Chapter 14 - The Little Red Tortoise - South African Folk-Lore Tales

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The little red tortoise. No yakovsstory to night, please, Ota,
said little young as they gathered roundthe fire. We all think Yakos was
a cruel, horrid creature, eatingthe poor little doves and cracking the good
heron's neck. Yes, chimed inpity. He was always playing wicked tricks.

(00:23):
So no more Yakos for us.What will you tell us to night?
Ota? Something really nice, suggestedWilliam, and not unkind. OTA's
beady black eyes twinkled from one toanother of his little masters, while an
affectionate smile spread over his yellow face, accentuating the wrinkles which chris crossed it

(00:48):
in every direction. Ach the softyoung hearts. OTA's heart was like that
once too, But he shook hishead. If the heart doesn't it a
little tie like a boultong, itis of no use to a person in
this old, hard world. Hedeposited his shapeless hat on the floor,

(01:10):
tapped his red copduok with a clawlike forefinger, and waited for an inspiration.
It came from an unexpected quarter,for suddenly there was a commotion at
the end of his old coat,the tails of which hung down nearly to
the floor, and diving into hispocket, the old man triumphantly produced a

(01:32):
squirming tortoise. See what outa caughtfor the basses near the clip cop this
afternoon, A nice littelbach schilpad.Now bass villain can put it in his
corral with the others and let itlay eggs. It is still young,
but it will grow. Yes,so big a cartwheel might have been comfortably

(01:57):
contained in the circle described by OTA'sarms. It was a nobly dark marked
tortoise, quite unlike those the littleboys generally found in the felt near the
house, and they took possession ofit with delight and suggestions as to a
name. After discussion, honors wereequally in favor of Petritife and Missus van

(02:23):
Riebeck, and it was decided thatthe casting vote should be left to cousin
Minnie, the children's governess. Fora long time they had kept tortoises of
all sorts and sizes in their skilpatKraal, and so tame and intelligent had
some of these creatures grown that theywould come when called. And big old

(02:45):
Voltemad roamed about at will, oftendisappearing for a time and returning to his
companions After a few days in thefelt ota turned the new acquisition on its
back on the jackal's skin rug,where it lay wriggling and going through the
strangest contortions. Ah, the wiselittle man, is it there? Its

(03:09):
mother sprinkled it with boohoo. Therejust under its arm. He touched the
skinny underside of one of its forelegs. Footnote boohoo is an aromatic felt herb
from which a decoction has made.Sprinkling buhoo under the arm is a hotentot

(03:29):
custom in token of approval, enda footnote here, bass Villem put it
in the soap box. He tilltomorrow. Ach, if only it had
been a red tortoise, how gladOto would have been a red tortoise,
echoed pity and little Yan, whileVillem hurried back from the passage to hear

(03:52):
all about it and have Bassis thennever heard of a red tortoise? Yes,
certainly, sometimes a red one isborn, but not often, only
once in a thousand years. Andwhen this happens, the news is sent
round because it is such a wonderfulthing. And the whole nation of skilpads,

(04:15):
those frogs with bony shields and hardbeaks are glad because they know the
little red one has come to helpthem against their enemies. Once, a
long long time ago, a motherSkilpad laid an egg in a shallow hole
in the sand, just where thesun could warm it all the day,

(04:36):
and she scraped a little sand overit so that no one could see it
sea basses. She was afraid ofthieves. It was white and round and
so large that she felt very proudof it, and she often went to
see how it was getting on.One day, as she got near the

(04:56):
place, she heard a little voice, peep peep. Mamma, mamma,
come and find me. So shecalled out, kinter, kinter, here's
yo, mamma my. But shewalked fast. Her short legs just went
so OTA's arms worked vigorously, Andwhen she got to the karoo bush where

(05:19):
she had put the egg, theshell was broken, and a little red
tortoise was sitting alongside of it.His shell was soft, and you could
see everything inside of him, andhow the blood went this way and that
way. But never mind, itis Marceaul with little tortoises. He was

(05:41):
fine and healthy, and everything abouthim was quite red. Al la Verold
old mamma was proud. She wentand told all her friends, and they
came from all sides to see thelittle red tortoise. They were berch tortoises
and flachta tortoises, and san crapers, and even water tortoises, young and

(06:03):
old, and they all sat roundand praised him, and gave him good
advice and nice things to eat.He listened to everything and ate all the
nice things, and grew bigger andredder and harder. But he didn't talk
much. And the old ones noddedto each other and said, ach,

(06:24):
but he is sensible. But theyoung ones said, ach, but he
is stuck up. And they wentaway and crawled in the red clay to
make themselves red. But it wasno good. In a little while it
all rubbed off. At last allthe visitor skilpuds went home again. But

