods have deprived you of your sense, how can a little beast like you pretend to be a match for me, the strongest of all the forest people?"
"Your vanity deceives you," Udo replied.
"Strength is not to be measured by largeness. As I have no relish for one of Eyamba's traps or poisoned arrows, we cannot fight but if you dare, we will have a trial to prove who is stronger. These are the terms. Let each be fastened to one end of a suitable robe, then before a witness I will go down into my bathing pool while you will remain on the bank. At a given signal, you will try to draw me out. I bet with one thousand ripe yams you will not be able to do so."

The elephants could hardly believe what they just heard and some of them thought it was below their leader's dignity to accept such a challenge. However, after discussion, the trial was fixed for the following day and the giants departed noisily.
When Udo retired into his burrow, he found his wife crying, she had been listening and cried so bitterly. She told Udo that a loss of one thousand yams will ruin his family. At this point, the youngest of his children wailed and wept. Udo tried to assure them that he will win but no one believed him. That night, Udo's family cried themselves to sleep but his wife was awake and was so angry as she heard her husband chuckle continually to himself in the darkness.

News of the contest spread throughout the forest and by the next afternoon, banks of the pool were crowded. Millions of birds occupied the tree top while some lower branches.
Close to the edge of the pool, Okuni waited for the tortoise who presently crawled up accompanied by his brother as they carried a long strong rope stolen from the riverside village.
The leopard was asked to be the umpire, he faster one end of the rope and put around the elephant's neck and the other end round that of the tortoise, he called for silence and gave out the conditions. Udo was to dive in and when ready he will jerk the rope thrive as a signal that the contest might begin.
With the matters settled, Okuni turned his back to the pool into which the tortoise plunged. The rope shook thrice and the leopard signaled that all was ready.

Okuni used his whole weight to pull. The struggle had begun.
Meanwhile, inside the pool Udo had swum inside towards a deep hollow across which he knew there was a break sunken tree. he removed the rope from his neck and tied it to the tree.
As the elephant pulled, the tree was too firm on the ground and finally, the rope cut making the elephant to somersault due to using all his sight to pull. Seeing this, Udo rushed and untied the rope from the tree and tied it back to his neck rushing out of the pool.
There was a great feeling of surprised in the forest, a great thing had happened. The tortoise won.
All the lesser animals came to congratulate Udo but the larger ones departed with Okuni in shame.
The next morning, a thousand ripe yams were sent to the tortoise. Udo's family were so happy.

THE END

I invite
@josepha
@ridwant
@patjewell
to also participate in this contest.

Appreciation to @suboohi

@tigerix