How the Turtle Got Its Shell

By Jb
Adapted from a story in One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights

Long, long ago in Australia, before this land was called Australia, before people came here, many animals lived on the continent. One of those animals was Turtle but not Turtle as we know him today. In those days Turtle had no shell. Turtle swam in the sea and roamed about on the land.

One day when he was on the land Turtle decided to sneak into Kookaburra’s garden. You see, Kookaburra had a big banana tree that was laden with the most delicious bananas. On this day Kookaburra was out in the bush looking for snakes to eat. So Turtle sneaked into Kookaburra’s garden and climbed the banana tree. There were so many beautiful bananas he became very excited and forgot about keeping quiet.

Willy Wagtail was passing by and heard the noise in Kookaburra’s garden. Willy Wagtail peeped into the garden and saw Turtle stealing Kookaburra’s bananas. Now, everybody knows that Willy Wagtail always tittle-tattles on others and that is exactly what he did. He told all the other birds that Turtle was in Kookaburra’s garden stealing bananas.

All the birds were very angry. How dare Turtle steal from Kookaburra! So the birds all got their spears and surrounded Kookaburra’s garden. They called out the Turtle, “Come out, Turtle. We know what you are doing. Come out this minute.”

Turtle trembled with fear. When he looked through the banana leaves he could see there was no escape. Kookaburra’s garden was surrounded by birds with spears. He climbed down the tree. He sang out to the birds.

I’m just a turtle from the sea,
You wouldn’t wanna hurt me.

“Oh yes we would,” said the birds all together.

Some of the birds grabbed Turtle and dragged him to the big gum tree that was Kookaburra’s house and tied him to the trunk. When Kookaburra came back they told him what had happened. Kookaburra was angry with Turtle. He told all the birds there would be a wonderful feast the next day.

“We will have a feast of fresh turtle,” announced Kookaburra, “Turtles are so delicious when they are freshly killed.”

Turtle felt his legs trembling. The next day all the birds including Kookaburra went out to the garden to prepare for the feast. Turtle was left with just the young kookaburras guarding him.

“Want to play a little game?” he asked them.
The young kookaburras thought that would be fun until Turtle said they’d have to untie him so he could show them how to play the game properly.

“I’ll teach you how to play turtle dress-ups,” he said.
The young kookaburras were not sure what to do but Turtle finally persuaded them to untie him. When they had set him free they watched him carefully, but he made no attempt to run away.

“Bring me all your pretty ornaments,” he said.
One by one the young kookaburras brought him their ornaments: shell necklaces, leaf hats and one brought a carved wooden bowl. Turtle put the shells around his neck and a leaf hat on his head and slipped the wooden bowl around his back. Then he began to dance and sing:
I’m just a turtle from the sea,
You wouldn’t wanna hurt me.

He looked so funny the young kookaburras laughed. As Turtle danced he moved a little further away from them. He looked so funny the kookaburras continued to laugh. They didn’t notice that Turtle was getting further away from them and closer to the sea.

Finally he ran to the sea and dived in, his leaf hat flying into the air as he did so. The kookaburras stopped laughing and called out to the other birds. All the birds ran to the shore and pelted stones at Turtle. One of the stones hit his shell necklace and it broke off. Most of the stones fell on his back which was protected by the wooden bowl and they did not hurt him.

Turtle was now safe in the ocean. The birds stopped throwing the stones because he was too far away. The Kookaburra realised how funny it was and laughed and laughed.

And that, so they say, is how Turtle got his shell. Now if you are up north where the turtles swim, listen to the sea and you might hear Turtle as he sings. He sings to the fishermen now.

I’m just a turtle form the sea,
You wouldn’t wanna hurt me.

From Swag of Yarns summer 2004