nother. 'Just look at all
those tall green branches, spreading in every direction. If once we
got entangled in _them_, we should never get out again!'

'Well then, let us go round by the bottom,' said a third.

'How are we to do that, when the roots have made a deep hole, and
above that is a high bank?' replied a fourth. 'No; the only way _I_
can think of, is to burn a large hole in the trunk.' And this they
did, but the trunk was very thick, and would not burn through.

* * * * *

'It is no use, we must give it up,' they agreed at last. 'After all,
nobody need ever know! We have been away such a long while that we
might easily have had all sorts of adventures.' And so the whole
company turned homewards again.

They took even longer to go back than they had to come, for they were
tired and footsore with their journey. When they drew near the camp
they plucked up their courage, and began to sing a war-song. At this
the villagers came flocking to see what spoils the turtles had won,
but, as they approached, each turtle seized some one by the wrist,
exclaiming: 'You are our spoils; you are our prisoners!'

'Now that I have got you I will keep you,' said the leader, who had
happened to seize his betrothed.

Everybody was naturally very angry at this behaviour, and the girl
most of all, and in her secret heart she determined to have her
revenge. But, just at present, the turtles were too strong, so the
prisoners had to put on their smartest slippers and their brightest
clothes, and dance a war dance while the turtles sang. They danced so
long that it seemed as if they would never stop, till the turtle who
was leading the singing suddenly broke into a loud chant:

Whoever comes here, will die, will die!

At this all the dancers grew so frightened that they burst through
the ring of their captors, and ran back to the village, the turtles
following--very slowly. On the way the chief turtle met a man, who
said to him:

'That woman who was to have been your wife has married another man!'

'Is that true?' said the turtle. 'Then I must see him.'

But as soon as the villager was out of sight the turtle stopped, and
taking a bundle containing fringes and ornaments from his back, he
hung them about him, so that they rattled as he walked. When he was
quite close to the hut where the woman lived, he cried out:

'Here I am to claim the woman who promised to be my wife.'

'Oh, here is th