Little Turtle’s Big Day
Once upon a time there was a little turtle who lived in a hole by the river. One day when he was basking on a rock in the warmth of the sun, the little turtle stretched contentedly, lost his balance, and fell to the ground on his back. He wasn’t hurt, but he couldn’t roll over to get up, either.
Before long his friend, Black Bear, happened by. “Whoa, there, little buddy, looks like you could use a helping paw,” he chuckled, and gently flipped the little turtle right side up.
“How can I ever thank you?” said the little turtle.
“Thank the Lord I came along before a hungry hawk did,” said Black Bear. “And there’s one more thing you can do.”
“What’s that?” asked the little turtle.
“Go out and do something good for someone else,” said the bear. “That would please me very much.”
“I will!” said the little turtle, “I really will!”
So the little turtle set out to find someone he could help, as the bear had helped him. It wasn’t easy though, because he was a small turtle, and he couldn’t move as fast as some of the bigger animals he knew. He walked as quickly as he could from the pond to the edge of the nearby field. As he came into the clearing, he saw a terrible sight. His friend White Rabbit was quietly chewing a blade of grass, and did not see a bobcat crouching a short distance away, ready to pounce on him. “I must warn my friend!” thought the little turtle, and started to run toward White Rabbit. He couldn’t see a thing as he rustled through the tall grass, but he heard the sound of a crow raising the alarm “Caw! Caw!”
When he arrived at the spot, neither the bobcat nor the rabbit were to be seen. “How awful,” cried the turtle. “I’m too late! I was too slow to save my poor friend!”
With a heavy heart, the little turtle went back to the pond. When he arrived, he saw another awful sight. His friend, Green Bullfrog, was swimming right beneath a hungry blue heron. The great bird was just about to snatch Green Bullfrog out of the water. “I have to save my friend!” thought the little turtle, and dove bravely into the pond. He swam as fast as he could to the other side, but when he arrived, neither heron nor bullfrog were to be seen.’
“How awful!” cried the little turtle. “Poor bullfrog has been eaten! I’m too small and too slow to help anyone.”
The little turtle left the pond and went to a quiet spot on the top of a steep hill. He was feeling very sad about his friends, and very sorry for himself. Just as he was about to cry, he saw in the distance below him another friend, Brown Dormouse, nose-to-nose with a weasel! “This is my chance,” said the little turtle. “I must save poor Dormouse!” He started down the steep hill at full turtle speed, but the slope was covered with loose gravel. Soon he began to slip and tumble, and the further he went, the more gravel went with him, until he was in the middle of a landslide. When he crawled out from the rubble at the bottom of the hill, neither the dormouse nor the weasel were to be found.
The little turtle was unhurt, but his spirit was crushed. He headed slowly back to the pond, where he met Black Bear.
“I hear you’ve had some adventures today, little hero!”
“Hero?” said the turtle sadly. “I haven’t been able to help anybody! I’m just not big enough or fast enough.”
“That’s not what these folks tell me,” said Black Bear, and then he led the little turtle to a spot on the edge of the pond where three animals were having dinner: White Rabbit, Green Bullfrog, and Brown Dormouse!
“You’re alive!” shouted the little turtle, as loud as little turtles can shout. “But I thought…”
“When you ran through the grass,” said White Rabbit, “your noise alerted the crows, and their cries warned me. It was because of you I got away from the bobcat!”
“And when you jumped into the water, I heard the splash and looked up just in time,” said Green Bullfrog. “It’s because of you I got away from the heron!”
“I had closed my eyes,” said Brown Dormouse, “and was ready for the worst. All of a sudden that weasel heard the sound of your landslide, and ran away. You saved my life, too! How can we ever thank you?”
“I think we’d all better thank the Lord,” said the little turtle, smiling at Black Bear,” because I’m sure I’m too small and too slow to have done all that on my own!”
“True enough,” said Black Bear. “But you were ready and willing, and that’s what the Lord wants. He can use even the smallest and slowest to do very great things for him.”
Potentially 30 pages
Read aloud: ages 4 and up
Read alone: grades 3 and up