“But presently Mr. Turtle discovered that the big people were eating the little people whenever they could catch them, and that he wasn’t safe a minute when on shore, and not always safe in the water,” continued Grandfather Frog.  “He had two or three very narrow escapes, and these set him to thinking.  He was too slow and awkward to run or to fight.  The only thing he could do was to keep out of sight as much as possible.  So he learned to swim with only his head out of water, and sometimes with only the end of his nose out of water.  When he went on land, he would cover himself with mud, and then when he heard anybody coming, he would lie perfectly still, with his legs and his tail and his head drawn in just as close as possible, so that he looked for all the world like just a little lump of brown earth.

“One day he had crawled under a piece of bark to rest and at the same time keep out of sight of any who might happen along.  When he got ready to go on his way, he found that the piece of bark had caught on his back, and that he was carrying it with him.  At first he was annoyed and started to shake it off.  Before he succeeded, he heard someone coming, so he promptly drew in his head and legs and tail.  It was Mr. Fisher, and he was very hungry and fierce.  He looked at the piece of bark under which Mr. Turtle was hiding, but all he saw was the bark, because, you know, Mr. Turtle had drawn himself wholly under.

“‘I believe,’ said Mr. Fisher, talking out loud to himself, ’that I’ll have a look around the Smiling Pool and see if I can catch that slow-moving Turtle who lives there.  I believe he’ll make me a good dinner.’

“Of course Mr. Turtle heard just what he said, and he blessed the piece of bark which had hidden him from Mr. Fisher’s sight.  For a long time he lay very still.  When he did go on, he took the greatest care not to shake off that piece of bark, for he didn’t know but that any minute he might want to hide under it again.  At last he reached the Smiling Pool and slipped into the water, leaving the piece of bark on the bank.  Thereafter, when he wanted to go on land, he would first make sure that no one was watching.  Then he would crawl under the piece of bark and get it on his back.  Wherever he went he carried the piece of bark so as to have it handy to hide under.

“Now all this time Old Mother Nature had been watching Mr. Turtle, and it pleased her to see that he was smart enough to think of such a clever way of fooling his enemies.  So she began to study how she could help Mr. Turtle.  One day she came up behind him just as he sat down to rest.  The piece of bark was uncomfortable and scratched his back, ’I wish,’ said he, talking to himself, for he didn’t know that any one else was near, ’I wish that I had a house of my own that I could carry on my back all the time and be perfectly safe when I was inside of it.’

“‘You shall have,’ said Old Mother Nature, and reaching out, she touched his back and turned the skin into hard shell.  Then she touched the skin of his stomach and turned that into hard shell.  ’Now draw in your head and your legs and your tail,’ said she.