Lover of tortoise animal stories? Checkout the 2024 new version for the popular Tortoise and the Princess folk story.
Tortoise And The Princess 2024
It happened that the king’s daughter was the most beautiful maiden in the entire country, for this reason, many suitors came for her hand in marriage. Due to the a lot of suitors coming for Adaeze, the princess, the king decided to set a challenge, for whosoever that can pass his challenge will take his daughter home.
The challenge was to climb a tall pole which was filled with alot of slippery substances. The king did not want anyone to marry his only daughter and that was why he set up an impossible challenge for the suitors not knowing that the tortoise and the princess were secretly dating.
The Challenge
The antelope led the eyes of the king to the beautiful white grey stripes along the both sides of his belly. ‘I’m a very handsome person. The princess will have everlasting joy watching my looks. Please, give her to me’.
The eagle told the king how he always visited the people of the sky, how they always admired his handsomeness. He boasted that he always received messages from the gods of sky. ‘I’m a magician. Yes, I’m a magician. With the power received from people of the sky, I can work magic’.
The dog was rude. When he arrived at the palace that day, dark had come. And the king’s stewards had already shut the entrance. So he stopped at the threshold to knock at the gate. When a guard came out, he ordered the dog to go back.
And the guard’s manner angered him. And he lost his cool and began to rain abuses on the king and on the princess and the entire empire. May the rain come down from the sky! May that pole fall to bits! Yes, that pole you put up there, which you want everyone to climb before they marry the princess, may it fall down and shatter!’
Dog’s Arrival
Why would the dog arrive late at the palace? The reason was obvious. Instead of moving right to the palace, he had followed every road that branched off from every junction.
Whatever he was looking for, no one knew. But he was busy sniffing the ground and dawdling till he got to the end of each road. And since there were so many junctions and roads, he had so much distance to cover, and he had wasted a lot of time trying to cover it.
‘Look, I can touch the top of the pole standing on the ground. I don’t have to climb before reach the top. I shall simply stretch my neck, and I’ll get to the top of any height. That’s me, the giraffe.’ But the rule is clear. Every suitor must climb the pole. I shall consider no other qualification than climbing the slime coated pole’. said the king.
Lizard Visits The Palace
And so all the entities had come, both beasts and man: they all had come to take the princess as their bride. And upon coming on each occasion when they came the king, notwithstanding their stories and braggadocio, directed them to the coated pole. Then he who was taken there would merely thrust his arms round he huge slippery perimeter and began to struggle with himself and with the elusive pole.
At last, all efforts would amount to naught. And this would bring anger and frustration to the souls of contestants against the king. Hence the dog had been rude for he had heard the whole stories and there was wrath in her soul against the king. He had concluded that the king was unkind by giving impossible task to suitors.
Now the lizard was the most gifted in climbing. The tallest tree known throughout the empire was the Iroko. No one other than the lizard climbed it with ease. He became so popular in this feat that many grew jealous of him. Whenever he got down from the Iroko, he was expected to get the praises of the onlookers. They were supposed to admire his stunt. But they never did. Then he had to cultivate the practice of congratulating himself.
Lizard’s Trial
And then, that day when he arrived at the palace, where the king was waiting to show him the treacherous pole, he stood with full assurance of himself. With self confidence he marched forward to the pole. And when with zeal he grabbed it, his belly was stuck to it. Then he yelped for help, and was only freed from the combined efforts of the guards.
It went round that even the most gifted person in the whole empire could not climb the pole. The last hope was the lizard. Now that he had failed, no one hoped again that anybody could succeed. Yet no girl in all the empire was as pretty as the princess. And then everyone was fond of her.
Adaeze, The Princess Sneaked Out To See Tortoise
Something happened. One day, the princess went out of the palace. No one knew when she sneaked out. It was at night when the queen came to inspect her room that she discovered the princess was not in bed. She proceeded to the king’s room to see if the princess was there, but could not find her.
‘It’s your daughter, the princess’, Her Majesty told the king, her husband. ‘I haven’t found her in bed’. ‘Be sure not to raise untrue alarm, your majesty, the queen. The king, your lord can swear that the princess has gone nowhere.’
They returned to the room to search again. The princess was not there. The king’s heart began to pound in fear, though his cheeks appeared calm. Adaeze, the princess, had brought fame to him by her beauty, for no woman was pretty like her in the whole empire.
In Search Of The Princess
The guards were sent for. The Majesty was compelled to alert them. Did they realize that the princess was missing? Did she inform anyone where she was going? Had someone seen her leaving the palace? When last was she seen?
The guards exchanged baffled looks with one another. The words of the Majesty came to them as the greatest shocker.
‘Hit the palace bell, the king ordered. The princess must be sought and found.” ‘Oh, the princess! Where’s she? What has befallen her? the queen sobbed.
The palace guards launched out in search of the princess. Their torches glared into every comer of the dark. From home to home, they went searching all places.
Tortoise Ran Away With The Princess
‘I saw her go that way, a little man said as the eyes of the guards followed his finger to the crossroads. I saw her with Bekus, the tortoise, and both went through the path which leads to where the sun sets. They walked like lovers and spoke to each other like husband and wife.
Sometimes he would caress her waist. Sometimes he would bear her upon his arms as her danced around. And as he danced, he would sing sweet music into her ears. And she would laugh cheerfully like a new bride when she is fickled by her husband.
3 months had passed without anyone setting an eye on the princess, the king has searched and searched for his daughter and finally decided to give up. Later, rumours had it that tortoise married and lived happily with the princess in a far away unknown country.