The Tortoise untied the sipó from the Whale, and, having dipped himself in the water, went over to where the Tapir was puffing after his labors.
“Well, Tapir,” he said, as he untied the sipó, “you see that I am the stronger.”
“It is true, Tortoise, you are very, very strong.”
The Tortoise (Sun) has a trial of strength with the Tapir (Moon) or perhaps this is the Tortoise (Sun) provoking the everlasting tidal contest between sea and land.—C. F. Hartt.
[5] A sipó is a long root growing in the air, often used as a rope.
HOW THE TURTLE GOT HIS SHELL
By Annie Ker
Long ago, our fathers have told us, the Turtle and the Wallaby were friends. Now on a certain day the Turtle was hungry, and asked his friend to go with him to the beach and from thence to the Hornbill’s garden, where was much sugarcane and where bananas also were plentiful. This they did, and fed plentifully on all that was there. The Wallaby trod upon the stalks of the bananas and bowed them to the ground that his friend might eat. Thus did he also to the tall sugarcanes and the flowering rush. And they both did eat and their hunger was stayed.