Reading Notes: How the Turtle Saved His Own Life, Part A

For extra credit reading, I chose to read some stories from the Jataka Tales Unit. The story that I enjoyed the most was titled How the Turtle Saved His Own Life. I like stories that either have a lesson in them, or have a character outsmarting someone. In this book, the turtle is the genius and outsmarts all of the other characters. He saves his own life by convincing the others to throw him back into the water, which they think will kill him.

They think the turtle is a demon, simply because they have never seen a turtle before. If I were to rewrite this story, I would give them a better reason for wanting to kill the turtle. Maybe the turtle would make the princes angry in a way. They loved to play in the lake with the fish, so maybe the turtle could scare away some fish. The boys would not like that.

When the men suggest a way to kill the turtle, and they decide to throw him into the water, a different man will object to the idea. He will state that he might not die because water was the place that they found him in the first place. No one will listen to him, and they want to go through with this plan because it is by far the easiest of them all.

Another way I would change the story, is to add on to the ending. The turtle lives, but I would like him to come back to the lake to let the princes know that he lived. He wants to rub it in their faces that they were ignorant and let him live, and then he leaves the area forever so that he will not be captured again. He knows that if they were to ever capture him again, they would kill him immediately. All of the men are embarrassed because the man who objected was right.

Bibliography: How the Turtle Saved His Own Life from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Western Pond Turtle

Source: Wikimedia Commons