The turlte

 Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived near a beautiful crystal clear pond in the middle of a mystical forest a sleepy turtle. The turtle would sleep all morning and only wake at noon. For she enjoyed the night more than the day. “This bright sunlight interrupts my night, why? Oh why can’t it be night all day?” She would grumble to herself. The night you see, was when the turtle could be free to dream all that a turtle could dream. The day, on the other hand, was impossible for a turtle to dream in, for the light would be too bright for the mind to wander. The turtle always preferred the freedom that the night brought “life is to be lived and through my dreams I can be free to be whatever I want to be” the turtle thought to herself. So the turtle would wake and prepare for the night, she thought of all the things that she would imagine that night; and once the night came and the stars began to glisten and the silvery moon shone brightly upon the little one, she positioned herself atop a rock near her pond, making sure that she could see the reflection of the moon upon the pond, and there she would bathe in the glow of diamond white light, and imagined all the different possibilities that the day couldn’t bring. As she imagined and dreamed her mind began to wander and as every night she began to dream. She transformed into a beautiful falcon and soared high above the trees and over the mountains, she watched as the earth went past under her, she felt the immense sensation of joy as she gazed deep into the horizon and took in the views that the earth had created. Once she had enjoyed this feeling enough she began to imagine other things, she thought of the sea and the deepest oceans and as soon as she had she transformed from the falcon to a  beautiful silvery dolphin and swam through the waves and through the water at such a speed. She raced other dolphins and dove into the deep blue ocean, every so often somersaulting over the waves. Once again she wanted to feel other sensations and thought of other possibilities and saw from afar the plains that bordered the forest, hypnotised by this delight, she transformed from a dolphin into a majestic wolf, prowling in and out of the forest and running free across the plains. She felt the wisdom that this ancient beast could bring. She felt the heart of the earth beat deep within; felt and experienced nature as never before. Slowly the dream began to fade, and the fog of reality descended back unto the turtle and with a smile and a euphoric look, she awoke and bathed in the morning dew.  She felt refreshed and born anew. The images still fresh in her mind of that dreamy night.

She thought of all the experiences she had felt, all from the top of this rock, and as the memory faded  the turtle became sad “it is only at night that I can fly, swim and prowl, it is only at night that I can gaze, jump and learn and it is only at night that she might listen to me!” thought the turtle; for you see the turtle believed in an ancient magic, some call it a fairytale, but the turtle knew differently, and there was another reason why the turtle preferred the night. For it was only at night that the moon shone so bright..

The turtle loved the moon; in fact the turtle cherished the moon and would spend all night praising the silvery eye in the sky. You see, the turtle was old, and the turtle had heard the stories from long ago. In these distant times the beasts would tell the tale of a creature that lived on the moon. A creature so beautiful, old and wise that all life revolved around it. This creature, older than time itself, would look down upon the earth and if you listened carefully you could hear her whisper through the leaves and the waves, if you looked carefully you could see her breathe through the wind and the clouds, and if you thought carefully you could feel the answers to your questions through your heart.

This was why the turtle would gaze lovingly up at the moon, always wanting the answers to the question that she posed. Every night she asked the same question-“oh mystical, magical and wisest of us all; the falcon flies high above the trees and sees all over the landscape, the dolphin is fast and lives free within his oceanic kingdom, the wolf fears none and knows all as he prowls through the forest, but what of me? I am but a simple turtle and can only do what a turtle can do!” and so each morning the turtle would return to her bed and, never having heard the answer, and with the images of the night slowly fading into dark, she would fall asleep, with a tear in her eye but eagerly awaiting the following night, when she would again be free.