The Box Tortoes' Shell

Box Tortoise wouldn't talk to any of the fur folk, or the feather folk,

but he was suspected of talking to noots and frogs.

Now, there was a special reason why the wood folk wanted to talk to tortoise.

He had a whistle, and also a secret. There were times when he had just been seen in the water,

or on a mossy log, whistling just like a bird, only he whistled much better.

All the forest folk wanted to know about that whistle, and also about the secret.

So they resolved to surround his pond and make him tell all about himself.

The old wolf was the chief in that part of the country,

and it fell to his lot to call the council which should force tortoise to be more sociable.

It always happens that way, O nephew.

When a man just minds his own business and goes along about it, others think that he is shy and a mischief maker, especially if he has a good trick, like whistling better than anyone else.

If then it is discovered that he has a secret too, oh, woe be to him.

The whole neighborhood will want to know about it, and tongues will wag until it's told.

Well, in the woods, tongues did wag and tails did wiggle,

ears flapped and noses twisted, all because tortoise minded his own business,

and whistled so well.

Around the pond circled beaver and otter, and then muskrat and weasel and mink also came, and fisher,

and also pine martin, and wolverine, and up on the shore were fox and raccoon, and woodchuck,

and gray squirrel, and also bobcat and bear, in the brushland nearby was rabbit,

and above the pond flew the feather folk, led by Osprey. In the pond and around the log

were bullfrog and lizard, salamander and eel, billfish, and water snake. Tortus looked out at the

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