Note 1 — The Turtle and the Monkey

The turtle dried his meat and sold it to the other monkeys, and when he had finished selling he went under the house and hid beneath a coconut shell. When all the monkeys had eaten the turtle cried, “They eat their relative.” Then the monkeys heard, but could not see. The turtle called many times until at last they found him beneath the coconut shell. They agreed to kill him with the axe, but the turtle laughed and pointed to the marks on his back.1 The monkeys believed him when he said he had often been cut by his father and grandfather; so they did not cut, but went to get fire. “You cannot kill me with Page 196that. Do you not see that my back is almost black from burning.” “Ay-ay,” said the monkeys, “let us tie a stone to his waist and drown him in the lake.” The turtle cried and begged them to spare him, but the monkeys did not know that the water was the cause of his living, for it was his home. They threw him in the lake and when they had watched a long time, they saw him float on the water and he was holding a large fish. Then all the monkeys tied stones to their waists and dived in the lake to catch fish. They did not float in the lake, but they died. Only a pregnant monkey was left, but the turtle came and drowned her also.2