HOW A TURTLE SAVES ITS OWN LIFE

Long time back, there lived a king in a distant land, who had two sons. The was very fond of the princes. Like all other children of their age, the princes loved to play all day long.

A small stream flowed just behind the royal palace. The young princes loved to spend their time playing on the bank of the stream. They would spend hours and hours, sitting by the stream and watching the small and colorful fishes.

Now, this small stream flowed into a big river that was full of different kinds of big and small water creatures. One day, a turtle, who was swimming in this river, lost his way and reached the stream. The turtle fell in love with this stream, as there were no crocodiles or big fishes here - only small fishes that could do no harm. So he decided to live in it.

As the two princes were playing on the bank one day, they saw the turtle swimming in the clear water of the stream. Now, in this kingdom, people had never seen or heard of a turtle.

The princes curiously observed the turtle for a while. But when the turtle came to the bank, the two princes screamed in fear and ran away. They had never seen such a strange creature before!

The princes run to tell their father, the king, about the strange creature they had just seen. "Father, there is a demon in the stream," they cried , breathing heavily. The king laughed thinking that the princes were telling a joke. "If it is not one of their little pranks," thought the king, "they must have seen some big fish, and out of fear they have mistaken it for a demon!"

"Yes, tell me about the demon," said the king. "Father, the demon has very dark cover," cried the elder princes. "He can hide his head and limbos inside his body," joined in the younger one.

The king realized that the princes were really scared, and decided to esquire about the demon. His Highness called his guards and said, "Go to the stream and look for a black monster. it can hide its head, as well as limbs inside its body. Capture him and bring him to me."

The guards went to the stream and waited for the monster to come up. And at last, the turtle came to the bank. The guards were astonished to see the demon, for they too had not seen such a strange creature before! They spread a strong net and captured the turtle.

The guards were delighted to have caught the turtle so easily. They presented the creature before the king. When the princes saw the turtle, they began to cry again. The king who couldn't bear to see his dear sons crying, immediately ordered his men to kill the turtle.

The guards were now scared to think that they would have to kill such a horrible looking monster! But, pretending to be brave, they looked at each other, and said, "We can easily pound it to powder!" "Or burn it with hot coals," said another. And so, each guard began to suggest a way to kill the monster.

Now, among the guards, there was a young fellow who was very afraid of water. This one suggested, "Let's throw the demon into the river and drown it!" All this while, the turtle had kept quiet and was listening to the guards who were talking among themselves. "I have to think of a way to escape," the turtle thought to himself. "I have to save my life on my own."

The turtle popped out his head from the net and said to the guard, "Friend, what harm have I done, that you should do such a dreadful thing to me? The other plans were bad enough, but to thaw me into the river! That would be the end of me!!"

"Oh! SO, this is how this monster can be killed!" exclaimed the guards, and immediately taking the turtle to the big river, they threw him in. Then they went to the palace to tell the king that the work was done, and that the princes need not fear the demon anymore.

The turtle laughed to himself as he slid down the water, to his old home. "Good'" he said, ''Those foolish people do not know that no other place is safer for me than this river'" And the clever turtle swam slowly and merrily away. He now decided to always stay in the big river, along with the others of his kind.

- The END -

DRAGON'S DAUGHTER

Once upon a time, there was a fisherman named Vibot living near the sea. Every day, Vibot went fishing by a boat to earn income for supporting his family. One evening, when he went to fish as usual, he saw a group of children playing so happily. Those children were carrying the tail of a small turtle and swinging it, and they were also beating the shell of that turtle with a small stick to make music.

With compassion for the small turtle, Vibot gently asked those children to release it. When hearing this, the children felt so sorry that their excitement was stopped; however, they agreed to hand over the small turtle to Vibot. While holding the small turtle in hand, Vibot looked at it carefully. He was so surprised as he saw the shell of the turtle came radiant which was different from others. Then, the fisherman laid the turtle down next to the edge of sea. The small turtle bent the head down to express a great thank to Vibot and hurriedly crept into the water.

Next day, when Vibot went fishing, he prayed in a low voice, "May I have a good luck today!" After praying, he started to set the net. Suddenly, there appeared a huge turtle from the surface of the sea near his boat and bowed the head to show a respect to the fisherman and said, "Hi gentleman, I'm here to say thank to you for helping to rescue a small turtle yesterday; moreover, my master, the King of Dragon, ordered me to come and invite you to the Royal Palace in order that he can express his gratitude to you by himself. Please come and ride on my back and I'll bring you there." Vibot, in such a moment, was so surprised together with excitement and he made a quick decision to leave his boat and got onto the back of the turtle. Then, the turtle slowly turned to the right direction and swam right away. A long the journey to the Royal Palace, Vibot saw many kinds of fishes with different colors and strange sea plants along.

A moment later, they arrived at the underground of the sea where there were a lot of big mountains with deep and sallow valleys. In front of the mountain range, Vibot saw a radiant wall of a glittering royal palace of the Dragon King. The wall of this castle was decorated with different kinds of coral and the roof was embellished with various beautiful shells which made it an attractively radiant glow under the water. Vibot saw many marvelous things he had never seen before. In the end, he reached the throne of the Dragon King. The Dragon King was sitting in front of him and Vibot knee-led down to respect the King. The Dragon King said gently, "I've ordered someone to bring you here because I'd like to express my own thank to you for helping my daughter."