Once upon a time, Turtle got very hungry. Very hungry. Then he remembered his bird friends. He decided to start walking from his house to his friend, the Eagle’s, house. When he reached the Eagle, he told him, “My friend, I’m very hungry. I don’t know if you can help me with something little that I can eat?”

So, the Eagle told him, “Oh, my friend, you are a really lucky guy! Now, we are preparing ourselves to go for a party. All of us birds have been invited for a big party in the sky. If you want, you can go together with us.

“But, Eagle. Now you all have wings, so you birds will go. But how can I go?”

“My friend, don’t be afraid.” said Eagle. “You know that all your friends are birds and I’m one of them. So we can donate feathers for you one by one. We can gather them all in one place and implant the feathers with gum to create wings on you and you can fly together with us.”

He called the rest of his brothers and each donated a feather, and a feather, and a feather for Turtle.

Then, when they collected enough, they made his wings with gum and Turtle got ready and made a test and he flew very well.

Then, the journey started. So, they start going and going and as they reached closer to the sky, Turtle said, “You people, now that I have wings, I need a new name. My name will be “Kulu” (“All” or “Everything”). From now on, when we’re in the sky, you call me Kulu and when you call me Kulu, I know that’s it’s me. And when we get down to the ground, you call me Turtle.”

They said, “No problem. Good.”

But some of the birds didn’t know that Turtle had a plan.

When they reached the sky, they were welcomed and seats were arranged for them to sit, and they sat down. And as they settled, their hosts cooked food for them: a lot of meat and many more things on a big tray. And at the time that they brought the meat on the big tray, Turtle was sitting in the front. Then the people of the sky were wondering, “What kind of bird is that who looks so different?”

Turtle looked beautiful and the wings looked different from the others, very unique because the feathers were from different birds.

When the food was served, Turtle, who was still sitting in front, asked, “This food, to whom is it going to be given?”

The hosts replied, “This food is brought for kulu.” (“All”). They then repeated, “We brought it for kulu.”

“Oh! They brought it for Kulu?” Turtle asked.

“Yeah, they brought it for Kulu.”

“So bring it all in front of me because I’m Kulu. I’m Kulu.” Turtle said.

So they brought the food in front of Turtle and he ate it all alone. He ate and ate until he got full and the leftovers from the bones and the meats he gave to his brothers. So the brothers took it, although they were not comfortable, but they just took it and ate the leftovers.

This continued for some time.

Every time food was served, Turtle  alone, and whatever is left over, he gave it to his brothers. So, they brothers become totally uncomfortable. One day, one of the brothers asked, “So, brothers, this turtle now, he is doing this to us. What can we do to him for what he’s doing to us?”

So, the Owl answered, “Okay, let each of us take his feather and fur back from the turtle. Because we helped the turtle to come here yesterday and today he’s turned against us. He’s eating and looking at us as if we are not important. So, let everybody take back his feather from him. So, they said, “Yes, good.”

The first bird that went to him was the pigeon. She told him, “Turtle, I want back my fur.

“You want your fur? Then take it, then take your fur. I don’t have any business with it anymore!”

So, the pigeon took its fur and then the Owl came to him and told him, “I want my fur.” And he said to him, “You want your fur? Take it!” So, the Owl took his fur, and Turtle told him, “If there’s a way, take all the feathers for your brothers.”

The Owl told him, “No problem. Take them off and give them to me.”

So removed all the feathers from his body and remained without a feather.

Then Turtle start eating, drinking, eating, drinking without knowing what was taking place behind him. He was thinking about the future or about how he would return to earth.

After two or three days, while he was sleeping, he opened his eyes and he looked around and he found all the birds disappeared.

He panicked and asked “Where have those birds gone?” He was asking everybody: “Where are the birds? Where are the birds?”

They told him, “Ah, the birds? They all returned back now.”

When he heard that, he became uncomfortable. So he called one of those people, and asked him “Is there any way I can return?”

“Yes! You can only return with wings.”

Coincidentally, he saw a duck. He told the duck, “So you are the last one remaining here. So you are the one who can help me.”

The duck responded, “but how can I help you, Turtle? Even my fur is not enough to divide into two for both you and me. It cannot be enough.”

So the turtle told the duck, “To help me doesn’t mean that you need to share your fur with me. You can you just inform my wife down there. When you reach down there, just go and tell my wife, “Madam, you have to get all the soft things from the house and put it in the yard so when I fall I can fall into something soft.”

So, the duck said, “No problem. When I reach there, I will take the information.”

Turtle then found a very beautiful girl in the sky, and since he was lonely, he began to love her, and when he grew tired, he returned to sleep.

The next morning, the duck started the journey back.

As soon as the duck reached the ground, he went directly to the wife of the turtle. He told her, “Madam, your husband remains up there and he told me to tell you to get out all the hard, hard stuff from the house, like wood, etc., and put them in the yard, so when he arrives, he can fall on them.

So, the wife said, “No problem, no problem.”

So the wife started to get the chairs, the table, the iron, the wood, and all this hard stuff outside in the yard.

So when Turtle is coming, falling from above, he hits the pile of hard things. And Turtle shattered into many pieces, one by one. And so, they immediately brought a doctor and took him to the hospital. They collected the pieces, and sewed them together and then Turtle was released from the hospital in one piece.

And that’s why today you can see the Turtle has a divided shell. And that is the result of what he did to the birds and how they decided to take his feathers and let him fall onto this hard stuff on the ground. So, that’s why you see they way the turtles look today. And thank you.

Storytelling Session Details
Storyteller: John Onwar Akol
Language: Arabic
Story Collectors: Henry John Onwar and Danguru Enoch Joseph
Place: Gudele Block 8, Juba
Date: 2015

Note: this recording was made for the course African Literature taught by Dr. Rebecca Lorins in the Department of English Language and Literature, College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Juba. Translation from Arabic to English by Elfatih Atem and Rebecca Lorins.