Week 2 Story

The Demon and the Foolish King

                                                   Image Details: Turtle, Source: SVG Silh 

In a kingdom far, far away, there lived a king with his two sons. One day while traveling through the jungle, the boys wandered off while their father attended to his kingly duties.

While the boys chased each other, they stumbled upon a small cottage. The cottage was surrounded by huge trees and vines. The roof of the cottage was covered with a thick layer of moss, while thick vines covered the cottage. There was a small vegetable garden on one side of the house and a huge fountain in front of the cottage. 

One of the princes said, “This place looks creepy. Let’s go back.” The other prince looked at his brother with sneaky smirk, “What’s wrong? Are you scared and want to go back to daddy.” The more sensible brother, named Ramu, looked at his brother and said, “No, I’m not Krish. But it’s not right for us to trespass on someone else’s property. Dad’s going to kill us. Let’s go!”

Ramu began to turn around when he noticed a huge lake. Krish noticed his brother stop and followed his gaze until he saw the lake. Krish ran towards the edge of the lake. “Look at this Ramu! There are so many fish!” Ramu joined his brother and they boys began to dangle their feet in the water until they noticed a huge moving rock. Krish screamed, “There’s a demon in the water! Run Ramu!”

Krish and Ramu ran as fast as they could back to their father. “Father, Father!” they called out, “There’s a demon.” The king rode his fastest chariot along with some townspeople while the boys led the way back to the cottage. Once they arrived at the cottage, the boys led their father to the lake and showed him the moving stone. “It is true. There is a demon here” the king proclaimed. He turned his attention to the townspeople and asked “Well, does anyone have an idea of what we should do?”

“I have an idea.” The king turned to the direction the voice was coming from and saw and old man walking out of the cottage. 

The old man looked at the king and said, “I am the owner of this house and this lake. Now, you proclaim that there is a demon in my lake. If so, then ask your men to throw it in the river over the rocks. There is no way that it will be able to survive such a fall.” The king gazed at the old man and a smile grew on his face, “Yes! This is what we must do. Thank you for your advice.” The villagers then picked up the rock in a net and threw it in the river over to sharp rocks, just as the old man had instructed them to do.

The king turned to his minister, “Give this old man some of our royal treasure for he has saved us from the terrible demon.” The minister pulled out twenty gold coins and placed them in the old man’s palm. Then the king, the princes and the villagers proceeded back to the kingdom. The old man placed the coins in a draw string pouch and put the pouch in his pocket. Then he walked over to the river and placed his hands inside the water, pulling out the rock. “Come on out little friend” said the old man. Out of the shell popped out four feet and a little head. 

The old man looked at the creature and said, “Such a foolish king that he could not realize that what he proclaimed to be a demon was actually a turtle. This plan of ours is going to make us rich” Then, he chuckled to himself and carried the turtle back towards the cottage and waited for his next victim to fool.

Authors Note: This story was based on the story "The Turtle and the King." I changed the story around making the old man who gave advice seem like he was tricking the king rather than the turtle.

Bibliography: The Turtle and the King, Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source