The Turtles.

I had an awesome dream last night and thought it would be a great children's story. So I wrote it up.



The Turtles.

Once upon a time there was a baby turtle named John. John was very small, even for a turtle his age, but was very friendly.

One day, when he was becoming a bit older, John’s dad talked to him about finding a partner turtle.
“You have to go out into the big world and find yourself a girl turtle!” said John’s dad.
John didn’t want to go outside. After all, the world was a big place and he was only a small turtle. “I don’t want to go, dad! Why do I have to?” asked John.
“So that you can have children, just like your mother and I did! That’s how you were born!” said John’s dad.

John figured that it was a good idea now as he quite liked being born. So the next day, John said goodbye to his mum and his dad and his brothers and left home to find a girl turtle.

After a day, John had had no luck finding a girl turtle. He had only found two other turtles and they were both boys. They lived in a big amusement park named DreamWorld, it looked like lots of fun and John wanted to go there. John started to feel a bit dry, so he found a big pond nearby and went for a swim. After his swim, he went to lie on the bank so he could sleep.

He laid there for only a minute when he saw another turtle coming his way! And this time it was a girl turtle! She was very pretty, but had a big crack in her shell. John came out of his shell and waited for the girl turtle to pass him. When she was passing him, John made his move.
“Hi, I’m John!” he said as she walked in front of him.
The girl turtle turned to him and said “Hi John, my name is Elizabeth. Nice to meet you!”
“You too!” replied John. “I was wondering if you have ever been to DreamWorld?”
“No, I haven’t!” said Elizabeth. “But I really want to go, it looks like lots of fun!”
“Let’s go right now then!” John said.
So John and Elizabeth both walked to the amusement park together, talking and laughing along the way.

When they got to DreamWorld, it was all closed up because it was night time. They walked under the gate and it began to rain, which was good because they were both feeling really dry after the big walk. They swam in the puddles, walked along the rollercoaster tracks and ate lots of yummy food.

When they were about to leave, John told Elizabeth about what his dad told him.
“My dad said that I need to find a girl turtle so I can have baby turtles!” said John.
Elizabeth was shocked. “Yes, my mum told me the same thing! She told me I had to find a boy turtle to have children with!”
So John and Elizabeth decided they would be together. They found a place in the rafters to live. John didn’t like it, but Elizabeth insisted they live here.

Eventually Elizabeth laid some eggs. She would take care of the eggs, covering them with grass and leaves to keep them warm. John would go out at night and find some food left on the ground in DreamWorld to bring back to Elizabeth.

One day a bit later, the eggs hatched! There were two boys and one girl, who they named Jackson, John II and Katie. John and Elizabeth loved their children very much and were very happy together.

After two months, it had not rained a single time! All the water around the place had begun to disappear and all the turtles felt very dry. Elizabeth was feeling very weak nowadays and spent most of her time asleep in her shell. John came over to her and Elizabeth came out of her shell and asked him why he woke her up.
“We need to find some water or else we are going to die!” said John.
“But I cannot move, and either can the children. We are all very weak.” Said Elizabeth.
“If we do not get to water soon, we will die!” yelled John. He was very worried about himself and his family.
“Then go by yourself, because we cannot go anywhere. We will wait for the rain.” Elizabeth said back.
So John left Elizabeth and their children in order to find some water. Elizabeth was very upset, but she remained confident that it would rain soon.

Many night passed and no rain had come. Elizabeth was nearly about to die and just had to say goodbye to all her children. Elizabeth decided to use her last bit of energy to go down to the ground and into a bush to eat something. When she got down to the bottom she had no more energy left so she laid down on the side of the path.

Along came a human named Mathew. He saw the dead turtle and was very sad. He picked Elizabeth up and walked to the closest bush to put her in. As Mathew was walking with Elizabeth in his hand, it began to rain! As he put Elizabeth down in the dirt, he noticed that the turtle was moving a little bit. He picked the turtle up and said to it “You’re not dead!”
“No, I’m not dead!” replied Elizabeth. “Although I almost was, I was just lucky the rain came. My name is Elizabeth!”
“My name is Mathew.” he said. “Why are you in DreamWorld all by yourself?”

Elizabeth told Mathew everything. She told him about meeting John, about having fun with him in DreamWorld, about having children and about John leaving her to find water. She told him that she was very upset and wanted to find another turtle so she could start another family.

“Well, okay then!” said Mathew. “Let’s go and find you another turtle!”
Mathew began walking around DreamWorld with Elizabeth in his hand when she said “I don’t want to live in DreamWorld anymore.”
“Why not?” Asked Mathew.
“I realise now that it was a bad idea living here. It is very dry and the air smells funny.” Said Elizabeth.
“How do you know it smells funny?”
“Because I can smell the outside air on your hand, and it smells nice.”

So Mathew and Elizabeth began to go outside. On the handrail on the steps they found another turtle! So Mathew placed Elizabeth on the handrail and she went over to the other turtle.
“Hi, my name is Elizabeth! It’s nice to see another turtle around here!”
“Hi, Elizabeth” replied the other turtle. “My name is Heath! It sure is nice now that it is raining.”
Elizabeth told Heath about what had happened, and that she was looking for another turtle to start a family with. Heath was scared because she was very upfront and Heath was shy. Elizabeth kept pushing Heath until he accidentally fell off the handrail! It wasn’t a very long fall, but she heard his shell crack a little, not badly though.

“See, now we are meant to be together!” said Elizabeth. She showed Heath the crack in her shell and it looked exactly like the one in Heath’s shell.
“Okay then.” Said Heath. “Let’s find a home.”

So the two turtles found a home by a pond and had five children. It was always wet at the pond with plenty of food. And they lived happily ever after.