“Drop a large rock on his head and crush him,” said another.
“Oh, that would not do,” said one of the princes. “See! He has pulled his head inside that shell back of his. Perhaps his back is too strong to be crushed by a rock.”
“I have it,” said an old servant who was afraid of the water, “let us fling him over the rocks into the river. Then he will be swept away into the sea and drowned.”
In a twinkling out came the turtle’s head.
“My friends,” he said, “pray do not throw me into the river that flows to the great wide sea! Of all your plans to punish me, that is the worst! Burn me, or crush me if you will, but do not throw me into the river that flows to the great wide sea! I shudder at the thought of it.”
“Take the demon to the rocks and throw him into the river,” said the king.
“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the turtle when he whirled about in the water and swam back to the friendly rocks where he had lived so long.
ROBIN GOODFELLOW
From Oberon, in fairy land,