The story of the talkative turtle, on a relief at Candi Mendut temple. Summary in comments. Indonesia, Sailendra dynasty, 824 AD [3070×2300]
by MunakataSennin
The story of the talkative turtle, on a relief at Candi Mendut temple. Summary in comments. Indonesia, Sailendra dynasty, 824 AD [3070×2300]
by MunakataSennin
2 Comments
The tale of the talkative turtle, from the *[Pancatantra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchatantra)*:
Once there was a turtle and two swans living in a lake. The turtle loved to talk, and would tell stories to the swans.
One day, the lake began to dry up. The swans planned to fly to another lake, but the turtle, being slow, could not make it there on his own. So he asked the swans to carry him on a stick held in their feet, while he would hang on by biting on the stick. The swans agree, but warn him, “If you open your mouth when we are in the air, you will fall.” The turtle promises he won’t.
As they flew over a town, the people below pointed at the sky, “Look at that turtle flying between two swans!”, and shot arrows at them. Curious, the turtle opened his mouth to ask, “What’s all that commotion down there?”, and fell to the ground. The townspeople caught the turtle and ate him.
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