The Tortoise And The Ducks Short Story & Audiobook
A curious tortoise is sick of his boring, slow life on the ground and wants to experience the world from above. But when he does there is a very important lesson to be learned.
The Tortoise And The Ducks
Of course, you probably know that the poor old tortoise has to carry his house around on his back. That means that no matter how hard he tries he can’t ever leave home or go very far.
Once upon a time, there was a tortoise who saw how happily birds could fly around wherever they wanted. He saw how quickly rabbits hopped about here and there and how all the other animals could run as fast and as far as they liked.
The tortoise felt very sad, as he wanted to see as much of the world as all the other animals. But he was stuck, with his house on his back and his little legs that couldn’t carry him along very fast or far.
One day as he was walking slowly along by a pond he met two ducks and told them how sorry he was that he couldn’t go very far or see as much of the world as they could.
"We can help you!" quacked one of the ducks, "grab hold of this stick with your teeth and we will get either end and fly up so high that you will be able to see the whole countryside from above. But don’t say anything to anybody or you might be sorry."
The tortoise was really excited. He grabbed the stick firmly with his teeth and the two ducks flew up into the sky with the tortoise hanging on from the stick. The tortoise looked down at the countryside below and started to think that he was rather special.
Just then a crow flew nearby. He was amazed to see such a thing as a flying tortoise and said, "Good gracious me, are you the King of Tortoises?"
The tortoise was thrilled and replied, "Yes indeed, I am….."
Oooops! As he opened his mouth to say this he lost hold of the stick. He fell and fell and fell through the air and finally landed with a huge splash right in the middle of the pond.
And the moral of that story is that foolish curiosity and being big-headed can often lead to misfortune.
The End
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Can you read The Tortoise And The Ducks story for free?
Yes! You can read this modern retelling for free. Our story retellings closely follow the original storylines and add modern twists in the illustrations.
Is there a version of The Tortoise And The Ducks read aloud?
You can choose to experience this story read aloud or you can read it yourself.
Is this a good bedtime story?
The Tortoise And The Ducks is a great example of a bedtime story. It’s nostalgic for parents and has a happy ending for kids. That’s if they make it to the end of the story before falling asleep!
Why do we write bedtime stories for kids?
When we first decided to create a bedtime story for kids, we knew we wanted it to be fun, engaging and high quality.
We wanted Sooper Books to bring children's publishing into the 21st century. We strongly believe that nighttime stories for kids need to fit seamlessly into modern family lives which is why our free stories are all online.
It began when we started writing stories for our own family. Then our friends and wider families asked for copies and we started to share Sooper Books with other children.
At Sooper Books we write, curate and narrate stories for kids so they can enjoy the best quality content, enchanting stories and magical adventures. With our stories we work towards promoting a positive attitude to reading and instill a love of books in children from an early age.
About Sooper Books
Our 5-10 minute online kids bedtime stories, fairy tales, funny rhymes and fables all come with award-winning audio.
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At Sooper Books, children can explore the magical world of fairies and witches, brave knights, talking animals and more. Our stories for kids feature an array of characters such as lovable princesses, funny frogs, gentle giants and wise wizards.
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