But a deep, sweet voice suddenly came to him. At first he could not place it. Then he saw to his astonishment a huge turtle only a few yards below him on the beach.
"Ah, ha!" she was saying in her most affectionate way. "So there you are! I've heard of you. They drove you out, did they? Didn't want any variety in the family. Well, well, Sonny, cheer up."
Then this large and hearty creature pawed her way heavily up the sands, and continued her remarks:
"Funny creatures, you birds. Now look at me and consider the difference. I don't care a clam what my children look like. I'm on my way up to that sand dune this very blessed minute to lay about nine pecks of eggs. And I hope they hatch and the young ones won't get eaten up. But they can come out of that shell any color they please, for all I care. We turtles don't worry. We just float along easy. That's the way to live."
Then she gave a hearty laugh and settled down to digging a pit in the white sands.
"S'pose you run along, Sonny, and pick up your supper. I rather like my own company when I'm laying eggs. But just come back a little later and I'll tell your fortune."
No one had ever called him Sonny before, and never had he dreamed that such high good humor existed anywhere. The good old turtle and her cheerful ways had suddenly made life worth living. And poor White Wing, on coming to himself, realized that he was very hungry. He feasted, indeed, ravenously on fiddler crabs, which he otherwise would have despised, and the moon was high and he was heavy with sleep when Mrs. Turtle, after hours of scratching and pawing, had patiently buried her eggs, and was ready to talk. What she had to say was brief, but it cast the life of White Wing in strange places, and it was on her words that he made his great journey.
"You're bound to be somebody," she began. "Probably a king. But this is no place for you around here. You must go where you are wanted. And that is a long ways from this quiet spot. There's a great Emperor who has a palace by the smoking mountains. He's been wishing for a white flamingo all his life. If you can get there, why, your fortune is made. If you fly with your feet to the sunrise until you come to the great river mouth, and if you follow that river long enough, you'll see the mountains with the fiery tops. That's the place. And you want to walk right in as though you owned the kingdom. Don't be scared when you get there. Just forget about those saucy cousins of yours back home and be as grand as you know how."
Poor White Wing was almost dizzy at this unexpected vision of good things. He did not reckon on what the journey meant. But the motherly old turtle was particular to tell him of the many islands he must pass, and the dangers that he would encounter. Then she bade him God-speed, and began her toilsome way down the sands, for she was intent upon reaching deep water again.
"I have a long way to go," she said; and added that sometime they would be sure to meet again.