The small black tortoise

 

The small black tortoise

Once upon a time, there was a small black tortoise, named Torty. He had come from a very far land, together with his parents. They had travelled for months and months, crossed many fields and many pastures, many woods and many roads. Torty liked to travel. His dad often told him stories as they walked along, and in the evening, before they rested for the night, his mom cooked for them the most delicious dishes. Until one fateful day their lives changed forever.

On that fateful day, while they were crossing a road, as they had done hundreds of times before, a big noisy car suddenly came along at great speed, and both of our little tortoise’s parents were killed, atrociously crushed under the wheels. The death of his parents broke Torty’s heart: the pain was so great that it made the little black tortoise terribly miserable—so much so that he kept crawling on the road, silently hoping that another car would crush him, just like his parents were crushed. But that did not happen. Either there were no cars or the drivers seemed to notice the little tortoise, so they slowed down and changed lanes to avoid him. It even happened that a huge lorry came to a complete stop, waiting until Torty moved out of the way.

It seemed that fate had decided that his life should continue. So, the little black tortoise, although full of sadness, went on with his life: he kept walking along without daddy’s stories, and resting at night without mom’s good food. He simply ate raw food found along the way. After two more days of such a solitary travel he felt very tired and, well before it got dark, fell asleep in a clearing.

It so happened that the little black tortoise had fallen asleep in the schoolyard of Tortoise village. It was not a big village. There was only one school in the village where all the children went to learn tortoise history, tortoise geography and, yes, also tortoise maths. In that village the colour of all the tortoises was brown, green or a colour somewhere between brown and green, but none of the tortoises were black. Even though they learned in their tortoise biology classes that there existed tortoises of many colours in different parts of the world, none of the tortoise villagers had ever seen a black tortoise.

It was the headmaster who noticed the stranger's presence in the schoolyard the next morning. The small black tortoise had just woken up from a deep sleep when he was confronted with a large green tortoise who was the principal of the school. From his biology classes, the headmaster knew that tortoises of different colours existed long ago, but according to the elders of the village, no one had seen black tortoises for ages, so much so that there were those who even thought they had become extinct. Besides, according to very ancient legends, some tortoises of that colour were carriers of bad luck. Although no one really believed these legends anymore, the headmaster knew that rationality sometimes falls prey to doubt, since among the village elders there were those who were not so sure whether those legends contained some truth or not. For this reason, the principal was quite worried and, after explaining why, he asked the little black tortoise to hide in the tall grass until the lessons were started.

Torty was very scared and did as he was told. From his hiding place he could see a brown baby tortoise coming, then a green one. They looked so different from him, so ugly. As the minutes went by, more and more student tortoises came to school, but none of them had a shell that was close to black in colour. Torty grew more and more scared.

After the lessons began, the headmaster returned to the little black tortoise. Since he was afraid of how the students' parents would react if they knew there was a small black tortoise at school, the principal took him from his hiding place in the grass and locked him up in a deep cellar not far from the principal's office. Left alone, in that small room, the small black tortoise cried and cried.

To give little Torty some comfort and prevent anyone from hearing the cries, the headmaster brought some food to the small black tortoise and promised that if he stopped crying, he would bring nice food every day; but, if he kept crying loudly, he wouldn't bring him any food. Although Torty was still very scared, he tried hard to control his emotions, though now and then a silent sobbing was still going on.

What happened the next day was perhaps orchestrated by God or the benevolent forces in the world. When the headmaster, who until then had considered the little black tortoise more of a nuisance than anything else, entered the cellar with the food, he noticed a large tear in the corner of both of the little black tortoise's beautiful black eyes. He was so moved by the sight that he became compassionate towards Torty. So, when the evening came, after all the students and teachers had returned home, he took the little one from the cellar and brought him home.

As soon as they got home, the headmaster made up a lovely bed for the little black tortoise —which finally gave Torty a smile. The principal wanted to know how the little one got to his schoolyard, but the little black tortoise found it difficult to tell his painful story. Only after many kind requests, the headmaster finally managed to convince Torty to tell his sad vicissitudes. The headmaster's heart was touched by what he learned and, trying to lift the child’s spirit, he cooked a hearty dinner, which they ate together before going to sleep.

The next day, before going to school, the principal gave Torty a few books, thinking that they could distract him a little, thus helping the child to pass the time more quietly. When he got home, he found that the little black tortoise was still eagerly reading. The child asked a few questions about what he had read, and the nature and level of his questions greatly impressed the headmaster. Torty also told the principal some of the stories his dad loved to narrate during their long travels, and once again the headmaster was very impressed with the little black tortoise's intelligence and understanding of the meaning of life. They soon became great friends, and the principal felt that Torty deserved the best education possible, so much so that he wanted to take him to his school.

The next morning, he called a teachers’ council, which is one of those official meetings between all teachers of a school. There, he broke the news to the teachers of how he had found a small black tortoise in the school yard, a few days earlier. He explained to them how the little black one had proved to him that he was a sweet and very intelligent little tortoise, who deserved the best education. Some teachers, however, were initially reluctant to accept the little black one in school, since they remembered some of those ancient legends —which they claimed not to believe, but still something deep in their minds made them unsure whether to allow the little black one to attend their school.

However, one of the senior teachers gave his full support to the headmaster's plans and suggested that he seek advice from the tortoise village mayor. In fact, the mayor was also called the wisdom-tortoise, as he was very old and very wise. He also had a kind heart, and he had solved many problems that had occurred in the tortoise village, in the wisest and kindest way. In front of the mayor, the headmaster first explained the situation and then all the teachers were able to express their opinion.
After listening to everyone, the wisdom tortoise told them the story of the balloons: a child was walking with his parents in an amusement park. There, in a booth, a vendor was selling balloons and asking each child to write or draw a small message to tie to their newly bought balloon; then the balloons were let fly away, carrying their message high into the sky. Eventually, a lucky passer-by would find and appreciate the message or design. The child had made a wonderful drawing, so he was allowed to choose a balloon. There were balloons of many colours and the child noticed that one of them was black, so he asked if the black balloon would fly too. The balloon seller replied that colour didn't matter; what mattered was what was inside the balloon.

After hearing the story all the teachers were ready to give up their superstition and their false beliefs about those ancient legends, and were absolutely ready to accept the black tortoise in their classes. Although they were initially a little worried that the students would make fun of the newcomer, this did not happen: the other children accepted the little black tortoise without problems and did not tease him for the odd colour of his shell.

Torty's first day at school was a great day and ever since, day after day, month after month, year after year, the little black one learned so many great things, along with his other classmates, proving to be a brilliant student. The headmaster officially adopted Torty and later, much later, when Torty had grown into a strong and bright adult, he was elected mayor of the Tortoise village and was called the new wisdom-tortoise. He promoted a life of honesty, humility, integrity, helpfulness, love and kindness for everyone, and thanks to him all the tortoises of the village lived in a state of harmony: happiness flourished in all hearts.