The Turtle Who Wanted to Fly

A turtle looked up at the birds. "I want to fly," he said. The birds said, "You have no wings." "I know," said the turtle. "But I can still try." He climbed the highest rock. He stretched his neck. He jumped. He fell into the grass. It did not hurt, but it did not work either. He climbed again. He jumped again. The same thing happened. The third time, he did not jump. He sat on the rock and looked at the sky. "I cannot fly," he said. "But I can swim. I can dig. I can carry my house with me." A bird landed next to him. "That is a lot," said the bird. "I know," said the turtle. "I just had to stop and see it." Then he went down to the river and swam all afternoon.

【中文對照】 一隻烏龜抬頭看著小鳥。「我想飛，」他說。 小鳥說：「你沒有翅膀。」 「我知道，」烏龜說，「但我還是可以試試。」 他爬上最高的石頭，伸長了脖子，跳了下去。 他掉進草裡。不疼，但也沒成功。 他又爬上去，又跳了一次。還是一樣。 第三次，他沒有跳。他坐在石頭上，看著天空。 「我飛不起來，」他說，「但我會遊泳，會挖洞，還能帶著自己的房子走。」 一隻小鳥落在他旁邊。「這已經很厲害了，」小鳥說。 「我知道，」烏龜說，「我只是需要停下來看一看。」 然後他下到河邊，遊了一整個下午。