The Tale of Timothy Turtle

MP3 Audio CD. The Tale of Timothy Turtle

I

A FAMOUS BITER


That black rascal, Mr. Crow, was not the oldest dweller in Pleasant
Valley. There was another elderly gentleman who had spent more
summers--and a great many more winters--under the shadow of Blue
Mountain than he.

All the wild folk knew this person by the name of Timothy Turtle. And if
they didn't see him so often as Mr. Crow it was because he spent much of
his time on the muddy bottom of Black Creek. Besides, he never flapped
his way through the air to Farmer Green's cornfield, in plain sight of
everyone who happened to look up at the sky.

On the contrary, Mr. Timothy Turtle seldom wandered far from the banks
of the creek--for the best of reasons. He was anything but a fast
walker. In fact, one might say that he waddled, or even crawled, rather
than walked. But in the water he was quite a different creature. By
means of his webbed feet he could swim as easily as Mr. Crow could fly.
And he could stay at the bottom of Black Creek a surprisingly long time
before he came up for a breath of air. Indeed, Mr. Crow sometimes
remarked that he would be just as well pleased if Timothy Turtle
buried himself in the mud beneath the water and never came up again!

Such a speech was enough to show that Mr. Crow was not fond of Timothy
Turtle. Perhaps Mr. Crow disliked to have a neighbor who was older than
he. But Mr. Crow himself always laughed at such a suggestion.