(06:46):
the little red tortoise stayed with hismamma and went on growing bigger and redder
and harder. And his mamma wastoch so proud of him. When he
walked in the felt and the otheryoung tortoises said to him, come,
we'll show you the way to dothings. You must do so, and

(07:06):
you must do so. He said, you can do so if you like,
but I'll do things my own way. And they said, stuck up,
red thing, wait o, basgiraffe will get you. But they
left him alone. And although theyall wished they were red, they did

(07:27):
not crawl in the clay any more. They knew it was no good.
It was only from outside, soit soon rubbed off. But the little
red one's redness was from inside,and bassis no, for a thing to
be any good, it must beon the inside. He glanced involuntarily at

(07:48):
the wall cover where his soupie wassafely locked up. It would certainly not
be any good, in his opinion, till it was on the inside of
him. But when the old tortoisesgave him advice, the little red tortoise
listened and thanked them. He wasa wise little man. He knew when

(08:09):
to speak and when to hold histongue. At that time, my basses,
the whole tortoise nation was having ahard time with Obas Gerraffe, that
old horse with the long neck andthe unequal legs, who is all white
and black like a burnt thorn bushwith crows sitting on it. Footnote.

(08:33):
The mimosa bush is white when burntby the sun. End a footnote.
He gives blue ashes when he isburnt. Therefore is he called the blue
one. He had taken to eatingtortoises. They didn't know what to do.
They tried to make a plan,but no, they could find no

(08:56):
remedy. Whenever Obas giraffe saw anice young tortoise that he could easily swallow,
he picked it up in his mouth, and from fright it pulled his
head and all its feet into itsshell, and whoops, one swallow,
and in it sailed down the Blueone's long throat, just like bussies sailed

(09:16):
down the plank. At the sideof the skier crawl. The little red
tortoise listened to the plans that weremade, and at last he thought of
a plan. He was not surehow it would go, but he was
a brave little one, and hethought by himself, if it goes wrong,
there will be no more little redtortoise. But if it goes right,

(09:39):
then the whole tortoise nation will beable to live again. So what
did he do my bussies? Hecrawled out far into the felt and sat
in the path where the old Blueone liked to walk. Soon he heard
woof, woof, woof, comingnearer and nearer. Then the noise stopped.

(10:03):
The little red one peeped from underhis shell. Yes, there was
the great blue one standing over himand looking very fierce. Do you know,
little red tortoise, in one moment, I could trample you to death?
The little red one was very frightened, for this was not his plan.
But ye said nothing. Do youknow, little red tortoise, in

(10:28):
one moment, I could swallow you? Ah, how glad was the little
red tortoise, But he only saidin a small little voice, Yes,
noble blue one, I belonged tothe nation whom it is the custom to
swallow. Please swallow me o.Bas Giraff picked him up and gave a

(10:50):
little gulp, and a little redtortoise slipped halfway down his long throat.
But oh, yea, here astrange thing happened. The little red one
would go no further. Instead ofdrawing in his head and legs and slipping
down like a stone like all theother tortoises had done, he wanted to
see where he was going, sohe stuck out his head and fastened his

(11:13):
sharp little nails into obas girass gullet, and there he hung like a bat
on a wall. Go down,Go down, little tortoise, you choke
me. The old blue one couldhardly speak. His throat was so full
of tortoise. Peep PieP, saidthe little red one, and held on
more tightly than ever. Come up, Come up, little tortoise, you

(11:39):
kill me. The old blue onewas stamping and gurgling. Now, peep
PieP, said the little red one, and hung on with his hard bent
beak as well. He thought,No, too many of my nation have
sailed down this red slute. Iwon't let go, I tell you.

(12:01):
Bassis O Bastiraffe danced and pranced overthe felt. He screamed and bellowed,
he gurgled and swallowed. He triedto get the little red tortoise down,
and he tried to get him up, but it was no use. The
little red one clung fast to himtill he was quite choked, and sank
down in the sand and died.Then the little red tortoise crawled out and

(12:26):
went home to tell his mamma thathe had killed Obastarraff and that his nation
could have peace again. Ah.But she was proud of him. It's
not for nothing you were born red, she said, Come here, my
little crab, that I may putbuhoo under your arm. Come, my

(12:48):
crooked legged little one, Let yourmother sprinkle you with buhoo. When she
had sprinkled him with buohoo, theywent and told their friends and all the
tortoise nation rey joist, and wentand had a great feast off O bas
Garraffe as he lay dead in thefelt. And they thought more of the
little red tortoise than ever. Eventhe young ones who had been angry with

(13:13):
him, said, he is wiserthan we are. We will listen to
what he says. Perhaps, afterall, there is something in being born
a certain color. And of thelittle red tortoise,