FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE WILD GEESE AND THE

TORTOISE,,

On the shores of a pool there once reiided two wild geese whose greatest friend ,vas a tortoise. Thiis seems strange, but so it was. The three friends did everything together and spent a very pleasant lime so long as there was any water in the pool. The days grew hotter and the water began to shrink. "Do you notice anything wrong with the pool ?" said one of tho geese to the tortoise. Now the tortoise was not a very polite creature, and he replied rather rudely, " The pool is always the same. What a creature, you are for fancies!" " But my wife has also noticed it," continued the wild goose anxiously.

" I haven't got a wife to worry me with such foolishness," replied the tortoise testily. But in spite of his gruff manner he'liked the wild geese very much, and didn't want, to quarrel with them. It was just his way. Perhaps it was because he was very old, for tortoises live for hundreds of years, and no doubt think themselves very grand on that account. What the wild geese had found out. about the pool was quite true, It was shrinking fast under the powerul rays of the hot sun. The fish tried to burrow in the mud, but that soon dried up, and the fish dried up too. When there was not a drop of moisture left the tortoise said to tho wild geese, " Have you noticed anything wrong with the pool, you two ?" "Indeed we have!" exclaimed both the geese at once. " Theu why didn't you say so!" retorted the tortoise, very much put out. The wild geese did not like to remind the old fellow that some weeks earlier they had pointed out that the pool was drying up. But the tortoise was in a dreadful buff, and muttered angrily to himself. " I'm afraid we shall have to leave this place," said one. of the wild geese sadly,.' "The sun will have to leave, you mean," growled the tortoise, who felt very hot and dreadfully thirsty. " That is too much to hope for," said the other wild goose; "the sun always does exactly as he likes."

" Then he is not going to so long as I am about," replied the tortoise. " No, of course not,"" agreed the wild geese soothingly.

" But, if you want a change, I'm willing to go with you," said the tortoise a3 ho looked at. the dry mud of the pool and the burnt grass on its banks; " but mind you," he continued, " not to oblige- the sun; certainly not."

" Oh most certainly not," echoed the wild geese, glad to sec that the tortoise was coming round to their point of view, and most anxious to keep him in a good temper.

Then the three discussed the removal. The wild geese could fly across the burning plains to a spot they knew of which was damp and cool. "Wc once went there before," they said, "and found a beautiful pool full of luscious frogs." " Any cico society there?" inquired the tortoise. " I mean the kind that I could mix with ?"

"We did not remain lone, so made no friends," answered the wild geese. " Lot us go there," said the tortoise. Yes, but how ? It was all very well for him to talk in that way, and all very well for the geese, who had wings; but how was an elderly tortoise to travel hundreds of miles in the burning heat of the dry season ?

The wild geese were very worried. "I am afraid wo must separate, dear friend," they said sorrowfully. " You see we mean to fly, and charming as you are, nature has denied you wings." The tortoise, trembled with rag© and dismay. " You don't mean to say that you are going to fly off and leave "mo in this horrible place after ail I have done for you!" he inquired angrily. The wild geese hung their long necks in shame. "What do you suggest ?" they said at last.

" That yon carry me, of course," replied the tortoise decidedly. The wild geese looked at each other. They felt very awkward. The tortoise was rather heavy and tho weather,hot; also they had a long way to go. "(jf course," the tortoise said, " wo can all stay here and dio together."

Tho wild geese mado no reply, but looked sadly at the hot, dry mud of the pool. Then a bright idea struck ono of them.

" I have thought of a way out of the difficulty," he said heartily. "Let us carry a stick in our beaks', each taking one end, and then let tho noble tortoise hang on to the middle of the stick with liis jaws. In this Way I feel sure wo lould convey hirn to the distant pool." "Capital! I almost thought of that my>elf," said the tortoise. >

Then the wild geese warned him tha during the journey he must keep hi mouth shut, for hi.s life depended on that " We know how difficult it is for you t<. bear tilings in silence/' they said,' " hut no matter what annoys you.' reserve your wrath until you are' able, to vent i'l in safety."

The strange trio set off, and for a time ill went well. It was not very comfortvble, but then tho times were bad.

Perhaps all the adventurers might have eached their destination in safety if the -vild geese, flying low over a village, had not attracted the attention of some rude nttle boys who were flying their kites. The little boys immediately began to shout and jeer, making the rudest remarks on the appearance of the tortoise. In vain the geese quickened their flight; the boys ran under them, dancing and yelling. At last the tortoise could restrain h:s rage no longer. " You miserabfo youngsters," he cried, " how dare you taunt one who is 300 years older than your grandfather?" As he spoke he, of course, lost his hold on the stick, and came crashing down upon the heads of the rude boys, who ran off in a fright, thinking he' was coming to bite them. But the tortoise was smashed to atoms, which were carried away by some ants, who like to see things tidy, and at the same time to make a little profit.

As for the wild geese, they flew on, uttering hoarse, mournful cries, as if to say, "We told him so, we did; but his dreadful temper got the better of him." In time' they came to the shores of the pool, in which there was plenty of water and a quantity of frogs, and here they settled down. But the happy part of the story is still to come. On a large stone under the shade of a tree whose branches almost touched the water of the pool sat a. tortoise. " This is almost like old times," exclaimed the wild geese, ready to shed tears Of joy. And so it was, only much jollier, for"the new tortoise had a better temper than the old friend, and the three lived together in the greatest harmony on the shores of the pool.