Week 9 Storytelling: Timmy the Turtle

Once upon a time, there was a turtle named Timmy. On the day he cracked his egg he looked up into the sky and saw birds flying. "I want to do that!" he declared. All of his brothers and sisters laughed at him and his mom looked at him with sad eyes said, "You will never fly Timmy. You are a turtle."

So while Timmy grew up he tried all sorts of things to fly. He jumped from tall rocks, he spun around really fast, he even made a ramp and tried to skateboard into the sky! However, none of them worked. His siblings would gather around every time he tried so they could laugh at him when he failed.

Turtle on Skateboard from Inspirational Feed

Around the Fourth of July, Timmy had a great idea! He was going to attach one of the rockets to his shell! That HAD to make him fly! Timmy's brothers and sisters were all gathered around eating popcorn as they waited to see what happened next. Timmy duck taped the rocket onto his shell, put on a helmet, and lit the fuse.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!

Small Turtle with Rocket from Marketing Edge

The rocket erupted and instead of taking Timmy up into the sky it took him forward. He moved so fast he was not able to control where he was going and he smashed into a tree. Timmy heard the eruption of laughter behind him. He tried to hold back tears but he couldn't so he retreated into his shell. He was done. He was never going to fly. Suddenly he heard a loud flapping sound and a thud as someone landed right beside him.

"Who in the world bumped into my tree?? the voice asked. "Whoever did it must be as mighty as a bear because it shook the whole tree and woke me up at the very top!"

Timmy slowly emerged from his shell and saw a large bird looking down at him. "I am sorry." said Timmy. "I ran into your tree because of the rocket. I did not mean to wake you up!"

"Why do you have the rocket?" the bird asked.

"Because I wanted to fly..." Timmy said looking down in embarrassment.

"Wanted to?" asked the bird.

"Well I have wanted to since I was a little hatchling. I keep trying Mr. Bird, but I can't do it."

"What's your name turtle?"

"Timmy."

"I am going to help you fly Timmy the Turtle." the bird said. He looked around and saw a stick. "Grab onto this Timmy and hold on tight."

Timmy grabbed it with his mouth and held on as tight as he could. Mr. Bird took off and lifted Timmy with him high above the clouds. Finally, Timmy could fly.

Author's note: I based this story off of The Tortoise and the Geese. In the original story the tortoise is carried by the geese and then falls because he wants to say something to those that are making fun of him. This becomes a lesson to a talkative king that then learns to only say something when it is necessary. I was inspired by this story and I wanted to change it to a turtle who dreamed about flying. I did not want to end with him falling so I ended with him living his dream.

Bibliography: The Tortoise and the Geese by Noor Inayat (Khan)