STORY! STORY!!
Once upon a time in the animal kingdom, the birds were invited to a special feast in the sky by the spirits of the air.
All birds prepared for the great feast. To them, it was a great honour to be invited by the spirits of the air. As the preparations were going on, Mr Tortoise desired to be part of it, for he knew that where there was a feast , there were lots of delicious food and drinks to be consume. He did not want to be left out of it . To be part of the great feast, he went to the leaders of the birds with a proposal they cannot refuse. "I wish to be part of this great feast," he began.
The leaders of the birds looked at him and laughed," you can not be a part of this Tortoise, first of all, you are no bird, you do not have wings to fly. Secondly, you were not invited; the spirit of the air only welcomes animals with wings ." The leaders of the birds told him.
"What if I told you,I have a plan that will be beneficial to both of us?" Tortoise told them with so much optimism.
The birds looked at themselves not surprised at all, for they knew that Tortoise was always two steps ahead of himself.
"Let's hear your grand plans of becoming a bird that can fly." They said sarcastically.
"Here it is," the tortoise began, "each of the birds will lend me its feathers, I will attach them to my skin, and create for myself a wing which I will fly with, to return the favour , I will play the role of a spokesman for the birds in the event. That way we both win" He concluded beaming with pride.
The leaders of the birds thought about it for some time, they were afraid of trusting the Tortoise not to pull up one of his tricks in front of their host and spoil their chances of being invited again but, they also knew he was an eloquent speaker, and as none of the birds could do better with words,they needed him to represent them. With all these considerations, the birds agreed to lend their feathers to the tortoise warning him to behave himself throughout the feast, as they did not want anything to make them lose their chances of being invited again.
Tortoise was overjoyed, he promised to be in his best behavior.
When the D-day came, all the birds appeared in their best form; washed and neat. The tortoise came too, the feathers he borrowed fitted him perfectly. Though he was different from the other birds, he was so happy with his appearance.
The whole birds set out for the feast, each carrying with him an empty stomach expecting to fill it to the brim. When they arrived in the sky, the whole place was arranged with colourful ribbons, tables and chairs arranged around them. There was also a large table set in front of the hall to accommodate the leaders of the birds. Tortoise was on that table, for he was the spokesperson for the birds. The King of the spirits of the air saw him as the king of the birds because he was different. As a rule in the air kingdom, every feast must be directed by a king who would order its events, give its opening and closing speeches and decide how the meals in the feast would be served. Since the tortoise was seen as the king, he was chosen to play the role;a role he was so pleased to accept.
Boldly,he opened the event with an impressive and captivating speech which got all nodding and cheering. In his speech, he asked that everyone present take a new name for himself to spice up the event. He started by saying that his name for the feast was ALL OF YOU. Every bird and spirit present picked a name not minding the weird name Tortoise took or the reason behind such an idea.
The event went on smoothly, until it was time for the meals to be served. As the tradition was, all the meals were beautifully displayed on the large table that accommodated the leaders.
All mouths were whetted with saliva and all stomachs anticipated the arrival of the meals. Before the meals were served,the tortoise was asked to give directions on how it would be done. Excitedly, he stood up and asked the king of the spirits of the air, "Please to whom are these meals for?"
Without much thought, the King answered, "it's for all of you."
With that the tortoise sat down and ordered that all the meals be served to him alone since that was his name. The loyal and obedient spirits of the air did as he said, for he was the king of the birds and to them, he knew what's best for all the birds. After eating all the displayed meals, the tortoise stood up and gave his closing speech, thanking the spirits of the air for their grand event and wonderful meals. The birds who were so angry and hungry beyond reasonable imagination, pretended to be happy with his speech. They did not want to wash their dirty linen before the King of the spirit of the air and his subjects. They dreaded anything that would give them a bad name or ruin their chances to be invited for more feast in the sky.
When all was over and done with, the offended birds set to go home, each asking that its feather be returned. Tortoise was shocked.
" How can you all ask for your feathers? What will I use to fly myself home?" He asked, disappointed.
"You would have thought about that before becoming very greedy and selfish," came the replies. One by one, the birds took their feathers and flew home, leaving the confused tortoise to its fate. Tortoise stood devastated, as he watched the last bird preparing to leave, a thought crept into his mind, "if only I can reach my wife at home, she could be of greater help." He thought. With that he begged the last bird, who happened to be the Parrot, the angriest of all birds because Tortoise stole his position as the spokesman for the birds to himself and kept everyone hungry.
"Please help me tell my wife at home to bring out all the soft items in the house and place them outside so I can land on them when I jump from the sky ." He begged.
The Parrot who wished to teach Tortoise a lesson for his greed agreed to deliver his message. When he got to Tortoise's house, he told his wife the opposite of what Tortoise said,
" Your husband asked that you bring out all the hard and sharp items in the house and place them outside so he could land on them when he jumped," he said and left. The Tortoise's wife who could not understand why her husband would ask her to do such, however, did as she was told. When she had finished, the Tortoise jumped from the sky, and crashed into the hard materials. His smooth shell shattered into several pieces. It took the best healer in the land to put his shell together.
Until today,the Tortoise has a cracked shell as a reminder of what his greed had brought him.
MORAL LESSONS.
There is a reward or consequence for every action under the sun.
Once trust is broken it can never be given freely again.
Try to earn trust, not force it.
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