Nalibali.org-Tortoise and the Birds

Tortoise and the birds
nalibali.org/story-library/multilingual-stories/tortoise-and-the-birds
Author
Retold by Nicky Webb
Illustrator
Illustrations by Jiggs Snaddon-Wood
This story is also available in: Afrikaans / isiZulu / isiXhosa / Sepedi / Sesotho
Listen to the story here
A long time ago, when a bird died on earth, its spirit would leave its body and float up to the
clouds where it lived as a cloud person, watching over and caring for the birds and animals
on earth.
The birds and animals knew about these cloud people.
There came a time when there had been no rain for a whole year. The grass died, the water
holes dried up and the animals were starving. The animals and birds came together to
decide what to do about the terrible drought.
“I think we should eat the ostrich,” said Lion licking his lips.
“No!” gulped Ostrich.
“I think we should look for somewhere else to live,” said Monkey.
“There’s nowhere else to live,” yelped Wild dog. “The drought is everywhere.”
“We need to speak to the cloud people,” said Owl. “They will know what to do.”
The birds and animals agreed that the birds would fly up to the clouds and speak to the cloud
people. Maybe they would send food down to earth to feed the starving birds and animals.
Tortoise and his wife were also at the meeting. Tortoise was very worried. He knew that if the
cloud people delivered food to earth, he might be too slow to reach it in time. He was hungry
and didn’t want to miss out.
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“Ahem,” he
said. “Do you
really think
that the cloud
people will
pay attention
to a flock of
birds? They
need a king
to go with
them.
Somebody to
give
importance
to our
request. I
shall be their
king. I shall
speak for all
of us.”
The birds
twittered
amongst
themselves.
Eventually
the birds
agreed to
take Tortoise
along as their
king.
Suddenly
Hornbill
scratched his
head. “How do we get Tortoise up to the clouds?” he asked. Hyena laughed, and Monkey
chattered. No one had thought of this problem. There were many ideas. Eventually Owl
suggested that the birds could stick feathers onto Tortoise’s legs. If he had enough feathers
he might be able to fly.
Tortoise looked ridiculous once all the feathers were stuck to his legs. Many of the animals
wanted to laugh, but they knew that Tortoise was their last hope for survival.
2/5
Everybody held their breath as Tortoise flapped his legs. Slowly he lifted off the ground and
rose into the sky. The animals cheered and the birds sang as Tortoise rose higher and higher
towards the clouds.
When Tortoise and the birds arrived in the clouds, the cloud people were happy to see the
birds, and proud that they had chosen to bring their king with them. The cloud people
prepared a feast – juicy fruits and tasty vegetables that the birds hadn’t seen for a long time.
“Who is this food for?” asked one of the birds excitedly.
“Why, it’s for all of you,” said the cloud people.
Tortoise wasted no time. He rushed forward greedily and ate every last morsel of food, while
the birds watched him. The cloud people were amazed that the birds were not eating, but
they thought that it was the birds’ custom to allow their king to eat first.
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The birds were very angry and very hungry! They rushed towards Tortoise and pulled out all
of his feathers. Then they flew back to earth to tell the other animals about Tortoise’s trick.
Tortoise’s feathers fluttered down to earth and he found himself stranded in the clouds. He
looked around in desperation. If he jumped down to earth he would surely die. Suddenly he
noticed Parrot scratching around looking to see if he could find a morsel of food that Tortoise
had missed.
“Please, Parrot,” begged Tortoise, “tell my wife to build a big pile of leaves for me so that I
can jump down from the clouds and not be smashed to death when I land on the hard
ground.”
Parrot was angry with Tortoise for eating all the food. When he got back to earth he told
Tortoise’s wife that her husband had asked her to build a pile of rocks for him to land on.
Tortoise’s wife built the pile of rocks. Tortoise looked down from the sky and saw his wife
standing next to something. He guessed it was a pile of leaves, so he closed his eyes, held
his breath and jumped.
His little round body fell

down to earth and
landed heavily on the
rocks. He cried out as
his shell was smashed.
Tortoise’s wife rushed to

his side and stared in
horror at the damage to
her husband’s beautiful
shell. She nursed him
and cared for him until
eventually he healed,
but the cracks in his
shell remained as scars
forever – a sign of what
he had done to the poor
birds.
Meanwhile, the cloud

people were sad when
they saw how the birds
had been tricked. They
wailed and they cried,
and their tears fell down from the sky and watered the earth like rain. The grass and the
4/5
trees grew again and once again the birds and animals had food. But the birds never trusted
any of the tortoises again, and to this day, tortoises hide their heads inside their shells in
shame when they see a bird.
Get Creative
* Ask your children, “How would the story have been different if Tortoise had shared the
cloud people’s food with the birds?” Then encourage them to retell the story changing it in
this way.
* Tortoise feels ashamed at the end of the story, so he must have learnt something from what
happened! Invite your children to draw a picture of Tortoise and to then write and complete
the following sentence in a speech bubble next to their picture: I learnt that I …
5/5

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Tortoise and the birds

Retold by Nicky Webb

Listen to the story here

The birds and animals knew about these cloud people.

“No!” gulped Ostrich.

“I think we should look for somewhere else to live,” said Monkey.

“Who is this food for?” asked one of the birds excitedly.

“Why, it’s for all of you,” said the cloud people.

His little round body fell

Tortoise’s wife rushed to

Meanwhile, the cloud

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