In The Orientalist, vol. i, pp. 87, 88, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave a variant from Siam, by Herr A. Bastian, in which the animals were the Garuḍa [or Rukh] and the Turtle; and two others by Lord Stanmore, from Fiji, where the animals were a Crane and a Crab in one instance, and a Crane and a Butterfly in the other, the insect being perched on the bird’s back during the race.
[2] Apparently this is Kūrma, turtle + marsha, √mṛish. The meaning would be “Permit the Turtle” (to precede you). In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 87, in which this part of the story is also given, it is stated that there is a saying, Kūrmaya prativādena sin̥hasya maraṇan̥ yathā, “As the death of the lion by the reply [? Kūrmarsha] of the turtle.” [↑]