How can the tortoise beat the wolf ?

9174  How can the tortoise beat the wolf ?  20180706

When tortoise papa addressed the meeting of tortoises, no one bothered to listen. And no one believed him. May be he was too philosophical which in the language of tortoise meant not practical. And he was too slow. As the wolf was near, every one wished to beat the wolf quickly and chase him out. They hope to have a peace time like before. That is why the tortoises were having a meeting, to discuss how to handle the situation urgently.

Tortoise papa said, you ought to remain a tortoise to beat the wolf. And that was funny. Am I not a tortoise? How do I "remain" a tortoise?

Tortoise papa had explained the idea many times. He thought that was the only way to survive the attacks of the wolf. However, few of the tortoises believed him. They thought it is better to have the teeth of the wolf. Some of the tortoises believed that it was their natural defect to have no teeth. They have only beaks. Teeth seemed to be the only remedy for the tortoises. And they meant it. They managed to buy some teeth from the neighborhood store of the fox. The fox sold them some artificial teeth, which was as sharp as a knife and as white as a chalk. When it was installed in the mouth of a strong and young tortoise, every tortoise were happy, especially the female tortoises. They thought the teethed tortoise was extremely handsome. They had never seen a tortoise armed with such beautiful teeth before.  The fox did make a fortune selling artificial teeth, as it was now a popular wear of the young tortoises. 

It was almost at the end of the meeting and the wolf did come. Every body fled except the tortoise papa. He was too slow and too old to run. Sets of artificial teeth was left on the ground. The young tortoises were running too fast and dropped them. 

The wolf did spot the teeth. He laughed. "What, did you mean to fight me with this toy teeth?"

Tortoise papa groaned. He did not argue with the wolf. He just tugged away the tail and limbs from the wolf.

The wolf felt insulted. He was very angry. He tried to bite the tortoise. But his teeth were not strong enough to break the shell of the tortoise. He kept sniffing the tortoise, trying to find out the weak points of the tortoise. Actually he was sniffing and circling the tortoise repeatedly. He knew the tortoise will stick out something sooner and later. He was waiting a chance to bite when the tortoise was tired and relaxed. Tortoise papa was highly alerted and remain firm like an iron heap. Now the wolf changed a tactic. He sniffed the tortoise patiently. He wanted to know which part is which and was trying to locate an attacking point. He was delighted to find out the nose of the tortoise. As he had found different smell from that point. He kept sniffing the nose of the tortoise. And suddenly at a split second the tortoise stuck out his head and bite. Not every one can predict such speed from a tortoise. The tortoise had bitten the nose of the wolf and he was keeping his beak so tight that it was said the tortoise will release the bite only when there is a thunder strike. The wolf tried to release himself from the heavy beak of the tortoise but failed. He was so painful that he was yelling like a baby and fled the scene. He was running so fast and he did not realize until a distance that he was carrying the tortoise to run. The tortoise was hanging under his nose swinging comfortably when he was running. The wolf had never had such an experience of huge pain that he was running faster and faster and he did not notice his nose was gone completely together with the tortoise somewhere.  

The tortoise rolled silently to the roadside with a large piece of fresh meat from the wolf. He had found the most delicious part of the wolf. It was the nose. It was soft and tasty.  He had seldom enjoyed a good time like this before.    

The other tortoises gathered and all agreed that you have to be yourself always.   

                         *Leechard Asks*

(#The author is a question raiser. He has raised more than 9000 questions. He is an expert on cultures and he is a qi master as well as a songwriter. 

（#The author can be reached by Whatsapp at 852-91864286）