The counsellors looked doubtfully at one another, and at last one said:
"Why not carry him out to the middle of the lake and drown him?"
Then the Turtle drew in his head and became silent.
"Alas!" he groaned, "that is the only death I fear!"
So the people took him in a canoe, and rowed out to the middle of the lake. There they dropped him in, and he sank like a stone!
But the next minute he came up to the top of the water and again uttered his war-cry.
"Hi-i-i!" he cried. "Now I am at home!" And he dived and swam wherever he would.
This story teaches us that patience and quick wit are better than speed.